C280 1994 Front Wheel Play

[Arv]

Hello All:

This weekend I had ONLY the right front wheel of the car on the jack with
ENGINE OFF. I had some play in the bearing, so I removed the hub cap and
tightened the bearing till the brake disc would rotate one turn or so
when I would give a light push. I was hoping that this will fix the play in the
front wheel but it didn't. I didn't want to tighten the bearing
too much for the fear of seizing it.

I put the wheel back on. I grabbed on of the tires with both hands diagonally
accross along the tread and pulled/pushed the tires in and out. I still have
play in the front wheel. I just checked the exploded view on,

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb0.asp?TP=1

but nothing seems to be obvious.

1. What could be the cause of the play?
2. Do I need to tighten the OUTSIDE bearing even more?
3. Can it be the INSIDE wheel bearing? If it is, is there any way I can
tighten it without remove the whole hub assembly?
4. How do I fix it?

Thanks a lot in advance,
Arvind.

 

[television]

When fitting new bearings or adjusting the existing one must take great care not to damage the races by tightening so that the rollers make dents in the races. The best way is to remove the center of the wheel and just put it back with a couple of bolts,using an extention through the hole keep the wheel spinning while you tighten the nut so that the wheel is tight to turn,the back off a touch so that the wheel spins freely.

failure to do this will cause rapid failure of the bearing and it very noisy.

malcolm

 

[42864]

Arvind, First check that there is NO PLAY in the ball joints. If that is o.k. then tighten the wheel bearing nut untill just tight then back off by 1 flat of the nut or untill the wheel spin free then place split pin/locking peice into the nut.

Dave

 

[Arv]

Thanks Dave,

I had replaced the lower control arm bjts and the bushings
and also the tie rod bjts recently. So, I know that's good.
Do you think my problem could be bearing play? or something
else?

Thanks a lot,
Arv.

 

[42864]

Arv, If you have changed the parts as you say then it should be the Wheel Bearing but without being there and feeling the play as it were, it is difficult to be certain. A slack wheel bearing has a distinct "feel" about it and only practice will give you that feel. Best of luck, let us know how you get on.

Dave

 

[Arv]

Thanks again Dave. Do you think you can put it in words "distinct fee"?

Just after tigthtning the bearing, I grabbed the brake disc on the
outer edges and pushed it in/out and felt no play. But as soon as I put
the tire back on, tightned the wheel nuts and grabbed the tire
along tread and pushed it in/out and I feel the play (of about
1 to 1.5 mm if I have to quantify it). I have this play on both front
wheels.

Please let me know if you can think of something else I can check?
One possibility could be the backside hub bearing. Can you adjust
that bearing also just like the frontside hub bearing? Other than
that, there isn't anything else on the steering knuckle to check
really.

Thank you Malcolm as well.

I will let you guys know when I finally fix this problem.

Cheers,
Arv

 

[television]

Thanks again Dave. Do you think you can put it in words "distinct fee"?

Just after tigthtning the bearing, I grabbed the brake disc on the
outer edges and pushed it in/out and felt no play. But as soon as I put
the tire back on, tightned the wheel nuts and grabbed the tire
along tread and pushed it in/out and I feel the play (of about
1 to 1.5 mm if I have to quantify it). I have this play on both front
wheels.

Please let me know if you can think of something else I can check?
One possibility could be the backside hub bearing. Can you adjust
that bearing also just like the frontside hub bearing? Other than
that, there isn't anything else on the steering knuckle to check
really.

Thank you Malcolm as well.

I will let you guys know when I finally fix this problem.

Cheers,
Arv

Your disc is far too small to feel the play ot tightness of the bearing,that why I said that you slip the wheel back on to set and test.That is the correct way

malcolm

 

[Uncle Benz]

Are you saying 1-1.5mm at the tyre? In my opinion this is within acceptable limits. There is a degree of wear in your bearings, but if the play is similar both sides, it is probably normal wear and tear. You will not eliminate this by tightening the adjuster nut - in fact it would be dangerous to do so, as already pointed out. New bearings will be the only answer if you want to have zero movement. Mercedes with circa 70k miles often have this level of play, and I would not worry about it too much!!

 

[Arv]

Yes, 1 - 1.5 mm play when I hold along the tire tread. The thing is
the rear wheels have no play at all.

Thanks a lot,
Arv.

 

[C220GJS]

The rear wheel bearings are a totally different design and are non adjustable, they normally run for very high mileages without any attention.

 

[jibcl500]

are you using a torque wrench on the front bearings or just guessing how tight they need to be, do you have original MB alloys fitted or after market alloys, if after market alloys are you still using the original wheel bolts? if after market alloys, when where they fitted or are you fitting them at the moment.

jib

 

[kth286]

Arv

It may be that if you had a very loose bearing to start with and you tried to tighten it you would have come up against the inner brake pad.

You need to push the inner pad back in a bit to eliminate it touching as you revolve the disc/wheel.

I always loosen the bleed nipple with a hose into a bottle of fluid when I move pads as you can cause problems otherwise.

See if that helps get the adjustment correct.

BUT, what is the basic problem with the car that you are trying to solve - is it vague steering in the straight ahead position ?