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Fault diagnosis


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Hi all! I have a Mercedes SLK230 (2001 model) that I keep for sunny days like we are having at the moment, so I don't drive it often but I have a feeling the steering/suspension isn't quite right.

Of course, I arrived here on the WIM forum due to the inevitable "Mercedes pulling left" searches I've been doing, which is something my car has been doing since I've owned it. A slow puncture in the NSF exagerated the problem, but it still doesn't handle great.

I'm keen to learn more about my car (or cars in general), and get the wheels off and start looking for possible problems but I'm unsure what to be looking for. I like to work through things methodically, so what would be a good simple/obvious problem to start looking for?

The car recently passed an MOT, so I'm not suspecting any broken coil springs or (completely) broken shock absorbers. I feel like it might be more subtle - like bushes, or perhaps it is purely the geometry.

A bit of a "hit list" of things to look at would be much appreciated! I wouldn't be surprised if the shocks are on their way out as they are probably original, with about 95k miles on them of wonderful Sussex country roads and their potholes.

Many thanks!

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Hello and welcome to the forum.

Historically the pull is not the cars problem, it's more the road crown. To stop this we stagger the front castor and camber angles, using the angles forces to inertly push the car into the crown.

Generally the cars suspension is very good so there's no real targets to advise checking. I suppose it's a good idea to replace the steering damper if it has one if only to tighten the steering feel.

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On 31/08/2019 at 11:16, Tony said:

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Historically the pull is not the cars problem, it's more the road crown. To stop this we stagger the front castor and camber angles, using the angles forces to inertly push the car into the crown.

Generally the cars suspension is very good so there's no real targets to advise checking. I suppose it's a good idea to replace the steering damper if it has one if only to tighten the steering feel.

Hi Tony, thanks for the reply. I will check the steering damper, it is probably original and due for a replacement, and seems to be an inexpensive easy swap on my car. The steering wheel doesn't sit straight (always a bit off to the left) so perhaps something to do with the damper or linkage

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The steering position is cosmetic but it's displacement generally says there's a reason for to be off-line. Maybe other work was the trigger that left the steering off-line?

Needless to say if the car has a steering box then it will have a damper and given the mileage it should be replaced. Point to note the steering damper is not part of an MOT so it's easily way past it's use by date.

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