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W208 CLK steering alignment?

t2000m

New Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2015
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3
Car
CLK 230
Hey, when driving in a straight line my wheel isn't exactly in the centre. I knew on older mercs you could remove and replace the steering wheel to adjust this, my local garage says not so on this car, can anyone confirm this or make any suggestions? I've had the steering aligned a few times. Thanks
 
Hi,
If you have traction control/ESP (which the CLK does have) then no you cannot just take the wheel off and re-align, as the ESP needs to know where the straight ahead position is.
It requires an alignment carrying out to straighten the wheel up as the ESP at the moment will think it is going round in circles, though if this is only slight it possibly isn't an issue but it the fact the wheel is not straight ahead it annoy the hell out of me.
 
yes the car does have ESP (2002 230 KOMPRESSOR), thanks for explaining that. Yeah it does bug me a bit. So a garage should be able to reset the ESP, does this need to be a specialised place you think?
 
Can you really not just remove and reposition the wheel? The steering sensor is lower than the wheel so as long as the spline is not moved then the angle should remain as is?
 
Check the index marks on the steering wheel boss and the shaft spline (just remove the airbag to see). If the steering wheel hasn't been replaced correctly these could be out of alignment. If they are out, reassemble the wheel to the shaft correctly and have the tracking redone.
If the index marks are aligned ok, get the tracking redone to centre the steering wheel.

If you simply take out the misalignment by repositioning the steering wheel on the splines, the ESP/SAS will think you are turning more (or less) than you actually are.
 
Get someone who knows how to adjust tracking properly...both track rods must be adjusted so that they are even on both sides with the steering wheel held (clamped) in the straight ahead position.
Some cowboys only adjust one side thus making the steering wheel off centre, you'll know if this is bad when you get more lock on one side.
 
Wow messing around with steering wheel positions on the spline, far simpler to adjust the tie rod ends which any competent garage with wheel alignment equipment can do.
 

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