LHD and off centre steering

Apr 13, 2004 3 Replies

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bronach 22 years ago

hello merc people

i've had an ongoing problem with my Left Hand Drive 190D ( a 14 yr old diesel over 500k and going well except ...) I live in the UK and therefore drive on the left, but my car was originally bought on the continent , hence it's a LHD.

but more and more i have to position the steering wheel at 10 to 4, i.e. pointing into the middle of the road. if i let go of the steering wheel my car steers into the ditch! and not gently either!

i've had tracking specialists look at this before and they have not really made much difference. what can be causing this. is it a feature of a LHD car on the 'worng' side.

any help is appreciated.

thanks bronach

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T.G. Lambach 22 years ago

If you need to steer against the crown of the roadway then the car's caster angle is incorrect. The caster angle is the front wheels' fore / aft angle of the top and bottom pivot points (ball joints) vs. vertical.

That said, but the fact that a shop looked at (and hopefully measured) the front suspension angles plus the high miles on the car leads me to suggest you also have the REAR suspension checked. Worn bushings back there allow the rear wheels to "steer" the car.

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bronach 22 years ago

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 19:02:20 +0100, T.G. Lambach wrote (in message ):

thanks for the advice. i will take that info to my local engineer (an ex- merc mechanic) and see how i get on.

the shop looked at it about 4 years ago and i think it has been geting a bit worse ever since, slowly but surely.

regs bronach

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Dori A Schmetterling 22 years ago

There must be something wrong with your car. I drove an RHD car in Belgium for 7 months in 1979 (a Vauxhall Cavalier) and a LHD car in the UK for two years (1982 / 83) (a Merc W123 200).

No problems with the steering.

Maybe the roads in your area are tilting more and more as governments postpone road expenditure more and more?

DAS

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