pogijeffrey

okay i replaced my tire. got new struts installed. got an alignment. car still vibrates. i feel it more on the driver side. so i got an alignment cuz it was warping the tire on my driver side. but still hear rough noise on my driver side. like i could feel it as well. what could it be? please, anyone, i'm open for suggestions. and i have no spacers installed up front. i just feel it more on my driver side.

romz

Did you check for a bent rim?

CoupeCrazy03

+1 were your wheels properly balanced prior to installation?

e1000

get a roadforce balance done. It will tell you if it's the rim or the tire.

Glyn M Ruck

Hey e, What is a "roadforce" balance? Is that on-car balancing in your speak??? Sorry for my ignorance but sometimes I don't understand American terminology even though I lived there on 2 occasions in Dallas & Marin county

Glyn M Ruck

If tyres are new & just balanced then likely as others have suggested but if you were getting strange tyre wear and noise on your old tyres please check your castor arm bushes. They are known to devulcanise & leak silicon fluid ultimately. This can mess with alignment if your shop did not pick it up.

What tyres? do they have big blocks? Are you sure that your wheels are hubcentric?

pogijeffrey

everything is properly balance. i had a new tire installed and went and got an alignment right after. i thought that my struts were blown and that the old struts were giving me the vibrations. new struts, new tire, alignment was done. but i noticed that they corrected just the passenger side. that side wasnt giving me any problems at all such as tire wear, etc. it was just the driver side. its okay when i drive on surface streets. but on the freeway, i feel the vibration on my driver side. i could check the bushing tomorrow. but what bushing should i be looking at? and as for hubcentric, what is that? and the wheel is not bent. still like new. they never gave me problems before. i had em on for a year now. when i had my car lowered more, that is when i started experiencing problems. and another thing i noticed that i have more negative camber on the passenger side. how is that? i did hit a rock on my right passenger side on the freeway a while back which cause my rim to bend so bad. that might of caused that negative camber. as for the kind of tire. its just regular nankang(brand) directional... i dont know what u mean by big block. yeah another shop was telling me about them bushings. but i highly doubt it. but i will check on it tomorrow if i know where to look at.

Glyn M Ruck

See here https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...=1#post2754684

Terminology varies - but camber bushes are the ones in line with the front axle line that effect how far the bottom of the wheel is in or out. Castor bushes are on what Americans call the thrust arm i.e the ones ahead of the front wheels that mount up front where the sway bar is mounted. The castor bushes are silicone filled and a known weakspot on these cars - they crack see pic.


Regards hubcentric. If the centre hole in your wheels is not a perfect fit over the centre of the wheel hub you can suffer vibration & need shim rings to centre the wheel perfectly on the hub. See Tire Rack site for info on rings to correct this. Many wheels do not have the centre hole correctly machined to fit the Mercedes hub. Even very slight variation & slightly loose fit leads to vibration.

Glyn M Ruck

Here is a Photo of cracked castor bushes (Benz calls them bearings) from my car that I replaced before they leaked or caused alignment problems. See the cracking & devulcanisation has started already. This was at 45,000 Km Service. So under 30,000 miles

Glyn M Ruck

Heres some more on these cursed bushings





Ignore VIN numbers - problem applies to all W203s

dmatre

Here's some info: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=40

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/features/how.cfm

e1000

Roadforce balance uses a special balancing machine with a spindle that simulates operating load on a tire while balacing. It is able to identify tire runout (both laterally and radialy) and also wheel runout (laterally and radially).

pogijeffrey

wow 30,000 miles. definitely gonna check that. i have 80,000 miles on the car already..

pogijeffrey

how much does that cost to replace.? will that also be covered by warranty. i still have up to 100,000 mile warranty on the car.

EV0LVE

very well said...and +1 on this.

pogijeffrey

where do u do this?

e1000

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

mleskovar

My dealer replaced them under extended warranty. Only one side was actually leaking but they replaced both sides. I replaced the next set. About $500 for both if you have to pay. The bushings were relatively low cost considering the complexity of the part and being a Mercedes : I've seen them for $18 online.

Glyn M Ruck

They are ultra cheap. Benz subsidise them because they know they are crap.

Glyn M Ruck

I find it hard to believe that they have never been changed. But if so they are shot at 80,000 miles - make them change them under warrantee

Glyn M Ruck

OK - what we call "Dynamic Load Balancing" My shop has the same Hunter balancers.

From racing experience this is not the best way to achieve perfect balance. Spinning the wheel at real road speed and skimming or grinding the tyre achieves a lasting fix - the Hunter "Roadforce" fix goes out as the tyre wears as it's offsetting the symptom & not fixing the problem.

I should point out that none of these fixes are any good for a lack of hub centricity.

pogijeffrey

thank glyn, i appreciate all the help. i just hope that the bushes are the problem why it vibrates. today, as soon as i got to the freeway, the ride was so rough at high speed and vibrated so much that it felt like the tire was gonna fall off. like u could hear it too. sounds like a worn out bearing at low speed. so i really havent checked to see if the bushes were worn. but ur positive that is it. i'm calling the dealers tomorrow and see if they will cover it. what else would u think it could be.? in case warranty doesnt cover. would i have to buy a new set of castor arms. or just replace the bearing.?

mleskovar

[QUOTE=pogijeffrey;3184123]... u could hear it too....QUOTE]

Tire cupping causes noise and is a symptom of a worn suspension part. If everything else seems solid the thrust bushings are usually suspect.

Glyn M Ruck

You just replace the worn bushings/bearings - they press out & press in. Please note that if you are going to do the job yourself that alignment of these bushes in the castor arm is crucial so that you can use the 3 bolt positions to allow proper alignment. If they have never been replaced you are going to have standard bolts. Recommend you replace with the fluted bolts that allow greater adjustment - See the DIY I reference above. Pic of bolts below to show difference.



I'm sorry - I can't be positive that this is the only problem - It is a known problem & should be attended to. You could still have a non centric (out of round/balance), wheel or tyre, bent or warped wheel or a wheel that is not hubcentric & does not fit the hub properly. The amount of vibration you describe worries me. I'm not trying to be clever or state the obvious - but I presume that all the lug bolts are tight and correctly torqued? Sounding like worn out bearings is typical & something these cars do with feathered tyres or big block tread tyres. To be dead quiet they need a tyre with a radial tread pattern - non directional - such as the Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 (which I have) or the new Pilot Sport PS2 (not PS1) & should be rotated to change direction of rotation every 10,000 Kms. These tyres have continuous bands of tread with sipes and not big blocks. The Yokohama AVS db2 is also known to work well at noise reduction on the W203. Conti Sport Contact 2 & 3 are a disaster from a noise perspective & get worse as the tyre wears.

JLD2k3

I am doing this DIY today. I do not know if this has been done on this car before. If I get the new bolts, how do I determine which hole to use? Is it hard to tell?