BayAreaBenzDude
04-20-2007, 02:34 PM
My car pulls to the right, I mean real strong pull, not a slow drift. Even at low speeds when I let go of the wheel, the car will pull to the right. It is not only unsafe (I have ding on the right fender caused by a rolling pull when looking for directions ), but a major annoyance. I have to hold the wheel slightly turned to the left to get the car straight. Below is some symptoms and diagonsis of the pull.
1) I don't think the pull is due to the bent rims, bent rims should show up during tire balance, right? My tires were balanced recently.
2) My new set of Bridgestone, Potnezas started wearing out on the outer edges. The rear right wearing out on the outside than the front right on the outside - the rear right outside wear is very pronounced. Below is the picture taken after a recent tire rotation. [I'm attaching the pictures to this thread as a separate post].
3) This the second set that is wearing out similarly, my previous set was Pirelli P6000. When I had Pirelliset on the car, the dealer and independent shop where I live, kept telling me it was the bad tire causing the pull not the suspension. The dealer did the alignment twice on this set, nothing obvious jumped out.
4) On the current Bridgestone, Potneza set, which was installed by Wheel Works, the car started pulling to the right after this set was installed. The alignment was done during the install. I took it back the alignment was checked and it was in spec., this did not still solve the problem. I got cyncical of the Wheel Works alignment and took the car to MB dealer ship, and the alignment was in spec. Now after 3 alignments nothing at changed.
5) Before the Pirelli's were installed the independant shop noticed the steering shock had worn out (the car 40K miles then) and replaced it.
6) I have been noticing tire wear on the right side slowly wearing out the outer edge. I was shocked to see the tire wear after a recent tire rotation, the Potenza's have only 14K miles on them.
7) When stopped on a uneven surface the car wheel will turn to the right.
8) The dealership and the independant shop checked the suspension (yeah, I paid them both and they told the suspension was clean).
Given all these symptoms, I'm tending to think it's supension problem not a tire problem. Given the many components part of the suspension, I'm suspecting the shocks, springs, ball joints, front rear control arm bushings or subframe. I don't want to replace all, my philosphy has been don't replace if it ain't broke. As you can tell, I'm very keen on identifying the problem and getting this fixed than sell the car. Even if I sell the car, I don't want to pass the problem to another owner. Otherwise I love this car.
I'm told the front rear control arm bushings wear out on this model, I'm thinking of replacing the them. I found a Polyurethene bushing <www.lpdauto.com>. I will be replacing the front rear control arm bushing with Polyurethene and the other front one with OEM control arm bushing. Also I'm going to check the ball joints and replace them if necessary.
The car is '99 C230K sedan, sport suspension, all stock, has 70K miles on the odo. Never been in an accident, never abused. I bought this one used, at 24K. I checked the carfax report, I did not see any accident report on the car.
I'm seeking the wisdom of the list to shed some light on this problem.
And any recommendation for a independant shop in the San Francisco, bay area? I live in San Francisco, and work in San Jose, any place around San Fran. and SJ is good.
1) I don't think the pull is due to the bent rims, bent rims should show up during tire balance, right? My tires were balanced recently.
2) My new set of Bridgestone, Potnezas started wearing out on the outer edges. The rear right wearing out on the outside than the front right on the outside - the rear right outside wear is very pronounced. Below is the picture taken after a recent tire rotation. [I'm attaching the pictures to this thread as a separate post].
3) This the second set that is wearing out similarly, my previous set was Pirelli P6000. When I had Pirelliset on the car, the dealer and independent shop where I live, kept telling me it was the bad tire causing the pull not the suspension. The dealer did the alignment twice on this set, nothing obvious jumped out.
4) On the current Bridgestone, Potneza set, which was installed by Wheel Works, the car started pulling to the right after this set was installed. The alignment was done during the install. I took it back the alignment was checked and it was in spec., this did not still solve the problem. I got cyncical of the Wheel Works alignment and took the car to MB dealer ship, and the alignment was in spec. Now after 3 alignments nothing at changed.
5) Before the Pirelli's were installed the independant shop noticed the steering shock had worn out (the car 40K miles then) and replaced it.
6) I have been noticing tire wear on the right side slowly wearing out the outer edge. I was shocked to see the tire wear after a recent tire rotation, the Potenza's have only 14K miles on them.
7) When stopped on a uneven surface the car wheel will turn to the right.
8) The dealership and the independant shop checked the suspension (yeah, I paid them both and they told the suspension was clean).
Given all these symptoms, I'm tending to think it's supension problem not a tire problem. Given the many components part of the suspension, I'm suspecting the shocks, springs, ball joints, front rear control arm bushings or subframe. I don't want to replace all, my philosphy has been don't replace if it ain't broke. As you can tell, I'm very keen on identifying the problem and getting this fixed than sell the car. Even if I sell the car, I don't want to pass the problem to another owner. Otherwise I love this car.
I'm told the front rear control arm bushings wear out on this model, I'm thinking of replacing the them. I found a Polyurethene bushing <www.lpdauto.com>. I will be replacing the front rear control arm bushing with Polyurethene and the other front one with OEM control arm bushing. Also I'm going to check the ball joints and replace them if necessary.
The car is '99 C230K sedan, sport suspension, all stock, has 70K miles on the odo. Never been in an accident, never abused. I bought this one used, at 24K. I checked the carfax report, I did not see any accident report on the car.
I'm seeking the wisdom of the list to shed some light on this problem.
And any recommendation for a independant shop in the San Francisco, bay area? I live in San Francisco, and work in San Jose, any place around San Fran. and SJ is good.