Steering Wheel Vibration b/w 60 - 80mph

[AMGTesTDriverNJ]

Hello gentlemen, as the title states, I'm experiencing some noticeable vibration in the steering wheel b/w about 60 to 80 mph.

Anything before that and I don't notice anything.

I took the car to have the wheels looked at figuring one of them to be the likely culprit but after they were road force balanced and the car aligned I was still feeling it.

Any suggestions about what I should look to replace to try to eliminate the issue?

Steering damper maybe?

Thanks for any insight.

 

[gsxr]

1) Check the steering damper (not likely, but easy to test)

2) What were the Road Force numbers? The limit is 26 lbs, and ideally they should measure more like 10-15 lbs of force. Also, did they do a dynamic balance, with weights on the inside & outside of the wheels, not just a single weight in the center?

3) Check wheel bearing end play (spec is extremely tight, 0.01-0.02mm)

4) Check all other steering links, and idler arm bushings, for any measurable play - should be zero

Just curious, what brand/size wheels & tires do you have?

 

[Cavanman]

Did you change tyres recently? The reason I ask is that I think this vibration may be linked to the choice of tyres.

When I got my car it was fitted with Goodyear Eagles. The car had a slight but noticeable vibration at the speed range you mention. I tried having the wheels balanced (though never on the car) and moving the tyres around to no avail.

I changed the steering damper, which was gone, but this made no difference.

By raising the rear of the car and running the rear wheels (with traction control disabled) I traced it to the left rear wheel, despite it feeling like a front wheel problem. The bearings felt fine, there was zero runout on the hub or the wheel. I even changed the rear suspension links but this did not fix the problem.

I came across some threads on other websites that described the same problem on SLs. As the rear suspension on our cars is essentially the same, this seems to be an inherent problem.

When I switched to Michelin Pilot tyres, the problem went away... Occasionally I can get a hint of it in some circumstances but it is not as noticeable as before.

Best of luck.

 

[Cannoli]

Here's a longshot, but I see that you have a 1992 model. Does your car still have the OE aluminum Brembo front calipers installed? You can tell if the calipers are painted black with a white M-B Star facing outwards. You state you are sensing a vibration at a relatively high speed through the steering column. The OE Brembo calipers CAN exude a low-frequency vibration through the steering column. However, this typically happens at a much lower speed though (~ 25 - 45 MPH).

Does this vibration go away when you slightly apply the brakes?

 

[omegabenz]

check all of the above and your strut mounts (look for cracks, or push inward on the top of the tire and check for excess play). I would bet idler bushings though (check with large channel lock pliers with car in the air)...or just drive >80 mph, like a 500E should be driven ;-) But in all seriousness, you should probably figure out what's going on with that vibration. Do you have 2 piece wheels?

 

[samiam44]

for me-

when it's the idler arm bushings, I can feel it seems to vibrate on the RHS. I'd be on bad wheel brg, wheel bearing adjustment as those have been my experience on my W124's. Also not mentioned, you can have a bad strut where it's minimally dampened.