Hi I recently aquired an e320 estate and am getting used to running it on long motorway journeys & on local country lanes - I have noticed that the car wants to follow every bump and track in the road, generally wandering around - its tricky to drive in the slow lane as the car wont settle in the grooves left by the lorries/trucks etc - it seems to want to change course all the time and doesnt feel as planted as it should.

The other night in heavy rain my wife had to wrestle to keeping it pointing straight ahead after hiting standing water at 70mph surely this heavy car should be able to shrugg off these sorts of events and steer a stress free steady course.

the tyres ares 245/45/17 and I have pumped the tyres to 36psi front & 42 rear - is this too much?

I havent yet checked the tracking yet

any ideas ? have any of you experienced similar with your e classes?

cheers & thanks

JCG

 

how d jcgphoto, just saw your message. you have to much presure in the tyres for a start. put 30 in the front and 32 in the back. you cant do tracking on a merc, its called four wheel aliment and the camper has to be checked to.

funny, cause i get a similar feeling out of my e class to when im on ****ty roads. i have an E280. you could get the wishbones checked on the front and the bushs cause there is loads of them, for play in them. try the different presures and see. goodluck 4 now

 

thanks Paulie for the info - i will try the new pressures and let you know the results etc

i may get the bushes & wishbones checked too as the car was neglected and then left for 2 years parked up - had to cut it out of undergrowth...

cheers JCG

 

is it lowered?

 

The car I think has sports suspension fitted as standard - it certainly looks lower than other e class etates that i have seen about

I have lowered the pressures now to 30 front and 32 on back - but have yet to try it out on the road

cheers JCG

 

Hi I have sorted the issues I have been having - the steering was basically okay with no play at all - but what was happening was it was if the front wheels would tramline and follow any bump in the road - the car required steering input all the time and was tiring to drive - not as it should be at all

the fix was to get the local (not MB) to fit brand new lower front balljoints & droplinks for the anti roll bar (didnt really need these - just they are the next bit to fail and cause problems in this area
The parts cost £50 all in and the time taken was 2.5 hours only so a farily cheap fix at local garage rates (£35/hr) dread to think what MB may have charged to fix it - happy to let local garage do it as its all just simple fixings.

I checked the car also before the work was done by jacking up the front of the car and then tried to move the wheel up and down - by pulling and pushing it using the wheel as a lever - this moved a lot and I could feel the balljoint move as the wheel was able to move ...not a good sign - this wheel shouldnt move at all period.

car now steers properely and I can finally get it to steer a straight course - going over bumps etc - the car just rides over them without trying to drive into the middle of the road! Very pleased

cheers JCG
2000 E320 estate.