W210 sleeping policemen nightmare!

[Mikeyboy]

Hello there.

I love my E300TD W210 estate but it is unbelievably low!

Is this normal?

When I go over a road hump/sleeping policeman the front end digs into the road on the other side.

As a result I find my self doing no more than 15mph which frustrates people following me.

The car handles well and sits even but is low.

Do these cars suffer from suspension problems?

Thanks for any replies.

 

[vijilants]

I used to have a W210 E300TD and it used to bottom out when going over speed humps......the non avangarde versions have a softer suspension hence a little more bounce.

Admittedly it used to make your teeth grate whenever it happened !!!!!

 

[Mikeyboy]

It is the Avantgarde.

I was thinking of binning the wheels and getting some with a bigger rolling radius to try to raise it a bit.

Issues are: front wheel arch clearance on lock and handling.

Any thoughts?

 

[vijilants]

I know the AMG alloys for that car go up to 18in but not sure how much farther you will be able to go. But you will be compromising ride quality.

The other option would be to stiffen up the suspension to stop that "bounce".

Oh and yes, they do suffer from suspension problems - they are notorious for wearing out the wishbone bushes and some of the other front suspension bushes. They usually start to clonk.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Thanks.

I would not want to stiffen the ride and due to costs I would not want 18" tyres either.

I was thinking about larger section tyres as that will increase ride height and add soften the suspension...the tyers should be cheaper as well.

My concern is about the handling if I fitted 60 or 70 profile tyres instead of the 50's that are on it at the minute.

 

[marcos]

I don't think fitting larger tyres is really going to help.
For a start if you do fit a tyre with a higher side wall then the rolling radius will be different so your speedo will not show the correct reading, cruise control will probably cease to function as it will have no idea what speed you are actually doing and your handling will be compromised.

 

[grober]

It would be helpful if you posted your current tyre and wheel size. its been known for people to have the wrong aspect ratio tyres on large diameter wheels??

 

[pammy]

When I go over a road hump/sleeping policeman the front end digs into the road on the other side.

As a result I find my self doing no more than 15mph which frustrates people following me.

But you are supposed to go slow over these humps - they are designed to slow you down. If those behind you don't like it - tough!

Or simply choose an alternate route - if that's an option

 

[Mikeyboy]

I was waiting for that.

I think 10-15 mph is too slow.

Normally people do about 20 over these which is fine and every other car I've had with the exception of my Defender just gives a horrible bump which is uncomfortable to the driver so you slow down.

My E-class 'bangs' it's front end on the ground which is not good.

The tyres are 205/50's on 16" wheels but I am not sure if this is original.

Thanks for the info about the speedo/cruise issues.

 

[vijilants]

My C class W202 Sport, flies over the speed humps with no probs whatsoever. When I had the W210, it used to take ages to go over them !

 

[fredfloggle]

But you are supposed to go slow over these humps - they are designed to slow you down. If those behind you don't like it - tough!

Or simply choose an alternate route - if that's an option

They achieve little apart from creating chaos - why don't we go a bit further backwards and turn all roads into single track with passing places .

Whilst I don't dare submit the merc to any unnecessary bumps as it may collapse into a pile of bits - speed bumps have no effect on the shogun with it's wider track - all they serve to do is cause people to speed up and slow down with subsequent increase in emissions.

 

[Mikeyboy]

My wife has a Skoda Fabia VRS which is a very low riding car and all you get when you go to fast over the bumps is thrown up and down in your seat.

I suspect with the Merc that it is a combination of weight, clearance and length.

I suppose it is just one of those things but it does take something away from what is a fantastic car.

Thanks again.

 

[markheaney2]

wheel sizes

these tyre sizes are wrong for your car they should have 215 /55/16 as standard this would raise your car about 1 inch i taxi a 210 advantgarde in york where speed humps are a plenty i go over them at above the speed limit with no grinding or bottoming out

 

[grober]

Take a look at this site. http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html you can work out the wheel tyre combination that will give you the correct gearing / rolling radius. your owners handbook should tell you the correct wheel/tyre size. From markheaney's post it sounds as if this could be your problem, at least in part.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Thanks again.

That is a great website.

It does look like someone has fitted different wheels and/or tyres prior to my ownership.

 

[kth286]

Due to the rust problems on many 210 models the suspension turrets can be affected.

I would suggest you look underneath each wheel arch in turn and check that the spring perches (top of spring ) are indeed fully fixed to the car's inner bodywork.

You will need to turn steering wheel so that front of road wheel is pointing outwards to get a good sight.

I am thinking that the spring perches have started to rust from their fixed positions and splayed upwards and therefore the main body of the car is lower.

It is good you are going slow over these bumps because if the spring perches are rusted through then one day soon you may have a spring pop out from under the wheel arch and go shooting across the road. It has happened several times, and I hope there are no pedestrians nearby that may get hit by the flying spring.

The other thing is that the front springs coils have broken through which will result in a lower car.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Yep, I'll check that out today.

It appears that I have the wrong tyres on with a smaller rolling radius but I'll go to the tyres section and ask the question about what is the best tyre for this car.

Thanks again to everyone.