05 plate c class pulls left

[Xmasmercedes]

Hi. Can anyone tell me if there is a cure for the unbareable pulling that my car does. Its an 05 c class 270cdi auto saloon. I have already taken one back last month for a full refund. Now I have a new one and it does exactly the same. I have had it only one day. The has to be a solution to this problem. 1 day old and I hate it already. Any suggestions. I really dont want to take this one back as well , Please let me know if there is anything that can be changed or done??

Dan

 

[television]

Hi. Can anyone tell me if there is a cure for the unbareable pulling that my car does. Its an 05 c class 270cdi auto saloon. I have already taken one back last month for a full refund. Now I have a new one and it does exactly the same. I have had it only one day. The has to be a solution to this problem. 1 day old and I hate it already. Any suggestions. I really dont want to take this one back as well , Please let me know if there is anything that can be changed or done??

Dan

Welcome to the forum, not an easy answer, over inflated tyres make the car very sensitive to road camber, and easy one to check. Is it the same on all roads,or only certain types of road.

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

unfortunately this seems to be a very common issue. My C class has never done this but I have the sports suspension pack and have often wondered if that is why. I believe this is not a particulalry expensive option but propbably will be if retro-fitted. As Malcom says, check tyre pressures are all ok. If it still pulls to the left take it back again. Problem is there is a lot of evidence on this forum of dealers saying this is a "safety" feature and not a fault. Sorry this doesn't help much. Let us know how you get on.

btw, the C-class does seem to be VERY sensitive to road-camber and tram-lining.

 

[Rory]

My 54 reg C270 estate does it too.
I checked when I bought the car (5mths old) and the salesman laughed and said they all do that. He took me a dual carriageway with a cambered right lane, and sure enough, it drifted right. My tyres are wearing pretty evenly and I've heard some horror stories about alignment so I've decided to live with it.

They just seem very sensitive to road camber - if the car was set up 'flat' then it will obviously follow any road camber. It really ought to be possible to set the car up to allow for the very very slight camber on a motorway so the car would run true.

Have you asked the dealer to do an alignment? Not sure it it makes any difference but MB can fit special offset bolts to allow the camber angles to be adjusted. It's apparently also critical to have the car correctly weighted.


Please let us know if you do find a solution to this!

 

[Xmasmercedes]

The car I took back last month is identical to the one I just picked up yesterday but a year newer. I took the last one to the dealer in bristol who had it 3 times in all over a month. First time they tried to adjust the camber angle. Couldent do it so they had it in again to put on the camber bolts. I collected it again and still it did it. So I took it back within 5 minutes and told them to sort it out and dont waste my time. They had it again for 3 days and did christ knows what to it under warranty changing bushes bolts bars etc . It cost a fortune in warranty work. This was a complete and utter fraudulent claim to the waranty department as when I collected it, the guy said its all sorted now. I gaurantee its straight. I drove it myself!!. Umm no. Its rubbish. I took it back to the dealer where I got it so fast that the wheels never touched the ground. And got a full refund plus transport back home again. Now this one is the same. Ive been to every flat road around here. I wish I knew a mechanic in the family. There has to be a way to solve it. I love the car but driving it is just no good.Let go of the wheel and off it goes.If I do it on the motor way ill be in the bushes in 3 seconds. Ive just sent an email to Daimler chrysler asking what im to do about it. They were the ones who told me to ask for a refund last time. I just cant be bothered to do it all again but I may have to .............................

 

[stumpy]

It sounds like a feature to me if both of you cars did it, I would be asking for a DC engineer to look it over. I know of other cars which pull, the BMW mini being one of them. IIRC it was featured on Watchdog for it. My 3 series tramlines like a bugger but it has got wide wheels and stiff suspension so I live with it.

 

[Rory]

You could try one of these places, if you happen to be near one:
http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk./trusted.htm

 

[bitonw]

If you are living in Bristol, try Pro-Tyre (A420). They are the only one in Bristol who has the knowledge and an computer ramp to sort this kind of things... You can ask them to make a print and take it to the MB dealer.

 

[jberks]

what wheel and tyre combination do you have?
As above, I have 245s and it does tramline and occasionally pulls, especially when braking on a bad road surface, but she runs straight most of the time. The car is simply following the camber. It isn't actually pulling as such. A different tyre/wheel combination may cure it or at least make it go sway most of the time. Perhaps try testing forecourt cars with 17'' wheels, 16'' wheels, sports set up, elegance spec etc and see if they differ. I suspect they will.

I wonder whether road camber varies across the country which might explain why I've never had a problem up here in Yorkshire. Do try finding a quiet road, and drive on the right, I guarantee it will pull to the right.

 

[ecol]

hello all ,reading about this problem reminds me of a BMW I had many years ago pulling to the left when you least expected it,after many visits to various garages ,it was diagnosed as "Track on the turn "and had to be set up as such ,the only problem was no tyre specialist at that time (early 70s)had the equipment to set it up until the BMW Dealer in Scunthorpe aquired it,after leaving it with them for a couple of hours it was a totally different beast and at no charge to myself

ecol

 

[Xmasmercedes]

My setup is the c 270 cdi with full sport pack fitted by MB from new. 17" wheels etc. There is no way in the world it should do it. I have never had it before let alone not be able to cure it.If I am sat at a set of lights, as I pull off even really slow you can see the car start to drift and the steering wheel move. does not matter if the road is on an adverse camber, it will climb it! As did the last car I had.If I go over to the right hand side it will come back over to the left. It makes no sense. Surely the wheels can be adjusted to point the other way !!!!! Ive just sent a letter to DC and they are now dealing with it today.They wanted the chassis number etc etc. See what come of it. I just dont want to change it again, theres no point. Surley it can be solved.
Prior to this I had a 2003 320CI Coupe with wheels as fat as a house and it went straight as a die. Would Michael Shumaccer (Can't spell that) expect his car to go off onto the grass???????

 

[jberks]

If it pulls left irrespective of camber then something is very wrong. Find out if the dealer does the setup themselves or do they use someone else. Either way, see if some other person can have a go. Perhaps both the last car and this have been setup using the same kit, hence got the same problem.

 

[bitonw]

Thats why you should have a read on this http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk web site!

It gives you the information to know if your dealer / garage is talking nonsense or sense. Or even better use Tony to handle your vehicle!

 

[MSG2004]

Mine did it - w203 - still does and went back to the garge many times - just run out of warranty, the passenger side tyre o/s edge wears excessively.

Lots of BS around but IMO, the car has an inherent fault.

Mine is a classic and when i bought her, i never knew the Avantgarde had a better suspension - got laoned an Avantgarde and that behaved better.

 

[Rory]

Mine is a classic and when i bought her, i never knew the Avantgarde had a better suspension - got laoned an Avantgarde and that behaved better.

I have an Avantgarde W203 (estate) and I've been assured that the suspension is the same on all model. I think it was supposed to be improved (on all models) from the pre to the post facelift versions in mid 2004.

Anyway mine (post-facelift) drifts left too.

Avantgarde E Classes run lower than other models.

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

I'm pretty sure the suspension is not the same on all models. The Avantgarde has stiffer suspension. If yo ulook on other threads there are some about the Elegance model getting a bit of a wobble on when overtaking lorries because teh suspension is a bit spongy compared with the Avantgarde.

Like I say, mine has never drifted in either direction and the tyres seem to be wearing pretty uniformly

 

[Rory]

I'm pretty sure the suspension is not the same on all models. The Avantgarde has stiffer suspension. If yo ulook on other threads there are some about the Elegance model getting a bit of a wobble on when overtaking lorries because teh suspension is a bit spongy compared with the Avantgarde.

Hmm..mine wobbles too (rocks, more like it). But the suspension does seem very hard. I put a lot of down to the original tyres which where Bridgestones, noted for stiff sidewalls. It's better on Michelins. Wheels are only 16", so not stupidly low profile tyres.

I must admit that I was (am) surprised by how hard the car rides - that's why I looked into the suspension differences. There's nothing noted in the brochure specs (unlike the Avantgarde E Class) and several MB people have assured me they're all the same (although I'm still not 100% convinced). Sports suspension is optional, but mine doesn't have that.

Maybe it's just worse as it's the estate, although it's actually the front that feels hardest?

 

[MSG2004]

I have an Avantgarde W203 (estate) and I've been assured that the suspension is the same on all model. I think it was supposed to be improved (on all models) from the pre to the post facelift versions in mid 2004.

Anyway mine (post-facelift) drifts left too.

Avantgarde E Classes run lower than other models.

Hi

As Omni said, it's not all the same - as you mentioned the Avantgarde is lowered, plush it has extra bits just like the Eegance - if i knew that before hand, i would have bought the avantgarde.

 

[MSG2004]

I'm pretty sure the suspension is not the same on all models. The Avantgarde has stiffer suspension. If yo ulook on other threads there are some about the Elegance model getting a bit of a wobble on when overtaking lorries because teh suspension is a bit spongy compared with the Avantgarde.

Like I say, mine has never drifted in either direction and the tyres seem to be wearing pretty uniformly

Lucky you!!

I've read it here, and someone at a large tyre centre told me the usual rubbish re the o/s of tyre on passenger side wearing out more quickly as we have a lot of 'roundabouts'!

The above has been stated by some MB dealers as i seen mentioned here by others

 

[Ultymate]

Perhaps you should go round the roundabouts the other way to equalise you tyre wear all usual disclaimers:?