GLC Crabbing

[Alab]

I purchased my 18” wheel GLC 220 in September 2016 unaware of the crabbing issue at the time. The skipping issue was apparent almost immediately but only when I noticed the excessive wear on the outer edges of the front tyres that I started to realise the severity of the problem. After 10,000 miles, the front tyres were barely legal. My Mercedes dealership assured me they would replace the tyres with a set of all-weather softer compound tyres and put me on a waiting list for tyres that were on back order. Some 2 months later and several frustrating calls, my dealership advised me the tyres were now available however Mercedes-Benz had changed their criteria and would only replace the tyres for the larger 19” and 20” rims. It seems Mercedes are saying there is no issue with the smaller 17” and 18” wheels; wrong!

I have tried all avenues including logging an official complaint, they simply smugly tell me to take it up with the motor vehicle ombudsman; all of my emails appear to be being ignored. I paid over £42k for my GLC and to say I am disappointed is an understatement. It appears that I have no option other than to purchase new tyres but my concern is they will only last for another 10,000 miles.

I have raised a complaint to the motor vehicle ombudsman who are aware of the issue, I do not hold a lot of hope but may be pleasantly surprised.

I do love my GLC so if anyone is able to offer any advice other than to sell my car, it would be appreciated.

 

[AMGeed]

Welcome to the forum.

You are not alone. This is the official statement
Mercedes tyre 'skipping' - official statement
And the other reported problems
Mercedes GLC Clonking and juddering on near full steering lock

RHD W213 E63 crabbing issue?

Loud clunk coming from front end when reversing

All C43 AMG owners - What shall I do?

 

[Richard199]

Hello. I hve just purchased a 2017 GLC and read with worry about the crabbing issue. I have now used the car daily for a few weeks and yes it does crab at low speed on car parks, turning in and out of drive, but to be frank i dont really see this as a major deal like some other forums and owners. I certainly dont see it as a deal breaker in my purchase or something i would consider rejecting the car for. I also have a Jaguar XF and this crabbed far worse than my GLC.

Had a Jaguar recall for the tyres on my XF, now fine and i am having all weather tyres on the GLC next week (subject to the beast from the East).

 

[AndrewOl]

For me I don’t worry about this; as far as I’m concerned it’s a 4wd thing. All the ones I have had have done it to a greater or lesser extent.

 

[AndyRC]

I wasn't aware of crabbing of any description until I started looking at a C63/43 and heard about it via MB forums. Having spent the last 4.5 years in a VW Passat Alltrack which has the VAG Haldex FWD system , running 18 x 8J Conti Sport Contact 3 tyres I never experienced crabbing. I even tried to cause it to happen a few months back, applying full lock multiple times in an empty Tesco car park which had a very heavy covering of frost, no matter what I did it wouldn't crab. So it doesn't affect all FWD cars. I did experience it in a C43 when the salesman actually demonstrated it at the start of a test drive. When we came back half an hour later with warm tyres I couldn't re create it.

 

[Richard199]

My car has been parked up for the past 4 days because of the beast from the East/ storm Emma, so today was the first time i went out in it. As i turned into a car park after driving it for twenty minutes it did not crab. On leaving the car park it did crab quite lot on full lock. However, to be fair as soon as i straightened the car up i forgot about it. Personally i dont see it as a big deal to me. I was however impressed with my GLC in the snow of some snow drift lanes, the car handled like a dream. My answer to anyone who is put off about buying a GLC because of the comments on forums...dont be. The GLC is a great car and worth buying. I wished though i could get Android Auto or the flipping internet to work

 

[Bry460]

Hi Alab, you pay £42000 for a car and then moan about tyres wearing out @ 10000 miles, I think you need to find some real world problems to complain about. Best of luck with this issue and any more that you find.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I purchased my 18” wheel GLC 220 in September 2016 unaware of the crabbing issue at the time. The skipping issue was apparent almost immediately but only when I noticed the excessive wear on the outer edges of the front tyres that I started to realise the severity of the problem. After 10,000 miles, the front tyres were barely legal. My Mercedes dealership assured me they would replace the tyres with a set of all-weather softer compound tyres and put me on a waiting list for tyres that were on back order. Some 2 months later and several frustrating calls, my dealership advised me the tyres were now available however Mercedes-Benz had changed their criteria and would only replace the tyres for the larger 19” and 20” rims. It seems Mercedes are saying there is no issue with the smaller 17” and 18” wheels; wrong!

I have tried all avenues including logging an official complaint, they simply smugly tell me to take it up with the motor vehicle ombudsman; all of my emails appear to be being ignored. I paid over £42k for my GLC and to say I am disappointed is an understatement. It appears that I have no option other than to purchase new tyres but my concern is they will only last for another 10,000 miles.

I have raised a complaint to the motor vehicle ombudsman who are aware of the issue, I do not hold a lot of hope but may be pleasantly surprised.

I do love my GLC so if anyone is able to offer any advice other than to sell my car, it would be appreciated.

Have you checked the tracking, just in case it's out?

What's the tread depth across the tyre, perhaps at five points across each tyre?

 

[Alab]

Hello. I hve just purchased a 2017 GLC and read with worry about the crabbing issue. I have now used the car daily for a few weeks and yes it does crab at low speed on car parks, turning in and out of drive, but to be frank i dont really see this as a major deal like some other forums and owners. I certainly dont see it as a deal breaker in my purchase or something i would consider rejecting the car for. I also have a Jaguar XF and this crabbed far worse than my GLC.

Had a Jaguar recall for the tyres on my XF, now fine and i am having all weather tyres on the GLC next week (subject to the beast from the East).

Hi Richard, Its not so much the crabbing being the issue but more to do with knackering out the tyres after 10K miles. Since posting MB have back tracked and now replaced the tyres with Michelins, lets hope they last a little longer

 

[Alab]

After much complaining MB have now replaced the tyres, its a shame the it was such a frustrating and difficult experience. It will be interesting to see if these last more than 10,000 miles.

 

[tmtch27]

I purchased my 18” wheel GLC 220 in September 2016 unaware of the crabbing issue at the time. The skipping issue was apparent almost immediately but only when I noticed the excessive wear on the outer edges of the front tyres that I started to realise the severity of the problem. After 10,000 miles, the front tyres were barely legal. My Mercedes dealership assured me they would replace the tyres with a set of all-weather softer compound tyres and put me on a waiting list for tyres that were on back order. Some 2 months later and several frustrating calls, my dealership advised me the tyres were now available however Mercedes-Benz had changed their criteria and would only replace the tyres for the larger 19” and 20” rims. It seems Mercedes are saying there is no issue with the smaller 17” and 18” wheels; wrong!

I have tried all avenues including logging an official complaint, they simply smugly tell me to take it up with the motor vehicle ombudsman; all of my emails appear to be being ignored. I paid over £42k for my GLC and to say I am disappointed is an understatement. It appears that I have no option other than to purchase new tyres but my concern is they will only last for another 10,000 miles.

I have raised a complaint to the motor vehicle ombudsman who are aware of the issue, I do not hold a lot of hope but may be pleasantly surprised.

I do love my GLC so if anyone is able to offer any advice other than to sell my car, it would be appreciated.

Hello, just joined the forum today to post this.
I've owned a GLC43 AMG Coupe since March 2018 and have had the crabbing issue as reported
It's a lease car so I've just put it with it as it goes back next April

I recently had it serviced and the car has covered just under 8000 miles and the car needed two new front tyres which cost around £500 to replace with the OEM Continental Sport Tyres.
I asked MB would the excessive tyre wear be down to the crabbing issue but they denied this.
Ever since I've had the new tyres put on the crabbing has been worse than ever which I presume is down to the extra grip of the new tyres

I spoke with a friend today who has a GLC 250D Coupe
He has made constant complaints to MB about the car and has had the winter tyres fitted FOC which has eased the problem but it still exists.
He was having the 4matic badge replaced on the car last week as one of the technicians had knocked it off during the service.
While waiting for the car to be fixed he was talking to a lady on the service desk about the car and complaining about the crabbing as normal and she replied to say "oh we can fix that by replacing the track rod end ball joints"
Obviously he was bit surprised by this as MB have never offered any other solution other than to put winter tyres on.

He rang me to this afternoon to tell me this so I have just rang MB myself (Warrington) and sure enough they have booked my car in for next Wednesday to asses it with a view to replacing these under warranty - apparently it depends on the age and mileage of the car and what they find in the assessment.

I've Googled it this afternoon and can find no mention anywhere about a recall or about Mercedes admitting this or offering to fix this under warranty so if you suffer from the crabbing issue I would contact your local MB dealer and mention replacing the tracking rod end ball joints and see how you go on.

Hope this helps..!

Rich

 

[MWCLS]

My mother in law has just taken delivery of a GLC 220d .. I did say this was a issue!

She just see's a 19 reg and MB badge must be good.

 

[JBD]

My mother in law has just taken delivery of a GLC 220d .. I did say this was a issue!

She just see's a 19 reg and MB badge must be good.

If it’s a 19 plate, it should now have a modification from factory


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Teckno]

Hi,
Here in Australia we initially had our summer Pirelli runflats replaced with Goodyear All Season M&S runflats.
MB AU have just approved replacing front steering knuckles on GLC 250 to fix the tyre crabbing issue. Initial reports are that the revised parts work. Early days as only a couple of conversions done. Our cars currently being converted with the new parts.
Thanks to all the info from UK owners with photos and part numbers for the RHD solution.

 

[Teckno]

Great News.......


Well it looks like the flood gates have been opened in Oz for the knuckle replacement program to RHD vehicles.


Our 250d, with air suspension finally was approved last week and car was converted.
Limited driving to date, but it seems what we thought it should be like on wet and cold roads doing is actually finally happening.
Our tyres are Goodyear All Season, run flats.
Can posters who have the conversion done please let us know if their tyres are All Season type, or original Summer runflats, by brand.


If a Coupe, were tyres changed or are they original non run flats ? Brand ?


Thanks to everyone for sharing info.

 

[RehanGLC]

My brother in law just got most of his money back via the financial Ombudsman and MB have made the payment.

The following is the decision:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/259069/DRN1169848.pdf