i got it fixed!

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Adam230K

MB Enthusiast
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
3,085
Car
German oil burner
Hi guys,

some of you might remember me when i was moaning about my car having poor control on bad roads, and it seemed to want to follow the road, rather then where my hand was steering it.

Well i've solved the problem (finally got time off uni) and it was the passenger side wheel. it had (ALOT) of bumps and lumps on the inner tyre, (which funnilly enough, was a bridgestone tyre) got it replaced with bridgestone ones again, and the car drives like a dream :D

But he the mechanic brought my attention to something, but he couldn't quite pinpoint the problem himself.

The car was on the ramp, and he full lock the wheels to the right, and showed me that the driver's side wheel was kinda loose. Basically he could judder it, in and out. He told me this may have something to do with the wishbone or one of the alignment arms.

I'm thinking to take it to my local MB specialist to see what the problem really is, but the kwikfit mechanic told me its kinda dangerous to drive on motorways... even though it feels absolultely perfect in terms of handling.

but anyways i'm glad i got it fixed, i didnt need to put a hole in my pocket for new alloys, just cost me £130 for that tyre and that was that!
 
There is no real test for full lock, just by jacking one side and moving the road wheel backwards and forwards will show up any movement in the idler or other parts, do the same on half lock, if anything is wrong you will see it
 
Possible suspension arm ball joint, track rod end, steering assembly linkage wishbone inner bushes. IF HE CAN MOVE IT BY HAND something's extremely loose somewhere that shouldn't be. The kwick fit guy has given you good advice
 
Possible suspension arm ball joint, track rod end, steering assembly linkage wishbone inner bushes. IF HE CAN MOVE IT BY HAND something's extremely loose somewhere that shouldn't be. The kwick fit guy has given you good advice
makes a change suprised he never tried to sell you new suspension systems all round:eek:
 
makes a change suprised he never tried to sell you new suspension systems all round:eek:

This is in the back of my mind, is there anything wrong ?

With the test in my first post, that would confirm it and full lock is no test
 
I do find it wierd that it can be juddered in full lock, cuz the other wheel on the other side, (front) doesn't do that. But television, what am i supposed to be looking for when i roll the wheel?

and how accurate is that guy at quik fit? he sounded really concerned and said it was very dangerous on motorways, even though the car feels perfect.
 
If anyone can demonstrate a wheel is loose then perhaps your university education might be suggesting something is terribly wrong?

PLEASE get it checked out and perhaps reconsider the advice about even using the car.

Regards
John
 
I do find it wierd that it can be juddered in full lock, cuz the other wheel on the other side, (front) doesn't do that. But television, what am i supposed to be looking for when i roll the wheel?

and how accurate is that guy at quik fit? he sounded really concerned and said it was very dangerous on motorways, even though the car feels perfect.

MB's have a very good steering lock, and as I said there is no test for full lock.

If you jack one side up, then you hold the jacked wheel with one hand each side of the wheel, you then rock the wheel by pushing and pulling each hand with someone looking at anything that is moving.

Though you have not said what wheel is moving I suspect it was the near side, as the off side is held be the drop arm and only one track rod, where as the nearside has the idler as well to contend with

If you study the geometry of the steering you will see what I mean.

To do any meaningful test do it on half lock, when was the last time you saw a car on full lock on the motorway, on full lock some components are at the point of going inside out.
http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GM=717.460&CT=F&cat=45H&SID=46&SGR=120&SGN=07
 
Possible suspension arm ball joint, track rod end, steering assembly linkage wishbone inner bushes. IF HE CAN MOVE IT BY HAND something's extremely loose somewhere that shouldn't be. The kwick fit guy has given you good advice

Disagree 100% - the car was dangerous to drive on ANY road.
 
MB's have a very good steering lock, and as I said there is no test for full lock.

If you jack one side up, then you hold the jacked wheel with one hand each side of the wheel, you then rock the wheel by pushing and pulling each hand with someone looking at anything that is moving.

Though you have not said what wheel is moving I suspect it was the near side, as the off side is held be the drop arm and only one track rod, where as the nearside has the idler as well to contend with

If you study the geometry of the steering you will see what I mean.

To do any meaningful test do it on half lock, when was the last time you saw a car on full lock on the motorway, on full lock some components are at the point of going inside out.
http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.asp?TP=1&F=202085&M=111%2E975&GA=722%2E605&GM=717%2E460&CT=F&cat=45H&SID=46&SGR=120&SGN=07

Stick it on a block if you do that - I wouldn't put my hand at half past twelve and rock a car on a jack .

Wheel bearings aside - if you can feel play in suspension with your hands then something is severely shagged and ready to (possibly) fail with unpleasany results. Don't drive the car (not least near me) . Components related to steering only, wear around centre +- 25 degrees , As TV says, full lock proves nothing except CV or doughnuts on Leyand FWD cars.....

It frightens me that Kwikfit should tender advice when they don't understand - if he found something horrible he should have not tendered any other advice other than telling you to not drive the car until you have an inspection by someones who knows - you can kill with kindness.
It's called a DUTY OF CARE.
 
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I do find it wierd that it can be juddered in full lock, cuz the other wheel on the other side, (front) doesn't do that. But television, what am i supposed to be looking for when i roll the wheel?

and how accurate is that guy at quik fit? he sounded really concerned and said it was very dangerous on motorways, even though the car feels perfect.


How bad does it have to be for you to take notice? there is a wobbly bit on part of the car that can kill you - and you wonder if you should drive it? does the wheel have to drop off?

you arenn't supposed to look at anything - no disrespect but until it collapses on to three legs nothing will happen - this is a big heavy relatively powerful car with something drastically wrong and you don't know what to look for - take it to someone who does - if at 60K something has gone wobbly I think it is fair to say that it isn't go to be cured with a puff of WD40.
 
Disagree 100% - the car was dangerous to drive on ANY road.

All MOT test are done with the wheels straight ahead, then the tester will swing the wheels towards one lock and shake and then the other any faulty parts can easily be seen, and a bar would be used on any suspect joints or rods.

It is the full lock on this thread and MB have a very good lock,and almost twice as good as some FWD cars.but you only ever use full lock when parking.
 
How bad does it have to be for you to take notice? there is a wobbly bit on part of the car that can kill you - and you wonder if you should drive it? does the wheel have to drop off?

Experts, what is your view on the possibility of a warn ball joint detaching completely?

My understanding is that you would first start to hear pretty bad squeaks from the joint and then would start feeling the car is not driving well and the joint would still be firmly in place. The wear would need to be extreme to allow the joint detach.

Some failures have happened but I have no close experience what really has caused the failure.

I would replace a joint immediately if it appears loose or makes noise, I'm not suggesting the service does not need to be done soon. Just that in my opinion a total failure is extremely unlikely in typical cases. The worst thing usually is that it is humiliating to drive with an MB when a joint makes that noise (which is good, it forces you to fix it immediately).
 
I have a feeling here that if the kwick fit guy said it was wrong, why did he not pin point the problem, or was he just guessing and did not know, lets face it its not rocket science, its about as basic as it comes
 
I have a feeling here that if the kwick fit guy said it was wrong, why did he not pin point the problem, or was he just guessing and did not know, lets face it its not rocket science, its about as basic as it comes

Quite simply because he only gets bonuses on brakes and shock absorbers:rolleyes:
 
Experts, what is your view on the possibility of a warn ball joint detaching completely?


I'm about as far from an expert as it is possible to get, but here goes ...

Way back in the early 1980s I went back to college and as I had very little money I drove a cheap used Renault 5. My family insisted I took care of it and I had it serviced by Renault UK Limited who owned the local Renault dealer.

I had the car for nearly two years and it had two MOTs in that time, both done by Renault UK. I picked the car up after the second MoT, paid the bill and drove it off the dealer's premises. About 400 yards away I stopped at a red traffic light. When it changed to green I drove off.

Immediately on moving off, there was a loud CLUNK! and the car lurched to one side and stopped. I got out of the car to find one front wheel at a crazy angle. Something had broken.

I called out the AA and they diagnosed a broken ball joint. The patrolman said it was in an atrocious condition with the socket very badly corroded and the ball badly worn to the point where it had just popped out. He called out a tow truck which was going to take me back to the Renault garage but I asked the driver instead to tow the car to a garage near my home where my family knew the owner.

He found that all four front ball joints were severely corroded and worn, and said that any of them could have popped out at any time.

There was no warning, no noise, it just popped out. Thank God I was doing no more than walking pace.

I had all the ball joints replaced plus some other parts on the drive shaft and instructed solicitors to demand restitution from the Renault dealer. After an exchange of letters that took several weeks I finally had all my expenses paid in full.

So no, you don't necessarily get any warning. The car drove perfectly for months before this happened. There were no untoward noises.

My solicitor employed a motor engineer who reported that the balljoints were so bad, they were probably in an unsatisfactory condition at the previous MoT test a year before. But nothing was obvious to me as a driver and the Renault dealer had missed it at two MoT tests and the service in between.

So don't take a risk. Have this looked at thoroughly by a competent mechanic, preferably an MB dealer or an independent MB specialist. It happened to me at less than 5 mph with no warning. What if you and/or your loved ones are doing 70 mph and a ball joint fails?
 
It needs checking properly.

If you have a bush, ball joint worn out you will probaby hear somthing untoward while driving.

I think I know what the Kwick 5hit mechanic is talking about. That is not play he can feel; just the end slack in the steering rack. If there is NO play when the wheel is moved side to side and up and down when it is straight then your should be ok.

It doees really need checking by someone who knows what they are talking about.

Get your local specialist or dealer to have a look.
 
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My understanding is that you would first start to hear pretty bad squeaks from the joint and then would start feeling the car is not driving well and the joint would still be firmly in place. The wear would need to be extreme to allow the joint detach.
Would it be fair to suggest the following might be caused by the problems being discussed. Either that or the owner was failing to check the tyre pressures?

Well i've solved the problem (finally got time off uni) and it was the passenger side wheel. it had (ALOT) of bumps and lumps on the inner tyre, (which funnilly enough, was a bridgestone tyre) got it replaced with bridgestone ones again, and the car drives like a dream :D
I doubt very much the brand of tyre has anything to do with your problem, these 'bumps and lumps are probably caused by heat build-up?

John
 
I think maybe we are being a bit unfair to the kwickfit guy. He has alerted the owner to a potential suspension fault. Although he perhaps didn't know the exact cause of the problem he did advise against driving any long distance at speed. Perhaps he should have said "don't drive it at all" but I don't know what exactly was said. Whatever it needs checking out by an expert ASAP as BlackC55 says.
 
I think maybe we are being a bit unfair to the kwickfit guy. He has alerted the owner to a potential suspension fault. Although he perhaps didn't know the exact cause of the problem he did advise against driving any long distance at speed. Perhaps he should have said "don't drive it at all" but I don't know what exactly was said. Whatever it needs checking out by an expert ASAP as BlackC55 says.

There is no "perhaps" about it -

I installed a large industrial dryer a couple of years back, fitted with 3 x 370kW gas burners - I of course am responsible for the integrity of the gas trains and flues - as I ran the installation up I noticed a leak on the incoming gas supply from the consumer (this was an LPG job) .

I reported it to the customer who was desperate to run production - his reply ?

"it's only a little leak - you must run"

my reply :
"well it will only be a little explosion then - you may not run"

Simple as that - notice on the panel door , power locked off and out -

Yes, I could have allowed the guy to get the contractors back later that week and for him to carry on and run but if/when something went bang because the contractors didn't turn up , I'm sure that factory manager would be the first to start pointing fingers. You can never understate matters of safety - even if people choose to ignore you.
 

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