Are you an MB genuis, or expert... can you help... ?

[Howardr]

Subject : Camber and Pull.

I have a 2001 C220 CDI Avangarde with a problem thats odd. It pulls to the left!!!!

Having had rear toe angle and tracking checked this problem still exists. Its a mild but irritating and somewhat dangerous problem when I take my hands off the wheel the car goes left.
I have rulled out radial run out after changing over and swapping tyres over....

Here are some ridiculous notions I have been told so far .. your comments please....

1. A Tyre Bay person

Nah mate crap tyres you want some good tyres on there mate thats whats causing the problem.

2. Another tyre person.

Well we can change the tyres if you have been advised but they are new, been balanced twice and swapped and I dont know if it will help much.

3. Most ridiculous head of service at an MB dealership

Well its characteristic of the C class , all mercedes are built to do this so that if you fall asleep at the wheel you wont drive into on coming traffic!!! You can drive any of our new ones and they will all do the same ( which I already did and they do not )


So I put it to the experts , you... here is my dilemma. My local dealer says odd things, and is reluctant to solve the problem, I am three months away from my end of 3 years MB warranty, and I want this sorted...

Can you help me ?

 

[talbir]

I think you'll find that number 3 is the correct reply.

It does appear to be a characteristic of the late MB's. I think this topic has been covered on this forum before and you'll find the same response if you do a search.

Unless it's severe, I don't think you have any thing to worry about.

 

[robert.saunders7]

Totally agree with talbir - see this recent thread too...

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/v...p;postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

 

[justin1820]

no. three is right, you drive a left hooker and you will find it will do the same it will pull to the right.

 

[landover]

steer

How many miles has car done .?

have you had it from new ?

Or has the problem just developed?

Any accident damage?

 

[paulcallender]

In my experience of driving lots of cars and light vans, small and large, this does seem to be a characteristic of large, powerful cars in general (not just Mercedes). You learn to drive in a small car at low speeds, so you are 'trained' to think that this doesn't occur. But it does.

 

[panason1c]

My ML pulls slightly to the left, mostly noticable on motorways. I had various checks on the tracking, etc, and nothing was found to be wrong, the tyres are wearing evenly ....what was interesting was that when we drove to Spain recently (covering 2600 miles), the 'pull' was now slightly to the RIGHT, again, mostly noticable on the Spanish motorways....it now seems to me that it is the road camber that is influencing the 'pull' and nothing more.
Hope this helps.

 

[Howardr]

MMMM You Guys are quite good.....

I note the respsonse from most of you guys... and I may be wrong... but I dont recall this ever being a problem, and I certainly would have noticed this at the point of purchase, I am reading the thread as we speak...but wanted to add the problem is only the last 4 months... no damage, 60k miles.. in 14 months... so I do a lot of motorway driving.. I also added the replica Brabus wheels ( which I can get for you by the way ) but the wheels havent caused any problems since Mercedes put them on 5 / 6 months ago.... The plot thickens...
Surely MB cant expect people to drive a car that pulls to the left and that you have to hold steady in position all the time... surely thats a great marketting ploy for the likes of the competitors IE BMW etc etc ... For example if this is characteristic surely , Clarkson and the like would have had something to say on the matter.

 

[Howardr]

My ML pulls slightly to the left, mostly noticable on motorways. I had various checks on the tracking, etc, and nothing was found to be wrong, the tyres are wearing evenly ....what was interesting was that when we drove to Spain recently (covering 2600 miles), the 'pull' was now slightly to the RIGHT, again, mostly noticable on the Spanish motorways....it now seems to me that it is the road camber that is influencing the 'pull' and nothing more.
Hope this helps.

A bit I guess but how ****** irritating for you, have you had the rear TOE ANGLE checked ?

 

[Howardr]

Totally agree with talbir - see this recent thread too...

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/v...p;postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Thanks mate

 

[teky]

as i said in the other post the car will follow the camber of the road its nothing to do with the tyres, in the UK the road banks to the left for rain water run off, but saying that if the car were to be driven on a very flat surface and pulls to the left then i would say there is a problem, answer 3 has plausibility as a safety factor but i don't think its a built in factor on the car, just my 2p worth and dont agree any are right 1/2 or 3

 

[gregit]

hi,
completely flat surface,new tyres,same inflation,no brake bind,good steering geometry,car should not pull either way.But so many variables,could affect this,but the basic theory of ackerman linkage is to travel straight forward,hence steering comes back to straight ahead position,but still allows one wheel to turn faster than the other,for corners. sorry :lol: (I think )

 

[robert.saunders7]

It's certainly an ongoing saga. At work I am responsible for a very small fleet of cars. We have 2 Vauxhall Astra Estate, 1.6 LPG, and a Ford Focus TDCi Estate 1.8, plus a Renault Kangoo 1.9 DCi van. NONE of these pull one way or the other on the exact same roads that my C-Class would!!

 

[500sl]

pull

I have 500sl and an S class both cars pull to nearside when you let the steering wheel go .Hold on to the wheel and just drive it .The road tax will have expired by the time you debate it here.

 

[guydewdney]

<aol>

me too..

I think its somthing to do with the way that mb suspension systems work - they are greatly affected by camber i find..

mine, in the middle lane of the motorway would take 1/2 a mile to go from middle lane to left lane completely i reckon (subjective observation)

 

[jan]

I can't believe that this is a MB design problem or that it is typical of the the C class.

I have had two C class cars...a C220 CDI Coupe and a C200 CDI saloon...Neither of these cars had any problems regards pulling or wandering to the left
I have also never noticed this problem when driving MB dealer courtesy cars.

I think tecky is nearer the mark with his camber suggestion.

Jan

 

[mickl]

as mentioned roads are cambered for rain water to drain off. On all roads there is supposed to be a slight curvature and won't be completely flat otherwise it would be prone to flooding everytime there is rain.

how the camber affects a car depends on the suspension design of that car and what tyres it's got on. I have found that cars with narrower tyres are less susceptible to the camber effect than one that are shod with steamroller rubber as the contact patch of the tyres footprint is less affected. We could of course all fit 135width tyres to our Mercs to see what the effect is.......

 

[Sanny]

C- class pulling left

I have a 2001 C 220cdi which had a similar problem. Local dealer replaced tyres after 10,000 miles but said there was nothing wrong with the car. The problem persisted and despite numerous visits the service department could find nothing wrong.

When the first service was carried out - service adviser who had previously told me there was nothing wrong with the car told me the steering rack needed to be replaced! When asked if this would cause the car to pull left was told yes but this couldn't have been the problem previously. Asked if they had checked the steering rack previously, I was told no!

Needless to say - there have been no problems with steering since.

 

[190]

If all of you people think it is the camber on the road, Here is one for all to try DRIVE IN THE OUTSIDE LANE of a dual carriage way NEXT TO THE CENTRE RESERVATION AND THE CAR SHOULD PULL TO THE RIGHT. why not give it a try and posts replies.

 

[500sl]

How many times does someone have to be told. IT IS THE CAMBER OF THE ROAD