Easy Steering With the Mercedes Benz Tie Rod End

Mercedes Benz vehicles are made with the premium quality of a car genius. Every system, every part, every nut and bolt performs with its specified efficiency to make the car what it has become known today---stylish design with optimum performance. In fact, a driver may easily attest the comforts and fun of driving a Mercedes. From its acceleration to the smooth brakes, Mercedes impressively functions to cater the driver's satisfaction. What most drivers worry about is usually taken care of, like the car steering. It may not be as easy as it seems, but Mercedes made it happen.

For a car to turn smoothly, each wheel must follow a different circle. Since the inside wheel is following a circle with a smaller radius, it is actually making a tighter turn than the outside wheel. If you draw a line perpendicular to each wheel, the lines will intersect at the center point of the turn. The geometry of the steering linkage makes the inside wheel turn more than the outside wheel. There are a couple different types of steering gears. The most common are rack-and-pinion and recirculating ball.

The Rack-and-pinion steering is quickly becoming the most common type of steering on cars, small trucks and SUVs. It is actually a pretty simple mechanism. A Mercedes Benz is hooked up with a rack-and-pinion gear set which is enclosed in a metal tube, with each end of the rack protruding from the tube. A rod, or the Mercedes Benz Tie Rod End, connects to each end of the rack. The pinion gear is attached to the steering shaft. When you turn the steering wheel, the gear spins, moving the rack. The Mercedes Benz Tie Rod End at each end of the rack connects to the steering arm on the spindle.

On most cars, it takes three to four complete revolutions of the steering wheel to make the wheels turn from lock to lock (from far left to far right). The steering ratio is the ratio of how far you turn the steering wheel to how far the wheels turn. For instance, if one complete revolution (360 degrees) of the steering wheel results in the wheels of the car turning 20 degrees, then the steering ratio is 360 divided by 20, or 18:1. A higher ratio means that you have to turn the steering wheel more to get the wheels to turn a given distance. However, less effort is required because of the higher gear ratio. Most Mercedes Benz vehicles have lower steering ratios than larger cars and trucks. The lower ratio gives the steering a quicker response---one does not have to turn the steering wheel as much to get the wheels to turn a given distance---which is a desirable trait in Mercedes Benz vehicles.

The Mercedes Benz Tie Rod End is particularly important because without them, the car's steering linkage would break at the first second of hitting a big pothole or bump. Although his barely does anything to the car because of quality shock absorbers and suspension, the Mercedes Benz Tie Rod End performs some really heavy tasks. And these tasks will be carried out more confidently if your Tie Rod End are made by the genius of Mercedes.