CLK 270 CDI Avantgarde pulling to the left

wessa

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Hi, new to the forum. Just bought 2004 CLK 270 CDI and very happy with the car. The only issue is the steering is pulling to the left. Bought it of a dealership and the mechanic alluded to the Mercedes having a drift to the left as part of the standard build. i queried this but insisted this was more than a normal drift. The steering wheel would move to the left by itself. They have realigned the wheels but it is no better. Just wondered if anyone had the same issue, how they fixed it or is it something common with this make?

cheers
 

Rory

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Does yours fit in with the vehicles mentioned in this bulletin: http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/476027-post8.html

The dealer will always deny any problem, especially now you've bought the car. But they do have the equipement to sort it out, if they can be bothered. They don't like doing it as its time consuming (therefore expensive) to sort it out.

There are a few good alignment centres around who can do it too.
 
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wessa

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thanks for the response Rory. They have had it in today for alignment and gave me a print out and there were some alignment changes made but it has made no difference. The symptoms in the article are very similar to mine. When it pulls you can actually see the steering wheel go to the left. Will contact the dealer tomorrow and get it back into them. Hopefully it will be sorted out as first Mercedes i have had and i am really enjoying driving the car. Had beemers before this and although they are a good drive had my problems with them. only had the car 5 days so i am expecting them to put it right. To be fair to BMW there was never any issues with after sales service
 

Rory

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Where abouts do you live? There is a forum member called wheels-inmotion who runs a place in Chesham, Bucks, and he has a good reputation for sorting these issues out. Get him to do it and then give the dealer the bill.
http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk
 

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Welcome wessa to the forum,,you are not alone in this,,but it can be sorted out
 

C320andy

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I have it too, i thought it was the tyre pressure, so i checked and the nearside had 14psi and the offside was 22, so i evened them out at 32 and it did help a little, but it still does pull to the left.......

is ita common thing for this to happen, will a good alignment sort it ?
 

Rory

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MB say it's because the cars are camber sensitive - indeed if I drive mine on the right cambered road then it does go right. Hence I've left mine alone.

The annoying thing is that, as the OP indicates, it more of a "roll" than a drift - the car winds on lock as it drifts.

I find the NSF front tyre scrubs its outer edge a bit more than the OSF so it I swap them then that tends to compensate slightly.

It can be adjusted out by someone who knows what they're doing - hence the reference to Wheels-in-Motion in my earlier post. Where you can have real problems is if someone who doesn't know what they're doing messes around with the geometry - then you can get odd tyre wear and a car that's a real handful to drive.
 
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wessa

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Based by Blackpool so if there is someone closer i am happy to try them out. Waiting for the dealrship to contact me so will update the thread with what they have to say.
 
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wessa

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Dealership just been back on, back in on Wednesday for another look at it. They started going on again about it being camber sensitive again but not having that as the car pulss almost as soon as i let go of the steering wheel. Will check the tyre pressures to ensure evrything is ok but with it just having a service i would have expected that to have been checked.
 

duncanh

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Try swapping your front tyres over.

This worked for me. After getting new front tyres fitted, it started pulling badly to the left. I put up with it for a couple of thousand miles before swapping the tyres. The problem has completely gone away. It runs as straight as an arrow.

Not all tyre fitters understand the coloured bands on new tyres. They should be taken account of when fitting to equalise the "imperfections" in the build.

And before you ask, I am not talking about budget tyres!
 
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wessa

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Hi all, went to the dealers yesterday, had to have another road test and informed by the mechanic he had seen worse !!! explained to him that if this is the MB's handle then they can have the car back. I am still waiting for a call back from them. Not impressed with the service side of these dealerships at all, having previously dealt with BMW and Jaguar these MB dealerships are a poor relation to these two. Pity really because it is such a minor issue with the car that must be able to be sorted out quite easily. Maybe i am getting cynical in my old age but either they just really are poor on the service side or there is something seriously wrong with the car. either way for the money i have paid thinking it might be as wise to get out and back to BMW. Any advice gratefully received.
 
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wessa

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Still having problems with the dealer. spoke to the sales guy about taking the car back in and he has asked if he can try and resolve the issue. Sorry i never read up more about Stratstone as there looks to be a number of issues with their service. Has anyone got a number for Mercedes in the UK who i can complain to about Stratstone. a minor issue like this would not perturb me too much but worried if i have anything major go wrong on the car then it will end up being a nightmare to sort out with Stratstone.
 

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