E Class pulling to left

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adam1

Active Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Messages
291
Location
Yorks
Car
E220CDI avantgarde-tansanite blue with sand-cream leather .Honda Civic, Honda Stream SESport( 160bhp
I have been driving for nearly 10 months and have always known that the car seemed to swayed to left. It is an 03 model year and these were known for issues like this.

Does anyone else experience their car pulling to left on a straight level road...
This is more noticeable to me since my other car goes straight when i lift the hands off steering....the Mbz within seconds move towards the road kerb.

Dealer is looking at next week but I was just wondering if is something that i will have to live with since its hard to put right.........
 
There has been a longish thread on this.

Story said to be they all pull slightly to the left (or right if in a LHD car) so if you fall asleep or die of boredom listening to Radio 2 or Radio Deutscheland the vehicle will drift into the kerbside as opposed to head on into oncoming traffic.

True or not, mine certainly does pull a tiny bit to the left but I ignore it: cannot see any signs of uneven tyre wear.

Bear in mind also that the steering geometry and the way the wheels "roll" when you corner means this model is a bit more camber sensitive than some.
 
I think you will find it is the camber of the road causing this. Although the road may look flat, the water needs to run off so there is a slight camber, even on the flatest of roads. The next time you drive on the opposite side of the road, say through roadworks, let go the wheel for a second, you will find it drifts to the right. Its a bit like some of those putts in the Rider Cup recently :D
 
Moved to join all the other cars that pull left;)
 
I know what your saying it may be a safety issue.

Its just that my other car in comparison on the same route and stretch of road goes straight on roads which have the greatest camber which is the daily commute to work. The steering wheel is also off centre to left as i drive.
 
E-Class pulling left.

I have a W210 AvantGarde and I've been trying to get to grips with the same issue on my car. I find it a bit disconcerting at times the way the car tends to drift to the left, particularly compared to other cars I've driven. It’s fine on motorways, but in town it’s more noticeable.

I had my MB dealer check and adjust the tracking but found it made little or no difference.

I tried driving the car on level surface and it was fine in that it went forward with no movement to the left.

However, once on normal roads I found the car pulling to the left.

I agree with the comments from other MBClub members that this is probably due to the camber of the road but also the suspension setting on the car. I believe the avantgarde trim on the W210 has a lower and slightly stiffer suspension compared to other trims levels, thereby making it even more susceptible to the camber of the road.
 
I have had a few Mercs and they have all drifted slightly to the left, it is down to road camber, on flat roads it drives dead straight, driving abroad pulls to right (road camber) as far as i know there is no fix for this, if anyone knows one please post it as there has been a lot of posts re this
 
In my case, see my car model below, there is/was a fix. Because there are loads of 'drift' threads on here I dont want to inccur the wrath of the Mods by posting another so I wont, or can I?. But, if any of you 'drifters' :D want to PM me I'll tell you all about it and the fix involved which, by the way, is dealer fix. Not something you can DIY.

PS Mine drives arrow straight now and tyre wear is not noticably detrimental.

Dave.
 
Please spill the beans....before we go further off course :confused: !!!!!
 
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portzy said:
In my case, see my car model below, there is/was a fix. Because there are loads of 'drift' threads on here I dont want to inccur the wrath of the Mods by posting another so I wont, or can I?. But, if any of you 'drifters' :D want to PM me I'll tell you all about it and the fix involved which, by the way, is dealer fix. Not something you can DIY.

PS Mine drives arrow straight now and tyre wear is not noticably detrimental.

Dave.

If you didn't tell us already, and its relevant to this topic (sounds like it !!) then go for it !!

S.
 
Ooops, I thougt I'd be flamed. Well, it is Friday, I got confused, and its bin' a long, long..... ;)

When I first drove what was to become my choice of car I cant say I noticed anything but on the actual one which I bought it was obvious from the start. That is 'constant' opposite steering input was required to keep myself and the car out of the gutter. Within a few days it was back with my Dealer for a 'four wheel tracking' check?. This was done but honestly, the improvement, if any, was marginal. After a welcome letter from the MD, including an invite to ring him if I was anything other than happy, which I wasnt and I did, the car went back in.

The upshot was, one of the guys in the Service Department had come across the problem many times before through other customers and in talking to other Service Departments and also having emotional rants at MB in Milton Keynes or wherever they are.

Yes, this C Class which is pre-facelift (newer Cs'?, I dont know) amongst others are very camber sensitive but they dont have to be. The learned one in service obtained what I understand were a set of bolts which are used once and once only to set what is called camber and castor angles etc of all four wheels.

There is a tolerence factor employed and, as far as I know, the bias on mine is now slighty right of centre (thats not my Politics BTW :rolleyes: ), initially it was full left. The only caveat at the time was they couldnt guarantee long term acceptable tyre wear if you see what I mean. Personally I was more interested in long term acceptable elbow wear. To be honest, each couple of weeks I check wear with a vernier gauge, (yes its sad I know) and the condition of the tread is OK as far as I can see. Michelin Pilot Sport Twos' BTW.

So, what you need to ask for is four wheel camber/castor alignment as I have had done (mine was done in waranty, others may have to pay) and tell them what you want to achieve.

Someone from Hungary PMd me earlier and asked me what to do and what the result was. Well, you can see what I had done mechanically and the result is:-

On the LHS of the road the car is perfect, middle of the road or flats the car is perfect, RHS the car does, sooner or later but it takes ages, drift right. But, as I dont drive on the right its not a problem.

If there is anything more specific you need just let me know.

Regards All, Portzy.
 
I had my car 4 wheel checked and the o/s front wheel castor was too great. This wasn't picked up by the three dealers that had checked the car, but I spotted the fail on the printout.
The dealer Tehs said it wasn't a problem even though the castor was out of spec. Well I know different, this will encourage the o/s front wheel to lead the n/s wheel causing a turn to the left.

I have fitted the modified castor bolt and washers and the pull is barely noticeable now and the steering is lighter. The steering felt elastic and heavy around the dead ahead due to being loaded to the right to drive straight ahead.

Part number A210 330 00 18. Price £7.50 + vat.

If you know your car is out of spec then you can fit this yourself as there is no adjustment once fitted.
If your wishbone is like mine then the front bolt will adjust the castor and the rear the camber and to a smaller degree the castor. This should be obvious looking at the wishbone layout.

It it true that the rear toe-in is different on both sides of the car which will encourage the car to drift left.

Some dealers have been adjusting the camber per MB tech bulletin, which will destroy the tyres. Don't do it.
 
on the motorway middle lane, my W210 (avantgarde) and Polo don't drift.
My old 14 year old Audi 90 did develop a fairly severe drift (it didn't have it before) and was probably down to some worn suspension component.
It would start going off at about 35 degrees off straight - to the left,
if I let go of the steering wheel.
 
I'm not technically skilled enough to make any adjustments myself.

Does any one know of any decent garages in South East London who do make the adjustments as suggested by Dieselman? Any ideas how much such adjustments would cost?

I would prefer not going to a MB dealer :mad: as they never do what you request yet charge an arm and leg.

Thanks
 
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