Hi Guys,

Just suddenly (say over about 250miles) developed a strong tire noise when I turn the wheel to the right and I can feel the tire grooves through the car: it happens after about 20mph.

I went to my tire shop today and had a wheel allignment done by an experienced older guy.

It's no better or worse from the allignment. He told me that the rear was a bit high (not sure what that means in tire talk) and the fronts were not too bad but I did notice him loosen nuts on both the front and the rear to make adjustments.

Best way to describe the noise is as if you were to drive over a surface that had a fine corrigation.

Could something have loosened up in the front end?

Handles perfect with no pulling to either side but the noise is loud enough to sound like it is chewing rubber out.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

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1995 E300 Diesel

Does it feel like its from one side or both?

Really hard to say. It's definately only when I turn the wheel in one direction.

Almost certain it's not a wheel bearing as the sound is a definite rubber noise rather than the usual metal bearing failure grind.

I thought of another way to describe the noise: a bit like mud tires on a 4x4.

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1995 E300 Diesel

To eliminate the tires themselves put the front ones on the back. You could have a weird tire defect. Radial tires from the front go on the same side on the back.

You could do the side you suspect first or just temporarily substitute the spare for each side. I assume the alignment shop had a good preliminary look around the steering components before doing the alignment.

also, try just swapping the front tyres' sides and see if the problem switches sides, then you know it's almost certainly the wheel/tyre. Have you jacked the offending side up and checked for the obvious? (brakes/bearing/suspension components/rubbing back plate etc etc...)

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1993 320TE M104
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past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

Occasionally extreme stress on a sketchy inboard wheel bearing will manifest itself as sort of a muffled grinding. Whatever the cause of the noise, it will be damped to a certain extent by the rubber subframe bushings. I had a similar issue on a couple of cars.
You want to find out if it was the tire? Shoot the inboard side of the tire and sidewall with white spay paint. Let it dry and do your full lock thing, then get under and look. That will eliminate or confirm the possibility of chassis rubbing.

Slim possibility of dragging, misaligned treads from control arm bushing/ball joint wear but you had an alignment. Yet negative caster and excessive toe in can also cause it. Look for inner tread "stepping" wear.

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I second the rotate tires suggestion to see if the issue moves. If you just had the suspension checked I would think it may be a faulty tire.

I just replaced the brakes on my '83 300 and repacked the front wheel bearings while I was at it. They had been set up too tight and were starting to get dry. I did the LF first, and would have replaced them but only had one set which I wanted to save for the RF if needed.

About 100 miles after the job, the car developed the noise you're describing. Replacing the bearings cured it. Pull the wheel and back the pads away from the rotor. If you can hear any bearing noise at all, change them and set the end play with a dial indicator.

is the noise only at speed, or only at driveway speed?
when my rear swaybar connectors went out, they would drag when I mad a turn toward them. but that would only be at driveway speed...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
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My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Thanks guys...all good suggestions.

Barry123400 - Will do a tire rotation and try to eliminate wierd tire tread.Yes, tire guy did have a brief look at the suspension and said it looked ok except for control arm bushing just starting to look soft.

Carlton Hughes - I need to put the car on ramps and have a better look at the ball joints whilst under load.

Vstech - it's only at speed almost as though centrifugal forces also play a part.

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1995 E300 Diesel

Hi everyone,

Just a follow up to this thread.

The noise turned out to be my right hand side front wheel bearing.

I thought it would have been my left side, as this is the side which would take most of the load if the wheel is turned to the right.

Anyhow I did the job today. Very messy job removing all the old grease and I cleaned all the brake pads, rotors and hub properly before reassembly which was also a filthy job.

$45 for a good quality bearing kit and some French words used during the removal of the 19 mm bolts that hold the calipers on. Wow, were they in tight!

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1995 E300 Diesel