Poor suspension

[Bryann]

Hello all

I have a 5 year old 203 c class 270cdi 40.000miles-sport suspension. Last year I had an issue with the car which went into Mercedes and came out with the steering wheel slightly mis aligned, rather than book it in again I took the car to a tyre fitting company and asked for the steering wheel to be realigned, I stated I did not want anything else touched just the wheel aligned this they did along with altering all my rear suspension and god knows what else, the so called technician told me he had used some sort of guage on the car as well as laser equipment for what reason I do not know needless to say the car was absolutely awful to drive from that day on, I do not know if anything was touched on the front end except the tracking to align the steering wheel. I took the car back and told the technician to put it right, this he did not by reverting back to its original setting but by altering it still further stating he had put everything within manufacturers tolerances. Due to unforseen circumstances I have been unable to attend to this problem until now however the car has gone into Merecedes and had 2 new front lower arm bushes replaced due to perished rubbers and oil leakage and 2 new rear springs due to one possibly broken as it was making a bong type of noise from the rear end, the car has come out of Merecedes and drives better except moves from side to side mainly at lower speeds like constantly running over speed bumps or as somone has said like being buffeted by the wind, plus if I run over a drain cover the car skips on the rear end. The car tends to find every bump in the road, it kind of reminds me of an old Citroen I had years ago with adjustable suspension which when raised would bounce along the road. I have not told Merecedes what the tyre company have done but feel I should.

My questions are, do you think this could be unrelated to what has been adjusted, could this be a shock absorber fault or bushes?. Could anyone tell me if the rear end is adjusted would this alter the tension of the moving parts on the suspension or indeed alter the handling? Can the front suspension ride height be altered? Do you think I should let Mercedes look at it or go back to the tyre fitting company and let them sort it out! Would it be possible to put the car suspension back to factory settings?

Tyres have 5mm tread on front and 4mm on the rear

I hope you can understand what I am talkng about and await any reply's with eager anticipation as I do not know which way to go

Many thanks

Bryan

 

[johnschnell]

There are several issues here, but the most important is that the car should not, under any circumstances, be handling like this. You should take it back to Mercedes and have them give it a good going over and report to you. My guess is that your problem is that you've divided up the problems across too many people. The tyre company that adjusted the wheel alignment should never have attempted it if there were worn steering parts, and they should have known what to look for and tell you.
So, in summary, get a comprehensive report, if not from Mercedes then from someone you can trust.
And don't try to do anything yourself. This is serious stuff.

 

[Bryann]

Thanks for that John

I didn't mean to devide the problem, although there wasn't a problem to begin with apart from steering wheel slightly off line. The geometry should never have been touched, should have gone back to MB to have steering wheel put straight as they are very good, have had brillient service from them, could kick myself.
Since my thread have followed my wife in car noticed wheel slightly bouncing on N/S rear over bumps, think this is Shock absorber, process of elimination I guess

I will get MB to do a full comprehensive check

I have noticed a few threads with similar issues so i guess i am not alone

I certainly do not intend to attempt anything myself, as you say its serious stuff

 

[johnschnell]

I certainly wish you luck, Bryan. There's nothing worse than owning a fine car that isn't right for some reason. Just an additional thought, though. If you ever see your steering wheel sloping when it shouldn't, assume that something has happened to the front wheels. It can't shift on its own.

 

[Bryann]

Good point John, good point.

Cheers