C-Class tending to pull/steer to the left

[pdk53]

I have had my recently acquired C220 CDI Avantgarde with sports pack in the garage twice now to correct a steering problem. It pulls to the left quite severely but the first time the garage said the settings were normal and all mercedes pull to the left! The second time it went in, the service manager said they had adjusted the castor angle to try and correct the problem but it steers exactly the same. The steering wheel wants to rotate anticlockwise and you can feel the pressure of this. if you release the steering wheel the car immediatly wanders to the left, admittedly less so when on a road with negative camber. I have researched the effectes of adjusting castor, camber, toe and thrust angles but I have the impression that the mechanics at the garage are using a very trial and error approach to the problem, they haven't mentioned whether or not they have checked to see if the brakes are dragging on the left wheel :???: . Does anyone have any solutions to the problem.

 

[petes350]

Mine suffers this problem - it seems its very common. I did find that it was made worse by a slow puncture causing the left tyre to be particularly soft (down to about 15psi by the time I spotted it) and once reinflated the effect was reduced considerably. You could try running a soft right tyre, probably not recommended though!

 

[LANDR0VER]

I have had my recently acquired C220 CDI Avantgarde with sports pack in the garage twice now to correct a steering problem. It pulls to the left quite severely but the first time the garage said the settings were normal and all mercedes pull to the left! The second time it went in, the service manager said they had adjusted the castor angle to try and correct the problem but it steers exactly the same. The steering wheel wants to rotate anticlockwise and you can feel the pressure of this. if you release the steering wheel the car immediatly wanders to the left, admittedly less so when on a road with negative camber. I have researched the effectes of adjusting castor, camber, toe and thrust angles but I have the impression that the mechanics at the garage are using a very trial and error approach to the problem, they haven't mentioned whether or not they have checked to see if the brakes are dragging on the left wheel :???: . Does anyone have any solutions to the problem.

Most cars will wander to the nearside due to the road camber,check the tyre pressures are ok...........

 

[pdk53]

pulling to the left

Tyre pressures ok, I think the problem is related to the castor angles but I don't know the standard settings and the garage seem reluctant for me to talk to technicians. Thanks anyway.

 

[Rory]

Have a look here http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=10224 for some general info about alignment.
I've had other cars laser tracked before, once in my local garage and once in what I thought was a 'local' tyre place (but turned out to be owned by Kwik-Fit). Both seemed OK, although I've never heard of the car needing to be weighted, which the other thread refers to.
I've just got a C270 and that tends to drift left - I got the classic 'they all do that, sir' from the salesman, but he took me to a stretch of dual carriageway where the RH lane was cambered to the right and sure enough the car drifted right.

 

[panason1c]

My ML also pulls to the left (sometimes more pronounced than at other times) but whilst touring in Spain, it pulled to the right!....clearly caused by road camber

 

[jules335500]

if u have a sports pack on the car my mate in king lynn sorted the problem out in the end as mercedes admitted they fitted the wrong type of tyre to the wheel which caused steering problems.think it was the size of tyre..profile?

 

[pdk53]

Have a look here http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=10224 for some general info about alignment.
I've had other cars laser tracked before, once in my local garage and once in what I thought was a 'local' tyre place (but turned out to be owned by Kwik-Fit). Both seemed OK, although I've never heard of the car needing to be weighted, which the other thread refers to.
I've just got a C270 and that tends to drift left - I got the classic 'they all do that, sir' from the salesman, but he took me to a stretch of dual carriageway where the RH lane was cambered to the right and sure enough the car drifted right.

Thanks for the reply Rory, I've checked on right hand camber and it still pulls to the left, albeit to a lesser degree. I plan to take it to an alignment centre and get the castor angles equalized which would make it steer the way yours does, which would be fine

 

[pdk53]

if u have a sports pack on the car my mate in king lynn sorted the problem out in the end as mercedes admitted they fitted the wrong type of tyre to the wheel which caused steering problems.think it was the size of tyre..profile?

Thanks for the reply jules... I hope my car has the original tyres cos it's only got 14K on the clock. The tyres seem to be as stated in the merc literature, maybe the alignment shop will confirm this to me on Monday.

 

[MSG2004]

I have had my recently acquired C220 CDI Avantgarde with sports pack in the garage twice now to correct a steering problem. It pulls to the left quite severely but the first time the garage said the settings were normal and all mercedes pull to the left! The second time it went in, the service manager said they had adjusted the castor angle to try and correct the problem but it steers exactly the same. The steering wheel wants to rotate anticlockwise and you can feel the pressure of this. if you release the steering wheel the car immediatly wanders to the left, admittedly less so when on a road with negative camber. I have researched the effectes of adjusting castor, camber, toe and thrust angles but I have the impression that the mechanics at the garage are using a very trial and error approach to the problem, they haven't mentioned whether or not they have checked to see if the brakes are dragging on the left wheel :???: . Does anyone have any solutions to the problem.

Listen for a knocking sound from the front left - i had mine done - three times to the garage - difficult to locate fault but they changed a link arm and some bush at the top of the front passenger side shock - still not happy, went back to mb and had it tracked on their specialist machine - i've een driving for donkeys years, and all my cars, had been less than a year old or new and all the size of a c-class, non havd pulled to the left like the c-class, mine had 10k on the clock when bought from mb.

i bought a new mndeo st, that handled miles better than the merc and did not pull to the left at all. my wife has a brand new fiesta, never pulls - can travel with the camber, but on a flat surface like motorway or a large inside car park should drive straight, my mb did not- but the dealer treated me fairly - they loaned me a nearly new avantagarde with a few hundred on the clock it drove straight!


taking my car back soon as stering still feels heavy -btw, i got a new set of tyres as my tyre was ruined by the pull, excessive o/s passenger side wear.

please update me. and good luck.

 

[jonathanjhann]

most cars with a 'responsive' steering geometry set up like the C class will pull to the left on roads in this country. If you get a clear stretch of road and its safe to do so drive the car down the middle of the road. It should go dead straight.
If it still pulls there must be a geometrty problem.check the lower are bushes for wear. Also if you have bumped a kerb or hit a pot hole the suspension settings can easily be thrown out.

 

[c220ct]

I had the same problem, have the tyres checked for tread wear, have the tyres rotated to have the tread wear offset the pull to the left, have 4 wheel alignment done at an approved wheel alignment centre, last fix is to replasce the tyres.Good luck.

 

[rpe2]

There are adjustable bolts available for adjusting the camber/ castor.

 

[gmac123]

Hi, I've recently purchased 2005 C220CDi 86K miles, with sports brakes that is pulling left. The tyres are worn to the outside edge, and the steering wheel also looks a little left of centre.
I had the alignment adjusted (3mm out apparently), better but still didn't completely resolve the pull. I took it to MB for a service and asked them to report on the pull. They advise a combination of tyre condition (both fronts outer edges are about gone 17K miles since last changed), possible sticky calliper and worn cross arm bushes.

Does this sound reasonable??

 

[rpe2]

Have a look here http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=59384

 

[SQ_W211]

I would get it down to local alignment firm and get the full geometric setup done. You will be surprised how much of difference it makes.

Where are you based?