Steering/ Road Stability
 

I have a "new" '01 E. I didn't notice my problem initially, though now it is annoying me to no end! The car is very unstable at highway speeds: 65 and over, though it is not a problem that just appears but rather becomes more noticeable.

The car is overly "influenced" by minor road conditions as well as wind. I have to be such an active driver constantly making course corrections as well as getting myself back in my lane and that is no exageration. When I bought the car we had a wind storm and I had to drive mid way in the median when passing to keep the car from slamming into traffic. I was furious and some what scared. And now I am just angry. The worst car bar none I have ever owned and it has only been a month. I know I should have noticed this in the test drive, but I didn't.

Took the car to an independent shop they checked it out thoroughly and said on one hand they noticed it in the test drive though everything was fine with steering, suspension and tire alignment and balance. They, all bmw/porsche drivers, chalked it up to mushy mercedes suspension.

I feel like there is too much power in the power steering giving an abnormally low amount (even for mercedes) of road feed back combined with a mushy mercedes suspension.

The shop is basically not willing to look anymore. I like the car, looks, ride around town. but I am going to have to get rid of it if I can't do something fast to make this car more stable on the highway. My first thought was sport suspension but the guys at the shop seemed to think that could make the "problem that doesn't exist" worse, whatever that means. Any suggestions?

Also is it possible to disconnect the power steering and drive the car without doing damage just to see it that is the problem?

Steering shock maybe?

I do not know what your problem could be but these cars, even my little 190e is stable on the highway at high speeds.

About a month ago, I had the same problem and to top it off, I had the alignment done a few days before. Anyway, I took it back to the shop and sure enough the alignment was off and that was causing the problem. I live in central America and I guess that the Tech used the incorrect program for the original alignment. Or he was seriously hung over the day that he first aligned the car.

Maybe you should ahve the alignement checked by another shop?

Also?
 

What kind of tires do you have on the car?

I,m going to guess tires, I have Yokohama Avid Touring on both my 126's and they are very stable at speed I run them at near max pressure and they are inexpensive compared to Michelins that they replaced I did not like the Michelins one bit..........
William Rogers.......

Ted,

Do all 4 tires match? If the fronts are a different brand from the rear, you could be experiencing a slip angle problem. This can make the car very squirraly.

Peter