C230K Queries

[Adam230K]

First of all i'd like to introduce myself here, my name's Adam, living in west london, and i'm the proud new owner of a C230K and i must say i'm really impressed with it thus far!

But i do have a few questions.. For example the car tends to be quite hard to handle when i brake (and only when i apply the brakes) it seems like the front of the car gets heavy and jerky.. If anyone has encountered this before i'd be grateful if you could share your experience and maybe help me solve this .

And when i reverse, and put the wheel on full lock, it sounds as if one of my wheels slightly grinds against the wheel arc... could this be due to the Alloys being too big?

Also i was thinking of getting a new gear stick (because my one looks a bit like a grandad's, with the leather n all), would these fit?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MERCEDES-BENZ...ryZ72223QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Thanks in advance for your help..

 

[BlackC55]

What size wheels do you have?

 

[Will]

Hi Adam,

Welcome to the forums.

As a local member and an ex-C230K owner I'll try and answer any queries that you have. Where abouts in West London are you BTW?

Regarding your braking question, could you be a little more specific? Not really sure what you mean but as you'll probably know, most of the braking force is through the front wheels and as you brake, the car's weight will move forwards. Unless the ABS is activating, this should bring the car to a smooth, controllable stop.

What wheels and tyres are you using on your car? Do you have the details for the wheels also - ie, offset, width and diameter?

Gearstick and exhaust tip look ok but I'd imagine they're not original MB parts in case you weren't aware.

Hope to see some pics of the new car soon

Cheers,

Will

 

[Mercedes cozy]

Welcome Dude.

There are many experienced members here that will give you good advice.

 

[c240yaz]

First of all i'd like to introduce myself here, my name's Adam, living in west london, and i'm the proud new owner of a C230K and i must say i'm really impressed with it thus far!

But i do have a few questions.. For example the car tends to be quite hard to handle when i brake (and only when i apply the brakes) it seems like the front of the car gets heavy and jerky.. If anyone has encountered this before i'd be grateful if you could share your experience and maybe help me solve this .

And when i reverse, and put the wheel on full lock, it sounds as if one of my wheels slightly grinds against the wheel arc... could this be due to the Alloys being too big?

Also i was thinking of getting a new gear stick (because my one looks a bit like a grandad's, with the leather n all), would these fit?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MERCEDES-BENZ...ryZ72223QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Thanks in advance for your help..

Hi Adam and welcome. Suggest you take a photograph of one of your front wheels and tyres tomorrow and post on this thread, so that the guys here can have a look to see any obvious abnormalities in size.

 

[television]

Hello and welcome.

The brakes. Its possible that if the car has been standing for some time the pads may have made an in print onto the disc, if it is the front this should wear off quite quickly, if it is is on the rear only a few hard braking stops will remove it.

If you can feel it on the steering wheel, then it could be the above or a warped disc that has a thickness variation, if you feel it through the car then its a rear.
A contaminated disc gives the effect of jerky stopping, where as a warped disc gives a definite banging through the steering.

I hope that this helps a little

 

[Adam230K]

Hounslow in west london btw..

And to clarify... I used to drive a c200 elegance and it was silk smooth, i could apply the brakes damn hard, and it wouldn't force it self to any side, i can feel the car trying to take me to one side from the resistance at the wheel, sometimes left, sometimes right,

Also i think this car has lowered suspension

, cuz it seems harder then my old car on the suspension and it has firmer handling round corners. And the wheels.. well it has numbers something like.. 225/45Zblabla/17R and thats as much as i can see atm.

(I know i sound like a newbie, but bare with me )

 

[Adam230K]

Hello and welcome.

The brakes. Its possible that if the car has been standing for some time the pads may have made an in print onto the disc, if it is the front this should wear off quite quickly, if it is is on the rear only a few hard braking stops will remove it.

If you can feel it on the steering wheel, then it could be the above or a warped disc that has a thickness variation, if you feel it through the car then its a rear.
A contaminated disc gives the effect of jerky stopping, where as a warped disc gives a definite banging through the steering.

I hope that this helps a little

This helps alot, it has been standing for about a good month with very seldom usage. and yes, i can feel it at the wheel only, no banging. I found that the front 2 tyres were a little flat today (20psi) so i increased them to 28 and it seemed to help a bit. I dunno if i should raise it to 30 cuz its not clear on the wheel what psi i should have it at.

So i should just do a few hard stops... ok thats doable

 

[television]

OK I do not think that they are MB wheels. the tyres fitted are correct for the 17" wheel, and these will give a harder ride than the 15" or 16" that you had before on your last 202

The car should not pull to one side when braking, in your first post you say it was jerky, then if this is the case some answers are in my previous post

 

[television]

The pressure chart is inside the fuel filler cap, this applies irrespective of the wheels fitted.
As in the first post, give the car a few really hard braking bouts in a quiet road, it may go away

 

[Adam230K]

The pressure chart is inside the fuel filler cap, this applies irrespective of the wheels fitted.
As in the first post, give the car a few really hard braking bouts in a quiet road, it may go away

Ah thats great, didnt know that. So the top digit is for the driver's side, and the digit beneath is for the other side?

 

[Fandango]

No, there are FRONT and REAR values as well as ones for higher load/speed.

 

[Adam230K]

Thanks for the help guys... really feel welcome now

Just wanted to know if anyone knew where i could get merc centre caps that would fit these alloys.. i tried going to "Grays" (in hanwell) and they had them in the right size, but it seems as if the clips on the back of the badges are a bit too far out and thus making them too big to fit on my alloys

anyone know anything about this?

 

[BlackC55]

The problem you have is probably due to the wheels you have. The offset is probably wrong so the wheels follow undulations in the road. This is exaggerated when braking.

The incorrect offset will change the geometry of the front suspension.

 

[television]

One problem with the handling of the car could be that the wheels are not hub centric, MB wheels are, that is they sit on a flange in the hub on the car, and the wheel bolts hold them on. Non specific wheels will be centered by the bolts only and could give rise to balance issues.

The hole on MB wheels for the MB cap are 7.1 cm in diameter

 

[jaymanek]

anyone know if mercedes ever made a 6cm cap as i am struugling to find any for my SEC wheels...

 

[Dieselman]

One problem with the handling of the car could be that the wheels are not hub centric,

You don't mean hub centric, you mean spigot mounted.

 

[Adam230K]

The problem you have is probably due to the wheels you have. The offset is probably wrong so the wheels follow undulations in the road. This is exaggerated when braking.

The incorrect offset will change the geometry of the front suspension.

You couldn't be more right, you've described it perfectly. So the offset is wrong.. and the solution is changing the wheels... right? or the alloys? or what?

 

[Adam230K]

I also got another question.. in regards to manual mercs.. are they all a little hard to shift around in than normal? i mean if i actually wanna take off really fast, its great, then second gear change has a slight delay because it simply doesn't slip into gear 2... its like it has to fall into place or something, could this be gearbox fluid..?

 

[c240yaz]

Most likely both, back to genuine MB wheels that fit your car.