Potholes and potential issue with steering alignment C63

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sgregory124

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 11, 2004
Messages
1,169
Location
Derbyshire
Car
E63S
Morning all,

Your advice would be much appreciated.

Does anyone know, when driving on a straight road, with the wheel pointing dead centre, if C63's or even all W205's pull/drift gently in either direction? Also, how much does the crown of the road and other camber affect that behaviour in these cars?

The reason I ask is.......I was on my way to Salisbury yesterday and hit what felt like a monster pot hole (head on, on a straight bit of road, not offset), didn't even see it coming as the combination of bright sun and heavy shade from trees on both sides of the road made it practically invisible :(

I waited for the inevitable tyre pressure loss warning, which didn't come, stopped the car, checked for tyre damage/bulges etc or any obvious signs of wheel damage - nothing. Carried on to my destination, no vibration at the wheel or odd noises etc. Also when I finally got parked up, turned the wheels on full lock and got under the front of the car as best I could to have a nose around, no obvious signs of damage there either. No pressure loss on the way home so in theory all good.

However, the car now feels like it pulls to the right very slightly when on a straight road, but its extremely hard to tell if its the road camber doing it or the car. Also, I can't remember if my steering centre mark has always been canted a few mm to the left or not, hence my question.

Hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this, I don't really want to be getting it realigned unless absolutely necessary, given the apparent lack of competence shown by the dealer network in this regard!

As always, thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Simon
 
@sgregory124 Ouch. My W205 tracks dead straight (225/50 17 inch on front) and it's one of the best things about the car. If I wanted to, I could take my hands off the steering wheel for quite a long time and it would keep driving straight! Crown and camber don't seem to affect my car very much.

There are alternatives to MB when it comes to alignment and checks. I don't know any near you but I've used Wheels in Motion for all my cars since 2010 including my W205. I've also used Centre of Gravity (which may be closer to Derbyshire) for alignment before especially when I was tuning a car and wanted a fast road setup. Those guys get a lot of Porsche drivers coming from all over the country for setup.

Given you described it as a monster pothole, for peace of mind, I would be taking the car to a trustworthy place to get the alignment checked.
 
@sgregory124 Ouch. My W205 tracks dead straight (225/50 17 inch on front) and it's one of the best things about the car. If I wanted to, I could take my hands off the steering wheel for quite a long time and it would keep driving straight! Crown and camber don't seem to affect my car very much.

There are alternatives to MB when it comes to alignment and checks. I don't know any near you but I've used Wheels in Motion for all my cars since 2010 including my W205. I've also used Centre of Gravity (which may be closer to Derbyshire) for alignment before especially when I was tuning a car and wanted a fast road setup. Those guys get a lot of Porsche drivers coming from all over the country for setup.

Given you described it as a monster pothole, for peace of mind, I would be taking the car to a trustworthy place to get the alignment checked.

Hmm....i'm erring on the side of getting it checked alright, but don't know if i'm being paranoid. My hesitation stems from the fact I can't remember if my wheel was always slightly off centre or not.

I have read good things about WIM and wouldn't be averse to a trip down there if required, but not familiar with Centre of Gravity, having said that, they are very local to me (< 35 miles) and their testimonials are very good. I described the pothole as a 'monster' but that is taking into account every pothole feels horrendous in this car (not complaining obviously), just a fact of life with such a hard setup I guess.
 
However, the car now feels like it pulls to the right very slightly when on a straight road, but its extremely hard to tell if its the road camber doing it or the car.
Find an empty road and drive on both sides and straddle the crown to get a feel for how the camber and crown of the road affect it?
 
Find an empty road and drive on both sides and straddle the crown to get a feel for how the camber and crown of the road affect it?

Will try this tonight, although on the way home last night on a variety of roads it was extremely hard to tell - on some roads th car seemed to drift to the right slightly with the wheel perfectly centred, but on other roads it seemed to track straight :(
 
Will try this tonight, although on the way home last night on a variety of roads it was extremely hard to tell - on some roads th car seemed to drift to the right slightly with the wheel perfectly centred, but on other roads it seemed to track straight :(
It does seem odd that it is the right it is heading to. An in built bias to the left and road camber pulling it left is more what I'd expect.
Straddling the crown neutralises road camber effects and can give a truer picture of a car's natural tendency to wander. Steering geometry is complex and even the weight acting through the suspension spring can impact it.
 
It does seem odd that it is the right it is heading to. An in built bias to the left and road camber pulling it left is more what I'd expect.
Straddling the crown neutralises road camber effects and can give a truer picture of a car's natural tendency to wander. Steering geometry is complex and even the weight acting through the suspension spring can impact it.
I went out earlier, ran on a variety of roads, got to say that whilst the car doesn't wander and remains straight, the 'natural' central position of the steering wheel is perhaps 1 or 2 degrees to the left. Driving on the crown of the road, the car tracks straight. But in seemingly all scenarios, once you put the wheel to dead centre, it definitely pulls to the right.

I've dropped Centre Gravity an email, they would be my preferred option given their location. If I draw a blank i'll certainly try Wheels In Motion. Thanks for the input.
 
I went out earlier, ran on a variety of roads, got to say that whilst the car doesn't wander and remains straight, the 'natural' central position of the steering wheel is perhaps 1 or 2 degrees to the left. Driving on the crown of the road, the car tracks straight. But in seemingly all scenarios, once you put the wheel to dead centre, it definitely pulls to the right.
Sounds like the toe settings have taken a knock. Was it the OS wheel that took the hit? What about the rear wheel?- it could be affected also. There's also a (more remote) possibility of a broken spring affecting tracking.
I've dropped Centre Gravity an email, they would be my preferred option given their location. If I draw a blank i'll certainly try Wheels In Motion. Thanks for the input.
Getting it checked out is the way to go for sure - before it shows up as acute tyre wear.
 
Yes drivers side front, I have a feeling the rear wheel missed it, although I will check it for sure. Whilst out on a couple of deserted roads I performed a few abrupt swerves left and right, just to see if I could feel (or hear) anything different, again nothing felt amiss, completely controlled and composed.
 
OP , when you said you 'stopped and checked for damage' , have you lifted the car up and inspected everything closely including the inner rim of your wheels ? If your car has stock MB wheels from what I see on here they are notoriously fragile. No loss of air is not a real indication of no damage.

Hope it all works out OK . any chance of getting back there and measuring/photographing the pot hole in case you need to claim ? Word is they would rather pay out than fix pot holes.
 
OP , when you said you 'stopped and checked for damage' , have you lifted the car up and inspected everything closely including the inner rim of your wheels ? If your car has stock MB wheels from what I see on here they are notoriously fragile. No loss of air is not a real indication of no damage.

Hope it all works out OK . any chance of getting back there and measuring/photographing the pot hole in case you need to claim ? Word is they would rather pay out than fix pot holes.

No, only a visual check on the ground round the inner edge of the wheel/tyre, surely i'd feel vibration/shimmy/something through the steering wheel if the road wheel was damaged? Unfortunately i'm no stranger to pothole damage having had one bend on an Alpina I used to own - which ended up having to be reshaped by a specialist.

I wish I could get photos of the pothole, sadly it was the A346 between Andover and Salisbury and I live near Derby, so no chance of going back anytime soon (I couldn't tell you exactly where it was now given the sun/shade visibility) :(
 
Our 205 63 tracked perfectly straight without any pulling at all.
 
Yes drivers side front, I have a feeling the rear wheel missed it, although I will check it for sure.
Then if I've got this right - that implies the toe on the front OS wheel has been knocked askew. If it had been a rear wheel then I'd expect the steering wheel to be crooked the other way.
Whilst out on a couple of deserted roads I performed a few abrupt swerves left and right, just to see if I could feel (or hear) anything different, again nothing felt amiss, completely controlled and composed.
That's what I do - let it swing/roll from one side to the other and gauge the responses. It really does highlight any anomalies and is a good check for suspected deflating of any tyre. That it felt like it did probably excludes the possibility of a broken spring. A bit of toe tweaking and you're good to go!
 
Centre of Gravity have a great reputation but sit down when reading their quote.

Fair value when setting up a performance or modified car for track use or ultimate on road performance, but pricey for sorting this type of issue.

I like to have only best people working on my cars and I don’t mind paying a little more for that privilege, but even I thought it was a lot when I asked for a quote.

Find somewhere with a Hunter Hawkeye wheel alignment set up, and a good reputation for using it, and they’ll probably be well placed to sort the issue.
 
Centre of Gravity have a great reputation but sit down when reading their quote.

Fair value when setting up a performance or modified car for track use or ultimate on road performance, but pricey for sorting this type of issue.

I like to have only best people working on my cars and I don’t mind paying a little more for that privilege, but even I thought it was a lot when I asked for a quote.

Find somewhere with a Hunter Hawkeye wheel alignment set up, and a good reputation for using it, and they’ll probably be well placed to sort the issue.
@Bobby Dazzler Ah interesting. I used them when they first opened, many moons ago, and they were quite reasonably priced back then, comparable to Wheels in Motion.

Yes, you make a sensible point regarding what @sgregory124 actually needs right now. How about Wingerworth Tyres in Derbyshire? Their reviews for tyre fitting and the occasional review for alignment seem to be consistently good and their website says they use a Hunter machine.
 
Centre of Gravity have a great reputation but sit down when reading their quote.

Fair value when setting up a performance or modified car for track use or ultimate on road performance, but pricey for sorting this type of issue.

I like to have only best people working on my cars and I don’t mind paying a little more for that privilege, but even I thought it was a lot when I asked for a quote.

Find somewhere with a Hunter Hawkeye wheel alignment set up, and a good reputation for using it, and they’ll probably be well placed to sort the issue.
I know one or two places I could go with Hunter gear, but there seem to be a lot of comments on various forums regarding the difficulty in actually getting an adjustment on these cars right.

In other words getting the correct steering wheel alignment and the suspension geometry to factory spec (assuming it’s actually out and I’m not being paranoid). I know the car has a tendency to wear the inner edges of the tyres first, but if that means better handling in the short to medium term I can live with that.

Who knows, this might be a storm in a teacup - Tony at WIM asked for contact details so will get the appropriate advice before committing to any work.
 
Just to update this thread for anyone who might be interested.

I have just come off a call with Tony Bones (17 minutes!), he went through all the possible causes of my potential problem, how much it would likely cost (estimated), how long, the science behind the problem - everything. The man filled me with nothing but confidence that if I choose to go down to WIM, they will absolutely sort the car out.

So, i'm going to give it a couple of weeks and make sure it really isn't me being completely paranoid, if i'm still convinced there's a problem i'll make the effort and go down.

Thanks all for the advice and recommendations.
 
Very bad luck ! If nothing's bent, a 4 wheel check and adjustment shouldn't come to more than £80, much more and you're being ripped off, there should be a built in compensation for camber. As the guys point out, Hunter is the setup to look for. Good luck, and PLEASE let us know how you get on.
 
Very bad luck ! If nothing's bent, a 4 wheel check and adjustment shouldn't come to more than £80, much more and you're being ripped off, there should be a built in compensation for camber. As the guys point out, Hunter is the setup to look for. Good luck, and PLEASE let us know how you get on.
Will definitely update the thread once i've decided what i'm doing.
 
My C205 was pulling to the right, or when driving straight the steering wheel was off centre. Got it aligned and it's perfect now, so yes I think you need to get the alignment checked. Mercedes dealer did mine, a bit overpriced but they had the car in for the day so justified it for the convenience, and they did a good job.
 

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