So it's not wheel balancing...

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Flyer

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 16, 2002
Messages
1,638
Location
Houston, Texas
Car
Ford Mustang GT
Had my CLK serviced at an MB dealer which included the replacement of the rear tyres. The fronts had been replaced a couple of weeks prior.

I had complained of a vibration at anything above 40mph (getting progressively worse as the speed increased), so I asked for the fronts to be re-balanced whilst they were doing the rears.

After the service, they advised me that the centre track rod needs replacing (at a cost of £336!). I have no idea what a centre track rod is; surely there's only a left and a right?

I still have the vibration, which is really annoying and tiring (I have a 70 mile daily motorway commute). I called the MB dealer who assured me that all four wheels had been balanced and the vibration is most likely caused by the centre track rod needing replacing.

Is that feasible? Would there be any other possible reason for a severe vibration?
 
Sound like the symptoms of a failing steering damper.....do CLK's have steering Dampers?
 
Rods and track rods will not cause the shaking, OK they will aggravate it once the wheels start to wobble.

Its badly balanced tyres when you drive into it and out of it at a higher speed.
 
There's balancing, and then there's balancing..
and then there's centering :)
 
Suggest you take your car somewhere else and get the wheels balanced. Ive had this on a few occasions where a tyre shop's machine me abe out of calibration and taking it somewhere else and just getting the wheels checked with the previous weights installed throws up a completely different set of results.
 
Sound like the symptoms of a failing steering damper.....do CLK's have steering Dampers?
As LastMinute says, there is a steering damper which was replaced earlier this year by Mr Walker.

television said:
Rods and track rods will not cause the shaking, OK they will aggravate it once the wheels start to wobble.

Its badly balanced tyres when you drive into it and out of it at a higher speed.
So would you suspect that the wheel balancing hasn't been done, or has been done incorrectly?

Murray Systems said:
There's balancing, and then there's balancing..
and then there's centering
As Graham says, can you explain further?

desilva said:
Suggest you take your car somewhere else and get the wheels balanced. Ive had this on a few occasions where a tyre shop's machine me abe out of calibration and taking it somewhere else and just getting the wheels checked with the previous weights installed throws up a completely different set of results.
The fronts were replaced by KwikFit (I know, was an emergency). The vibration was worse after they replaced them, so I took it back for the fronts to be re-balanced. Made no difference, so when it was being serviced, I asked the MB dealer to balance them whilst they were replacing the rears.

I suspect that they haven't re-balanced the fronts, but wanted to check first if the problem could be elsewhere.
 
there are balancers and there are balancers... usually kwik fits have the former, you need to go to a proper local tyre outfit who should have a better balancer... if you see them spinning the wheel by hand, its a cheap one...
 
I think you should go somewhere else for another wheel balance check. If the vibration is felt through the steering wheel then I'd suggest the fronts are out. If the vibration is felt through the car, like it's under your seat, then it's likely to be the rears. I've known vibration to come from a slightly damaged wheel, often caused by a nasty pot hole, but to be honest, balancing should take most of this out. You can have the wheel checked without a tyre fitted just to be sure. Hope you get it sorted soon, it must be driving you nuts. Matt.
 
Thanks guys, can I just stress that the fronts have been balanced twice by KwikFit and once by a Mercedes main dealer (presumably contracted-out to their local fitter).

Before I go and get them balanced by a third tyre fitters, for the fourth time, is there likely to be any other reason for the severe vibrations and is the dealer's prognosis of a worn centre track rod likely or not to cause the problem?

Matt, the steering wheel vibrates like mad and I can feel my left foot vibrating on the footrest. There's also a wierd oscillation going on, at 80+, a secondary vibration comes in, lasting a couple of seconds, fading and then repeating.
 
Thanks guys, can I just stress that the fronts have been balanced twice by KwikFit and once by a Mercedes main dealer (presumably contracted-out to their local fitter).

Before I go and get them balanced by a third tyre fitters, for the fourth time, is there likely to be any other reason for the severe vibrations and is the dealer's prognosis of a worn centre track rod likely or not to cause the problem?

Matt, the steering wheel vibrates like mad and I can feel my left foot vibrating on the footrest. There's also a wierd oscillation going on, at 80+, a secondary vibration comes in, lasting a couple of seconds, fading and then repeating.
Its as my first post, any worn bushes will make matters worse, but will not cause it in the first place, they cant.
 
My logic tells me it's the front wheels, either tyres or the wheel itself. Regardless of any other worn linkages, the wheel should 'caster' and if balanced properly that should mean it would be smooth. Only other thing could be the wheel is not on properly, its damaged [by pot hole etc] or something's wrong with the power steering but that sounds a bit unlikely and to be honest is beyond my technical knowhow. Best of luck. M
 
I have been involved with hundreds of this type of post, and only correctly balanced wheels will solve it.

I will get the name of the best balancer later in the day
 
Just as an afterthought, you might just have a really bad tyre. You know, a real friday afternoon job that is all out of true. Nevertheless, Malcolm is right and a good balance should in theory sort it out. If you did get the dealer to replace the joint, I'd like to think they wouldn't charge you when you find it doesn't fix the problem, but then I'm just old fashioned and I doubt they'd go with that.
 
As LastMinute says, there is a steering damper which was replaced earlier this year by Mr Walker.


So would you suspect that the wheel balancing hasn't been done, or has been done incorrectly?


As Graham says, can you explain further?


The fronts were replaced by KwikFit (I know, was an emergency). The vibration was worse after they replaced them, so I took it back for the fronts to be re-balanced. Made no difference, so when it was being serviced, I asked the MB dealer to balance them whilst they were replacing the rears.

I suspect that they haven't re-balanced the fronts, but wanted to check first if the problem could be elsewhere.

I know of a Kwik Fit branch in Bristol where they knew there machine needed calibration. If anyone complained they just sent them to a different branch. S
 
we calibrate ours once a month, we can do it ourselves... if you imagine most of these kwik fit type places will never bother calibrating at all..
 
I had my amg alloys balanced by my local tyre guy in South London and as I had to do a run down the M4. On my way out of London, the wobble through the wheel was soo bad that I had to pull off the M4 in Bracknell to find a tyre shop. Found a tiny one man place run and got him to check them....he told me that bot fronts were out far enough to cause the problem. He rebalanced the fronts and now as smooth as silk !!!! Just goes to show...its really hard sometimes to get the job done properly.
 
I had this exact same problem with my CLK (208 like yours).

The issue was the rear wheels needed rebalancing .. I was complaining about the fronts to the tyre shop (another one, different to the one which fitted new tyres). The fronts turned out to be fine and balanced. This other tyre shop suggested it could be the rears, which it was (I was watching all the work).

no idea why, but unbalanced rear wheels can and do cause the fronts (properly balanced) to vibrate at certain speeds (the vibration goes when you go faster).

Try getting the rears rebalanced.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom