I checked the specs. in the manual and it says the max amount of play should be 25mm, which equals about 1 inch. This is exactly how much play there is in the wheel. Again this is with the car not running, moving the wheel back and forth. There is a combined 1 inch of free play. It's almost like there is nothing connected to the wheel. I find it odd that MB would consider this much slop as normal. Today it got up to th upper 50's but unfortunately I had to work and of course it gets dark quick. I will keep in mind all the great advice given here when I do get a chance to spend more time on it.

__________________
1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member