Mercedes GLC Clonking and juddering on near full steering lock

[grober]

Ok, apologies for not posting for a while. I thought it was best to get on with my life and monitor the situation.

I've now done about 1,000 miles on my replacement Continental SportContact 5 Star rated tyres for my 21" equipped GLC43. And despite a single little wobble, I am please to report we have had no issues whatsoever during that period.

The car makes no noise, in fact these Star rated vs the MO rated models are definitely quieter. But more importantly no crabbing. During that period we've have it all, hot weather, and very cold weather, rain and today even snow, and hail, and sunshine. They haven't missed a beat.

In addition another problem I had was the excessive tyre wear. Currently there is no such evidence of the car.

In fact it has been so smooth as I expect of a Mercedes and just like our GLS was. So no, not all Mercedes/4x4/sport cars etc do this

Seriously, to me this whole episode is starting to seem like a past bad dream. I'm also aware that a few who reject within the first 30 days have now received their refunds. But personally I'm content that this car can drive like a Mercedes.

Will there be long term damage? Who knows...I'll get rid way before then, and honestly can't be bothered spending my time worrying about what may happen in the future. The here and now is good, and this is now the fantastic car that I thought I bought in the first place.

Glad you have eventually achieved some sort of resolution. Hopefully you can pass on your experience to similarly afflicted GLC owners and maybe a few MB dealers through the medium of this and other forums. perhaps its the " fix " folks have been looking for.

 

[HaveMercy]

I've now done about 1,000 miles on my replacement Continental SportContact 5 Star rated tyres for my 21" equipped GLC43. And despite a single little wobble, I am please to report we have had no issues whatsoever during that period.

That's great to hear. Key question for me now is will my new GLC, due end of May, already have SportContacts fitted?
Will I too need to fight with my dealer on this? Mine is not a 43AMG, but rather the 4x4 pack GLC 250d Sport...

 

[markjay]

I fully appreciate your elation after all the hassle with Mercedes over the crabbing you've experienced but did they rectify it, will it remain rectified on another brand and model of tyre like the LHS GLC. I also appreciate it will suffice until you change your GLC before the warranty expires but it's a hell of a state of affairs being hung out to dry like this by an alleged prestige company.

I agree, good result, all's well thst ends well, but it is dofficult to ignore that you shouldn't have to go through all this to get there.

 

[DRIVER200]

Ok, apologies for not posting for a while. I thought it was best to get on with my life and monitor the situation.

I've now done about 1,000 miles on my replacement Continental SportContact 5 Star rated tyres for my 21" equipped GLC43. And despite a single little wobble, I am please to report we have had no issues whatsoever during that period.

The car makes no noise, in fact these Star rated vs the MO rated models are definitely quieter. But more importantly no crabbing. During that period we've have it all, hot weather, and very cold weather, rain and today even snow, and hail, and sunshine. They haven't missed a beat.

In addition another problem I had was the excessive tyre wear. Currently there is no such evidence of the car.

In fact it has been so smooth as I expect of a Mercedes and just like our GLS was. So no, not all Mercedes/4x4/sport cars etc do this

Seriously, to me this whole episode is starting to seem like a past bad dream. I'm also aware that a few who reject within the first 30 days have now received their refunds. But personally I'm content that this car can drive like a Mercedes.

Will there be long term damage? Who knows...I'll get rid way before then, and honestly can't be bothered spending my time worrying about what may happen in the future. The here and now is good, and this is now the fantastic car that I thought I bought in the first place.

Glad you are satisfied with your car at the moment. Will be interesting to see what happens when winter arrives again and whether your tyres will continue to reduce Mr Crabby. As for us C Class owners we are still in the hands of Good Will Gestures from our respective dealerships so some of us will get new tyres but others will not. Wonderful. But guess overall MB have gotten away with properly fixing this problem and this whole issue will be buried under all the other new motoring news that floods in every day. But I suspect this issue will return again come winter.. Speak again soooooooon.

 

[dejongj]

That's great to hear. Key question for me now is will my new GLC, due end of May, already have SportContacts fitted?
Will I too need to fight with my dealer on this? Mine is not a 43AMG, but rather the 4x4 pack GLC 250d Sport...

You have a very different car with very different size wheels. They will have different treatment and will be subject to the all season tyres undoubtedly. I'd be pleasantly surprised if it will be delivered like that

Glad you are satisfied with your car at the moment. Will be interesting to see what happens when winter arrives again and whether your tyres will continue to reduce Mr Crabby. As for us C Class owners we are still in the hands of Good Will Gestures from our respective dealerships so some of us will get new tyres but others will not. Wonderful. But guess overall MB have gotten away with properly fixing this problem and this whole issue will be buried under all the other new motoring news that floods in every day. But I suspect this issue will return again come winter.. Speak again soooooooon.

Undoubtedly it will return for many other who haven't experienced it yet. I'm confident I'm ok now as we have some very cold spells in April and wet, much worse than in December/January to be honest. And it behaved impeccably.

 

[tangey]

I still await replacement tyres for my 18", which were ordered a couple of weeks ago. Got a phone call from the dealer yesterday to say they still hadn't arrived from germany, but were expected end of this week / beginning of next week.

 

[Deleted128943]

Haleluya, at last Listers fitted the Vredestein Quatrac 5 AS tyres to my GLC Coupe yesterday with no further hicups. The ride is slightly smoother and quieter than on the Conti MOE run flats they replaced but nothing major, the run flats didn't crab much, only time will tell if the crabbing has improved. Kind Mr Mercedes gave me another Tyrefit kit so I now have two which may prove to be handy one day. I kept the run flats as they're only 2 months old with aprox 1000 miles on them, I plan to stick them on Ebay, Gumtree and any other selling site. The worse case scenario is they don't go and I have to scrap them which is no hardship, I couldn't let Listers keep them and most likely stick them on another car.

 

[tangey]

Got the phone call on friday and went on Sat to get the tyres on my 18" wheels changed. The new tyres are Pirelli Scorpion Verde 107V all season (old ones were yokohama). Seem somewhat quieter in general driving. A couple of places where crabbing would have happened, no longer does. Might be some time before I can make a definitive conclusion, given the warm weather.

Didnt get offered, and didn't ask for the old tyres. I was told that 3 of the tyres had nails in them.

 

[Deleted128943]

Got the phone call on friday and went on Sat to get the tyres on my 18" wheels changed. The new tyres are Pirelli Scorpion Verde 107V all season (old ones were yokohama). Seem somewhat quieter in general driving. A couple of places where crabbing would have happened, no longer does. Might be some time before I can make a definitive conclusion, given the warm weather.

Didnt get offered, and didn't ask for the old tyres. I was told that 3 of the tyres had nails in them.

It's strange that Listers told me Mercedes dictate the tyre brand and fitted Vredestein Quatrac 5 to mine then others are getting Pirelli Scorpion Verde. Oh well at least we're slowly getting somewhere, it may not be the correct remedy but it's something. I hope it doesn't all kick of again next winter. This will definitely be my only Mercedes purchase I still feel they shafted me and I should have requested a refund within a month from purchase. It's great spending towards £50k on a vehicle which may depreciate quicker due to a design fault, I'm just hoping the crabbing issue dies a death before I come to sell in around 18mths to 2 yrs if I can last that long. In the Rolex world they call a Rolex owner who continually changes their Rolex a flipper, I'm a bit of a car flipper, I can't remember keeping a car much passed a year....

 

[grober]

It's strange that Listers told me Mercedes dictate the tyre brand and fitted Vredestein Quatrac 5 to mine then others are getting Pirelli Scorpion Verde. Oh well at least we're slowly getting somewhere, it may not be the correct remedy but it's something. I hope it doesn't all kick of again next winter. This will definitely be my only Mercedes purchase I still feel they shafted me and I should have requested a refund within a month from purchase. It's great spending towards £50k on a vehicle which may depreciate quicker due to a design fault, I'm just hoping the crabbing issue dies a death before I come to sell in around 18mths to 2 yrs if I can last that long. In the Rolex world they call a Rolex owner who continually changes their Rolex a flipper, I'm a bit of a car flipper, I can't remember keeping a car much passed a year....

Should probably read "Listers told me Mercedes dictate the tyre brands "
There will be a range of manufacturers who make suitable all weather tyres which will satisfy the necessary criteria to mitigate any crabbing behaviour. This might include a more open tread pattern, siping, more flexible sidewalls a higher silicon content to retain flexibility at low temperature.
Because the market for winter and all weather tyres tends to be "seasonal" tyre manufacturers tend to make them in batches at certain times of year in anticipation of demand meaning that possibly at this time of year demand would normally drop off and hence supply would reduce. I imagine Mercedes dealers will have a list of suitable substitute tyres to fit and what make the customer gets will be dictated by what they can readily get their hands on.

 

[tangey]

I imagine Mercedes dealers will have a list of suitable substitute tyres to fit and what make the customer gets will be dictated by what they can readily get their hands on.

I don't know what others were told, but in my case I was told that the tyres were supplied by Mercedes directly, and came in from Germany. He specifically told me that they (the dealer) were not allowed to source the tyres themselves. That is consistent with my dealer phoning me a couple of times to apologise that Merc was being slow in delivering the tyres.

 

[grober]

Fair enough. Rigid MB control of what model of tyres have been found to actually alleviate the problem would seem to be a good plan but since Mercedes don't manufacture tyres I imagine the same market supply and demand constraints apply to them also. Maybe only now that seasonal demand has dropped off, there are more suitable tyres entering the supply chain in Germany?

 

[DRIVER200]

It's strange that Listers told me Mercedes dictate the tyre brand and fitted Vredestein Quatrac 5 to mine then others are getting Pirelli Scorpion Verde. Oh well at least we're slowly getting somewhere, it may not be the correct remedy but it's something. I hope it doesn't all kick of again next winter. This will definitely be my only Mercedes purchase I still feel they shafted me and I should have requested a refund within a month from purchase. It's great spending towards £50k on a vehicle which may depreciate quicker due to a design fault, I'm just hoping the crabbing issue dies a death before I come to sell in around 18mths to 2 yrs if I can last that long. In the Rolex world they call a Rolex owner who continually changes their Rolex a flipper, I'm a bit of a car flipper, I can't remember keeping a car much passed a year....

I am the same with cars swopping my last one for the C43 after just 15 months. But I think the crabbing issue will probably fade away in time as remember other marques suffer from this and I don't think their values have suffered. As an exercise when you a ready to move it on take it back to the MB dealer you bought it from and ask them for a buy back/trade in value and see what they say... guess they wouldn't dare mention crabbing affecting the value!!

 

[Deleted128943]

Fair enough. Rigid MB control of what model of tyres have been found to actually alleviate the problem would seem to be a good plan but since Mercedes don't manufacture tyres I imagine the same market supply and demand constraints apply to them also. Maybe only now that seasonal demand has dropped off, there are more suitable tyres entering the supply chain in Germany?

I agree summer tyres would be seasonal but by nature of their description I'd expect all season tyres to be manufactured and available all year around, if not why would they be classed as all season?

 

[grober]

I agree summer tyres would be seasonal but by nature of their description I'd expect all season tyres to be manufactured and available all year around, if not why would they be classed as all season?

True but I think that many all season tyres have that important winter certification which covers them to meet the compulsory criteria for winter fitment in some European countries. This would again perhaps imply a seasonal demand for them in certain European countries where drivers would opt for all weather rather than pure winter tyres to meet legislative demands??
Winter Tyre Regulations ? EU Winter Driving Laws ? Michelin UK

ps-- I believe part of the criteria to be met for "winter/all-weather tyres in certain countries is tread depth meaning that while people might be happy trundling around on allweathers at under 3mm all summer come October or whenever they may be forced to buy new tyres anyway??

pps--- this may be relevant to the crabbing issue also in that, while winter or all weather tyres with their greater tread depth may mitigate the crabbing effect by allowing the tyre to "move" more relative to the road surface this facility may disappear as the tread wears down implying owners may have to renew their tyres well before minimun tread depth [ uk legislation] is reached.

 

[Deleted128943]

True but I think that many all season tyres have that important winter certification which covers them to meet the compulsory criteria for winter fitment in some European countries. This would again perhaps imply a seasonal demand for them in certain European countries where drivers would opt for all weather rather than pure winter tyres to meet legislative demands??
Winter Tyre Regulations ? EU Winter Driving Laws ? Michelin UK

ps-- I believe part of the criteria to be met for "winter/all-weather tyres in certain countries is tread depth meaning that while people might be happy trundling around on allweathers at under 3mm all summer come October or whenever they may be forced to buy new tyres anyway??

pps--- this may be relevant to the crabbing issue also in that, while winter or all weather tyres with their greater tread depth may mitigate the crabbing effect by allowing the tyre to "move" more relative to the road surface this facility may disappear as the tread wears down implying owners may have to renew their tyres well before minimun tread depth [ uk legislation] is reached.

Fair point in some European countries but does that include the UK, probably not as whilst our winters aren't brilliant they're generally not as bad as some European countries. I'd assume UK tyre manufacturers would ensure they supply AS tyres to meet the UK's requirements.

I agree there's a risk that as the AS tyres wear the crabbing could return which takes me back to the fact that this wasn't ever going to rectify the fault it was an effort to mask it. Mercedes know UK law and by messing us about with tyre changes they extend our ownership to beyond the 6mth right to a refund under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. My argument is Mercedes never tried to rectify the fault, do owners of LHD GLCs have to use specific tyres to mask crabbing, NO! If we RHD GLC owners don't stick with the AS tyres will we experiences crabbing, Yes!

 

[PETEJEV]

At 1st service today my dealer has ordered the AS tyres from MB due early next week, also advised that the reason for the crabbing was due to RH vehicles having the front diff slightly offset to clear the steering column resulting in 1 trackrod arm being very slightly longer so on full lock one wheel moves further than the other past the castor angle. Anyway after a year I hardly noticed the problem. Pete

 

[tangey]

I note that in the new GLC brochure (1st of June), AMGline and C43 models fitted with 19" and 20" wheels now come with all season tyres as standard.

they are a no cost option for all models with 17" and 18" wheels, for which it says:-

Improves cold weather grip and refinement

Why do they think it's required on a AMGline with 19", but only a no-cost option on a sport with 19" ?

Someone walking fresh into a dealership will have no basis of knowledge to make a decision on whether to take the no cost option

 

[DRIVER200]

At 1st service today my dealer has ordered the AS tyres from MB due early next week, also advised that the reason for the crabbing was due to RH vehicles having the front diff slightly offset to clear the steering column resulting in 1 trackrod arm being very slightly longer so on full lock one wheel moves further than the other past the castor angle. Anyway after a year I hardly noticed the problem. Pete

Had my car around 5 months now and covered 3,500 miles so arranging to take it back to dealer to have them check out the tyres for any unusual activity. Will take the opportunity of telling them that I am very disappointed at the way MB are dealing with C Class 4Matic owners who are experiencing crabbing issues and see what their response is.

 

[GG1]

I have had replacement 20" non run flats fitted, which seems to have solved the crabbing but it has introduced a jitter/vibration when travelling at 60/70.

Have anyone else experienced this problem?