1998 Mercedes Benz S320 shake in steering

Hi john meaney. Welcome to the forum. The most likely stuff, the wheels and tires, have already been taken care of. Have them start by running the car on a hoist and placing a dial indicator against the outside lip of the wheels as they rotate. If there is excessive runout, say in the order of.050" or more, do the same thing on the brake rotor with the wheel / tire removed. If runout exists on the rotor too, the hub is bent or there is a piece of rust or scale that has fallen between the hub and rotor. Access holes in the mounting surface of the hubs allows rust to form on the inside of the rotor's mounting surface. If that spot of rust buildup isn't cleaned off before the rotor is machined, it will result in a warp being machined into it.

If no problem is found in this area, suspect a worn spot in the inner cv joint housing. I didn't suggest this first because it usually doesn't cause a problem when cruising or slowing down, only under acceleration. A cv joint problem can sometimes be identified by shifting the position of the engine slightly, then looking for a change in the symptoms.

Caradiodoc