Steering wheel feels heavy

[mustak]

My e320 coupe w124 steering wheel seems to feel heavy to turn, any ideas why?

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[brucemillar]

Steering damper
PS fluid
Low tyre pressure

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[hotrodder]

^^ That covers the usual glass half full suspects, glass half empty would be knackered lower balljoints or someone that doesn't know what they're doing trying to adjust play out of the steering box

The lower balljoints tend to go stiff rather than sloppy due to how the joint is loaded by the spring and the later point means that many MOT testers will miss knackered joints due to the way they often check for play. A 'special' tool is shown being used here which can be improvised in various ways- you just need a method that compresses the spring slightly so it's not preloading the joint http://www.w124performance.com/service/w124CD1/Program/Maintenance/94_95/3355.pdf
Any creaks or groans from the front end, especially when turning at low speed over say a speedhump? It's not unknown for them to snap which'll ruin your day more than the price of new control arms- the ball joints are integral with them on bigger engined 124s like the 320