Ok guys, in the course of the past half-year of my first Benz ownership, I have found the admin and members of this board to be a terribly valuable resource. They are reflective of the M-B owner's community in general, I now speculate.
All that said, in the course of talking to other owners in my area, I have made some friends. One of them drives a '84 190D, which is fairly close to my '85 190E, especially in chassis and cosmetics. He called me last night to come to his home garage looking for help. I promised him I would post this and I have forgotten until this afternoon.
He was changing the rear brakes on his 190 and he jacked up the car and only chocked the front of the front wheels. So, after removing the left tire, the jack promptly rolled and the car rolled back, NOT forward ;) onto the wheel.

He then called me. I arrived about 5 mins later and re-jacked the car, chocking the front wheels properly and found that the metal shield on the bottom of the wheel had caught the weight of the car. I tested it to see if the wheel would still turn and everything _seemed_ ok. After prying and moving stuff...he decided to finish the brake job, re-attach the wheel and check it out the old-fashioned way. So, we drove the car around the block. Occasionally, the left rear wheel seemed to make a slight metal on metal scraping sound on braking, but not consistently. No other noises were noticable and the brakes felt normal, no fade.

Is there anything else I need to help him look for; or did he just get an incredibly lucky lesson in jacking safety?

Thanks guys,

John

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John J. Meadows
'85 190E 2.3L 99k mi.
My first M-B, not my last.

Drive it on highway, see if the that particular wheel vibrates at highway speed. Also, see if the rim is bend in anyways(not the lips, but the whole wheel)....

Andy Kuo

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<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>1992 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
<LI>Pearl Grey/Black Leather
</UL>
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Mercedes Owners ICQ ActiveList ID#61730549
Mercedes S-Class Page
http://akry.web.com http://akry.homestead.com/files/mercedes_benz_2.gif

Sounds like the rotor is rubbing on the shield. It makes sense to remove the rotor, have it checked for distortion, runout. Also should remove the shield and bend it back as near original as possible. Good luck..

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Jeff L
1987 300e
1989 300e
1987 BMW 325

I would NEVER do a brake job using only the emergency jack. Get a jack stand. They are not expensive and could save a lot of physical injury...to your friend AND his car.

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Bill Wood - Webmaster
MercedesShop.com, LLC

Just wait 'til Deezel hears about this, your rear end will be on fire, and I don't mean the differential.

Floor jacks and jack stands can be purchased very inexpensively these days. These items are some of the best investments a home mechanic can make. They not only make many jobs more feasible, thus saving money, but also may save life or limb.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 523K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

Thanks guys,

I will check out the shield again today and see how his rotors look. He is supposed to do a highway trip this week, so I will have him listen for any vibration.

He is quite lucky in many ways. In hindsight, I am now glad it wasn't his wife on the phone last week telling me he had been crushed under the car from a fallen jack. I have been carrying jackstands over to his house to demonstrate their use. Heh.

Thanks all,

John

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John J. Meadows
'85 190E 2.3L 99k mi.
My first M-B, not my last.