Mercedes tech said alignment done only at Mercedes dealership!!!

Two years old and 14k miles…I can see why people pay so much for the superior quality of these cars. 🙄

Imagine if the OP said 2020 (Nissan, Kia, Dodge) with 14k and the rest of the story the same…what would the comments say?
That's the assumption that people make that just because they're expensive, they have superior quality. QC is typically worse on their cheaper line of cars, but even S class cars have their share of problems.

As for me, I take both of my E-350's to Goodyear. They sell a 3 year alignment warranty. They have no issues doing the the alignment and it's typically $179 or something like that for the 3 year warranty. Potholes here mean I get it done every 6 months to a 1. All it takes is one hit and you know that it's off because the steering wheel doesn't line up straight anymore. There's other places that can also do the alignment but I hear bad things about the local Firestone stores but they might be fine somewhere else. The good thing with Goodyear is that they don't even bother with an upsell because they just assume I take it to the dealer. Typically on Mercedes, the front inner tires tends to wear out. Some claim that's because MB's alignment specs is geared for the Autobahn and at slower US speeds, the inners will wear out quicker. Should probably just rotate the tires more frequently than once a year during service.
 
Yeah, my fathers GF has had all sorts of issues with her 2020 too. All under warranty of course. She's retired, so the time she's spent going back and forth isn't much of an issue for her. If I owned it right now, I would have absolutely no time for that crap.

I had the BMW dealership align my car, for the basic reason that the local bmw indy shop had a two month wait.. I should have scheduled it correctly, but I'm a scatterbrain.

I had one experience using a local shop for an alignment, it was a horror story. I had a horror story experience at a local shop with an alignment. They returned the car to me with the steering wheel off center by 45 degrees. Tech said my suspension was bad and it couldn't be centered unless I replaced all the worn parts. I was handed a quote for $1200 for a list of parts.
 
Do the old guys remember when "Merc" meant Mercury, not Mercedes? When a BMW was a "Beemer" not a "Bimmer"?


There was a thread here recently where someone referred to a automobile as a Merc and I thought they meant Mercury.


I’m trying to remember the last time I had a wheel bearing replaced. I think it was the late 80’s on a Ford.
 
The guy is a moron, its that simple. A good independent with a good machine can do it just as good or better than any dealer, the only problem is finding one. If you were in MA I could put you on to the right place.
Yeah. I’ve got a great guy in Virginia Beach.

Bert’s Alignment.

He does all my cars, including Mercedes. Did a better job than the Volvo dealer, too.
 
hello everyone,
Replying back for everyone:

This car i bought it brand new from out of state and at that time rear driver side plastic trim was loose and making noise while driving down the road.S omething happen at the production before arrived at local MB lot. MB of memphis blame it on the tire noise(Wanted me to buy new tires and i left). While moving down here I took it to sanford,fl mb and was told both of the wheel bearing is bad and will be replaced under warranty which they did. Now i took it in for trunk not closing and they blaming it on me like i did something wrong which i didn't. I treat this car like it my own kid.

Warranty for this car is 40k mileage (bumper to bumper i belive.)

This is the worse model i own. Better to buy GLE350
rattle noise inside the car
air not cooling enough
 
....Well service advisor inspection my both of my tires and came back with me saying that front tires need to be replace, need balance, then alignment....... Both front tires are wears out due to common wears ( Really at 13k mileage, he said first tire wore out quickly then 2nd set of tire , he also said tire I have is softer tire).....
Continental tires. 235/50/19 all around
The front tires are worn out at only 14,000 miles, from "common wears" ? What is "common wears" ?
 
Two years old and 14k miles…I can see why people pay so much for the superior quality of these cars. 🙄

Imagine if the OP said 2020 (Nissan, Kia, Dodge) with 14k and the rest of the story the same…what would the comments say?

That it's a more reliable car, why you put Dodge in there. lol.

Kia trades the top spot in reliability with Toyota every month. Nissans are always a "runner up" very good/fast car, way more pizazz than a Toyota.... Dodge has Chargers and Challengers but they say outside of that and RAM the brand is not profitable....

Mercedes Benz I mean obviously they are fine cars but I'm not sure they are as up to snuff as those from 20-25 years ago, being careful here because @Astro14 knows his stuff and I'm NOT trying to disparage a brand, just a bit of a mix of shooting from the hip with some humor, for those ready to pounce...
 
The front tires are worn out at only 14,000 miles, from "common wears" ? What is "common wears" ?

If they were Pirelli then I've heard of them saying that, "tires are only supposed to last 12,000 miles."

Even if a soft rubber compound tire.. not sure if that is true.
 
The front tires are worn out at only 14,000 miles, from "common wears" ? What is "common wears" ?
I've had two sets of OE rubber wear out around that milage with normal driving. 2018 Ford expedition Goodyears, 2016 For F-150 Goodyears.
There a trend there, right?
When I say "worn out", I mean that when the tires were rotated I'd get the "dangerous" sales tactic.. Pretty much every shop, and everyone would say that. They had some life left for sure I squeaked another few K out of them.
 
this sounds like MB has a future front wheel bearing recall in its near future......
 
Not sure how relevant to your issues, but I found on my W220 S-class sedan(s) that selection of the tire manufacturer/ model was extremely critical in relation to front end noise, smooth ride, and tire longevity.

I only purchase Bridgestone, Continental, and Michelin tires for any of my vehicles, with Michelin being the tire of choice. For the MB W220s with sport package (18" rimms), only Bridgestone and Continental make a tire for that configuration with a wear rating above 500. I discovered through usage and forum posting, that the W220 with sport package will have a normal excess front tire wear. So one goes through front tires like crazy, and the issue premature inner tire wear sounds like a failing wheel bearing.

I found the Bridgestone outlasts the Continental on a 18" W220. Michelin only makes a higher performance tire for the 18" w220, with a wear rating of around 320, so I don't put Michelins on the W220.
 
They arent far off in that other than a Mercedes or european specialist or dealer it is unlikely that a shop would have all of the tools needed to align it properly.

One thing that very often gets overlooked on alignment is that the ride height needs to be measured. If the ride height is off it is likely that all of the angles are going to be off. When I teach wheel alignment I usually demonstrate this with a GM truck with independent front suspension and torsion bars. We set the ride height to spec with the torsion bar adjusters then align the truck. Then I lower the ride height an inch and raise the ride height an inch and all 3 angles will be out of whack. Bring the ride height back to spec and the angles come back in.
Why this matters is because of how Mercedes does ride height. They do not publish ride height specs. You use a tool called a romess inclinometer to measure the inclination of front and rear control arms. The readings from the romess inclinometer are entered into xentry which calculates the alignment specs based on what the current ride height is.

Any decent alignment machine can be used to make the alignment measurements but if they are using generic specs the angles will likely not be right when done.
 
He's right. Have alignments done at the dealership. In fact, that's the case for most new cars these days. There are so many specific procedures now. Even my Silverado needs the steering computer reset/re-calibrated after an alignment.
 
Hi everyone,

2020 glb250 4matic (14k miles)

I took my car in for trunk not closing and staying open halfway. Service advisor said that might not be cover under warranty. Anyway they are looking into it and I hope they fix it instead of BS with me. Well service advisor inspection my both of my tires and came back with me saying that front tires need to be replace, need balance, then alignment. I told him no then he said do rotation and alignment. Both front tires are wears out due to common wears ( Really at 13k mileage, he said first tire wore out quickly then 2nd set of tire , he also said tire I have is softer tire). Rear tires are good so he want to put rear tires on the front then do alignment, If I don’t want to buy new tires. Rotation,balance,and alignment came out to be $290 plus taxe. Told me only do alignment at the Mercedes dealership and wouldn’t let nobody else touch the car.

At 6k miles they replaced both of the wheel bearings on the front then they only did toe adjustment not full alignment.
No warranty for tires.
Continental tires. 235/50/19 all around
Some shops are not equipped to perform an alignment on a Benz so I can understand why a service writer was trained to tell you that. The same thing occurs with BMW.

Sorry to hear about your poor service from a Benz dealer. They clearly are trying to take advantage of you.
 
Some benzes are somewhat special, the w123 needs a jacking fixture doohickey between the front spindles to simulate being under load on the road.

IDK enough about your car to comment, aside from I hope you get the tire wear you're expecting.

As for the trunk, what's the bumper to bumper warranty? That's a bigger concern to me, how they treat you over that.
Yeah sometimes Mercedes has special alignment fixing tools and i know bmw has specified a certain amount of weighted bags to be placed in various parts of the vehicle to simulate driver weight.
 
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