C class handling issues

[luke]

I have a 2011 w204 c class.

I'm really happy with it but the handling is very odd and I was hoping other owners could tell me if it's normal.

I do a lot of motorway driving and I find the car is constantly pulling in one direction or the other.

When the road cambers or if there is any crown in the road, I have to steer into the camber/crown. In order to drive in a straight line, It's as if I have to keep the steering wheel level with the horizon as the car rolls with the camber/crown. Is this normal?

It's driving me nuts. On occasion i have to use opposite lock on very shallow bends, where the camber is pronounced.

If it's not normal could anyone give me advice as to what may be wrong?

Cheers in advance,
Luke

[D-Type]

I'm not a mechanic, but I have owned several old cars

(1) The obvious: check your tyre pressures at a couple of different service stations from your regular one. There is no guarantee that any gauge is correct but if there's a measure of agreement they are probably OK. Or buy a decent gauge.
(2) Have the shock absorbers (dampers) checked
(3) Have the rubber bushes in the suspension joints checked. They soften the shock loads between the different elements and improve compliance. But if they wear or start to disintegrate, then there will be play in the joints.
(4) Have wheel bearings checked.
(5) Wheel balance
(6) Tracking

[janvanvurpa]

I am a mechanic and I make suspension for rally cars..People like to talk of all kinds of crazy things but I stress castor a lot..without castor a car wants to not self center...and wants to wander away...

Slop in ball joints, wear in bushings and Mercedes does seem to have a lot of bushings...and ball joints...

Naturally check for grossly over inflated tires...don't fret the gauges at the pump, have your own gauge and get 'em even. Verify that the tires aren't worn insanely on the edges...

[D-Type]

I think your "Castor" is my "Tracking"

[driveace]

Well we have caster,camber,and King pin inclination !
When I was a mechanic 53 years ago we used to check all the above plus tracking as well.
I also have a 2012 Mercedes C Class C220 sport ,on very low profile tyres,I don't notice any problem with the steering at all ,The warning light came on as I sensed I was falling asleep.The suspension is brilliant,and to me it looks like they do have a fair amount of caster angle too

[janvanvurpa]

I think your "Castor" is my "Tracking"

My castor is your castor. Normal 'merikun castor is caster....I have spelt funny since I was a weeeeee laddie dis high. I can't say THs to save my life, comes out "d"...or sometimes "f" as in Up Norf, eh?

Tracking could be "toe set" or just "toe"...

Dun't know if its adjustable on your car..
On superior cars, such as the mighty Saab 96 V4, its easy, select fit shims under the upper control arm mounts..

Few things lead to cars wandering off...they don't get Alzheimer's.

Worn junk usually means some single condition, like "pulls left" or darts that-a-way...Balance you feel in the steering wheel, real worn things lead to clucks and noise...
(I have always driver older beater cars, just don't see the point and since I can fix or build anything from 2 stroke dirt bikes to 10,500 SHP 2600 rpm V20 diesels I just buy older cars for cheap and keep 'em going..cheap or free.., so lots of experience with tired suspension---and also with bending things in the woods on rallies.)

Check the easy stuff, visually check the tires for spastic wear and report back.

[driveace]

You mention "Toe"
Well we have toe in ,which is how to set the steering usually 1/8 th in on the front wheels ,as they level out at speed on a REAR wheel drive car .AND toe OUT which we set 1/8 th out for front wheel drive cars,this is because with front wheel drive cars at speed the front wheels are dragging forwards to again level the track

[janvanvurpa]

You mention "Toe"
Well we have toe in ,which is how to set the steering usually 1/8 th in on the front wheels ,as they level out at speed on a REAR wheel drive car .AND toe OUT which we set 1/8 th out for front wheel drive cars,this is because with front wheel drive cars at speed the front wheels are dragging forwards to again level the track

Wrong on FWD cars.... MOST FWD cars I have worked on have toe IN just for the same reasons as RWD cars: bushing compliance. As cars go forward the bushes give a bit and the arms go slightly rearward and toe in at 2mm becomes toe in 1mm...
Toe OUT in front is just flat weird.

SOME track or parking lot heroes scream about toe OUT "for sharper steering response but again that is crazy and if they thought---a big IF when it comes to parking lot cone squishers, and looked at their own feet they could see that when the wheels point OUT there is no initiation of turn until the outside tire crosses over the center (seen from above) then suddenly the car seems to dart into the corner but PRIOR the steering is vague and dead...

But what do I know , just worked on FWD performance cars for 20 years---and rallied them too.

[driveace]

Still stick to my earlier post RWD Toe In
FWD cars toe out
Any I have worked on race and rally cars too ,worked on cars for 56 years,and it's always been the same.
What do you toe in rear wheels then for racing cars ,or do you toe those out ?

[janvanvurpa]

Stick with whatever you want, but don't make up blanket statements "IT has always been the same if you don't want to be corrected

Example--going back in time;
Saab 96..............2mm +-1mm IN----from factory service manual
Saab 99...............1mm +-1....IN from factory service manual
Saab 900.............2mm +- 1mm IN--from Bentley reprint of factory service manual
Golf MkII.............1mm in to 3.5 out.....from GB issue Haynes---VW doesn't care evidently
Peugeot 205........Wheel alignment and steering angles
Front wheel toe setting:
All models, except GTI and automatic transmission - up to 1988 . . . 3.0 ± 1.0 mm toe-in
1.6 GTI models - up to 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0 ± 1.0 mm toe-in
1.9 GTI models - up to 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 ± 1.0 mm toe-in
Automatic transmission models - up to 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 ± 1.0 mm toe-in
All models from 1988 onward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 ± 0.5 mm toe-in

I have no idea what the hairdressers who play with "racing" cars do for whatever reasons they do things, I believe it is mainly because the simpering drivewrs have lisped some complaint..

I do know that Ford motorsport says O toe to a few % of a degree in on the rally Sierras 2wd, 4x4 and Escort Cossie on the surface that adult men chose to compete on: Gravel..

I can go on and on but I think you see how "it's ALWAYS been that way" has been demonstrated to be completely false.