Odd noise when turning the steering wheel R129

[James1976]

Evening all.

This is going to be a bit hard to explain but I'll try my best!

Seemingly the front right hand side suspension on my 94 R129 SL is making an odd noise. It's most noticeable when I'm manouvering the car out of my space and it's on polished concrete. Less so when on the move and you don't notice it at normal driving speeds.

It's kind of a clonking noise when the wheel's being turned - it clonks without any specific patterns every now and again the more the wheel's being turned, as if the changing of the gemoetry at the front (as the wheel geometry moves over) makes the springs move, or a ball joint click and this goes through to the body and is also felt at the steering wheel?

The bushes all seem fine from a visual inspection and both a non Merc and a Merc specialist have looked at it (albeit without a detailed explanation) and said they can't see anything on a general check over.

Do they all do this? Could it be the steering box, and if so do these have oil and therefore could it have leaked out? Asking as trying to avoid many hours labour charges

Any suggestions no matter how rude or obvious gratefully received!

 

[BlackC55]

Ha ve the ball joints been checked in the proper manner?

 

[James1976]

Good question I don't know. I asked two garages to have a look over it and they found no problems. Would you think it would be ball joints rather than steering box, springs or the turret mounts? Is it possible a ball joint could make the noise whilst under load but no on a ramp?

 

[kth286]

one of the wishbone bushes can seize and put more wear on the other one which will clunk.

The seized end usually has to be sawn off.

Nobody can inspect a Merc suspension for fitness by visually looking, it has to be levered in a few places, and the knowledge and experience has to be there.

So, any old garage will not usually do.

 

[James1976]

one of the wishbone bushes can seize and put more wear on the other one which will clunk.

The seized end usually has to be sawn off.

Nobody can inspect a Merc suspension for fitness by visually looking, it has to be levered in a few places, and the knowledge and experience has to be there.

So, any old garage will not usually do.

Thanks. Back to the merc specialist I go then - I'll see what they say about it when I get a chance to book it in. Something's not right, I know that much!

 

[James1976]

If anyone's interested it's the strut mounts which have gone - pretty usual on a 75k car I'd guess.

Cheers,

J

 

[bolide]

I think failures like this are age-related as well as mileage-related. I've replaced a few top mounts on low-mileage 190Es in the last year

Nick Froome

 

[kth286]

always great to have a conclusion from original poster.

 

[James1976]

There's nothing more frustrating than following a post which has the same issue as your car and then finding that there's no conclusion!

Let's hope it's of some use to someone in the future.

Nick - thanks. Good to know it's not just another part of the car falling apart. I think the boot was likely put in by the fact I live in central London and therefore the speed humps are putting extra strain on the suspension components - they're likely original and have therefore given up the ghost. Hopefully it will be the last repair for some time!

Cheers,

J

 

[PhilvB]

I have the same noise, but have always put it down to the tyres being so wide that they scrunch/slip at slow speeds when turning in car parks.