'92 Mercedes 500SL wandering

Hey, has anyone out there had this problem and found a solution? I have a 1992 Mercedes 500SL and have been very happy with it up to a few months ago (about 6..). It's been a strong runner and a straight driver. Then all of a sudden for no apparent reason, it started wobbling, and wandering when driving on flat straight pavement, with no steering input. It's like it had one longer leg or one bigger wheel on one side of the car. I thought it needed an alignement so I started there. No improvement. Took it to Mercedes dealer and they replaced the Steering Shock and strut mount bushings to the tune of $700. No improvement. I took it back to get another alignment at Mercedes suggestion, no improvement. Then I took it to my regular tune up place to see if they had any ideas. The one guy that works there, had worked at an alignment shop for 10 years and said that Mercedes sometimes liked to be a bit more toward the extreme ends of the recommended settings. I had them tweek it 3 times with no improvement. It's still wandering, and wobbling, and I basically have to "herd" it down the road, even when I'm on brand new pavement. I don't look forward to driving it at all, even for short distances let alone think about driving it to Seattle. I can't relax, it requires 100% attention to keep from straying out of the lane. I run out of options, ideas and energy. Short of trading it in, any ideas? Somebody please HELP!!

Reply to
doubleace69
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Tell us about all four tires' tread wear and if there's any pattern to it. Also the tread's depth - all four tires.

Reply to
T.G. Lambach

This happened to my '90 420SEL as a result of a loose tie rod end, but this should have been discovered during the alignment.

JAS

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Reply to
John Simpson

Swap the front for the back tires.

That sounds more like the way tires fail than hard suspension parts, so rule them out first bu ruling out a tread separation in one of the tires.

Any weird noises? Slow or at speed? WHat kind and size of tires are they?

Reply to
Richard Sexton

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