Tracking W203 c class - steers to left.

[HughJarse]

Ok been to local tyre garage to have tracking done as steering wheel wasnt straight. He put equipment on and told me it was 2.2mm out and he would put it right.
6 Attempts later I have driven away from garage with a wonky wheel. BUT it seems to come and go! - This might just be me.
If I leave go of steering wheel it turns the car to left.

Any advice before I take it to another garage to look at?

 

[portzy]

Hello.

I can only comment from experience but not actual technical knowledge of this phenomena rolleyes: ). My previous C Class coupe did this and despite lots of assurances that it was quite normal for Mercedes to drift left I always felt that it could not be, to such a degree.

Finally, after lots of too'ing and fro'ing to what was my then Dealer they made some changes to what they refered to as the "castor & camber" angles & settings. This took the best part of a day to do and it was all covered under warranty. The only caveat being that it was a 'one off' as they were adjusting beyond tolerance to a setting that was customer orientated. Yeah, tosh I know!.

In any event, the car was a whole lot different to drive i.e. it felt like normal. There was still an extremely slight tendancy to drift but only the same as other cars that I have driven and that was the camber bias of the road, not the constant grapple with the steering wheel that I had before.

I had lots of warnings of tyre wear becoming a problem but, to be honest, I never noticed in fact the very same tyres are now on my SLK and have equal wear.

So, give that a try and tell the technicians what you are wanting to acheive.

Portzy.

 

[sparkyspost]

Thanks Portzy, I too have been noticing that my W202 has a tendancy to pull to the left, I thought perhaps it was the car rebelling against all the time spent in the 'fast' lane.

 

[twice]

Hi,

My experiences with my W202:

I have bought the car when it was ten years old with ageing Continental tyres. She was driving fine with those, but I was offered some cheap tyres, so I have replaced the old Contis. It made the car very sensible to road camber.
I have waited for the tyres to settle in, but the sensiblity remained even with new Michelin winter tyres as well.
The four wheel alignment by the local stealer does not cure the problem at all, so I was trying to live with the car that way.
But next summer I have replaced the cheap summer tyres with new Continental PremiumContacts and the handling of the car has gone back to normal immediately.

After having used the winter tyres for the third period I did not find them as bad as the first time.

In my case it seems that the handling highly depends on the pattern and the wear of the tyres. I wonder if anyone else had similar experiences with early W202s.

Attila

 

[garystu1965]

It's a "feature" of the W203 I'm afraid. The car is very camber sensitive.
If you drive it on a reverse cambered road it will pull to the right.

 

[HughJarse]

It's a "feature" of the W203 I'm afraid. The car is very camber sensitive.
If you drive it on a reverse cambered road it will pull to the right.

Thanks for all the replies, but surely the steering wheel should be straight, and shouldnt need me to hold on to it all the time ( yes I know that sounds silly - but you know what I mean)

 

[portzy]

Thanks for all the replies, but surely the steering wheel should be straight, and shouldnt need me to hold on to it all the time ( yes I know that sounds silly - but you know what I mean)

I know exactly what you mean and it was just the same for me. TBH the worst feature/s were; the last few yards before a set of red lights or a stop junction and at these moments if you were not grasping the wheel it went way left. The other was a very distinct reluctance for the steering to self center after a large direction change, (i nealry attempted to spell manoover then but felt I'd better not!). Some say it is a definate design feature by MB to stop drivers running into oncoming traffic if they nod off. Mmmm, maybe so but most cars will eventually end up in the ditch anyway unless the driver nods off, or dies , and becomes slumped over the wheel.

Folks on here will tell you that I'm a very easy going person but I stuck to my guns with the dealers on this occasion and they finally agreed to iron out the phenomena . The strange thing was, they knew EXACTLY what was needed so I dont think for a minute that I was the first to have it done.

I dont know if it being a C Class coupe with sports suspension made matters worse but it shouldnt have done. All I can say is that it cured it to a degree where I felt things were as they should be and I was happy.

Yes, if you wander over the crown of the road, either slight or pronounced, it will drift right, any car will but eventually. Me?, I'd much rather stay on the left.

Portzy.

 

[mbc230k]

I had the same problem with my S203 estate. I took it to my local ATS who tracked the front wheels, drove off and discovered the steering wheel centred at the 10 o'clock position, took it straight back and they 'fixed' it. after a 1000 miles the tyre wear had accelerated. So I took it a Kwik fit. This time they were honest enough to say that they could not do M-B because it required all 4 wheels tracked simultaneously. Called local stealer and was quoted £190 +vat. I did an internet search for 4 wheel tracking, found the equipment manufacturer who had a list of users in the UK and eventually got it done correctly at Northampton Tyres for £59.95.

 

[Rory]

There's an interesting thread going on here http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=21852
where the OP has returned one W203 and the second one he got is the same!

As I've posted in that thread, I'd love to get mine sorted out but some things are better left alone.

 

[x332race]

Had tracking "adjusted" at local tyre fitting place...big mistake....steering wheel not centred.....took it for a 4 wheel laser alignment at local specialist....found tracking out front and rear....did all adjustments discussed it with me and showed me the before and after printouts.....car drives perfectly and in a straight line.....does not pull to either side (but then never has done (CLK 320)