mightywhites

I have covered approx. 6500 miles in my C250 and I have noted that both the outside edges of my front tyres have significant wear on them to the extent that they may only last another 1k miles or so

I am going to book the car in for a tracking check but has anyone else noticed the same wear problem?

Mr Enigma

Have you checked the tyre pressures? It could be that the tyres are underinflated, causing more wear near the tyre wall.

mightywhites

Checked them all and they are all the specified pressure

ManiacGT

You will get more wear in a diesel engined car, but this sounds very excessive/uneven wear which if not pressure, is suspension geometry. Let us know what you turn up with a tracking check.

Merlin1

Why?

ManiacGT

Weight. Diesel engines are much heavier (usually) than petrol. This means more weight over the front wheels and thus more wear.

Glyn M Ruck

Get the toe checked & get them to set castor 1 degree more positive (max2) on the passenger side of the car than drivers side. Does the car pull with the camber of the road?

mightywhites

Doesn't seem to pull with the camber. Why have the different setting for each wheel?

Slight concern that hitting some of the large pot holes in our UK roads might have knocked things out of true - but the wear is the same both sides so I suppose this is less likely.

Andrew1959

I am on 15k and all 4 of mine are close to the limit
Can't see them making a year

Glyn M Ruck

It's a good old Benz trick. There is a dealer bulletin out on it. It is usually used to stop the car from drifting off with the camber of the road but in my experience also helps with typical shoulder wear on a Benz. Toe is first thing to check if pressures are OK.

Eilers

?? Why would you want him to fiddle with the caster angle? Is it even possible to adjust caster angle on this car without special bolts or a kit? - (I suspect not..)


@mightywhites: If the wear is even and one sided (outside only), I suggest you have them look at the Camber angle.

Outside tire wear points to positive Camber angle, which is not something a Road car is supposed to have.


EDIT:
I am adding this because i just noticed Glyn M Ruck added a line to his post clearly to disguise his ignorance on the subject. After first telling the thread starter to go have the "Caster adjusted" he realised that you can only adjust Toe as standard. He realised this only after K-Mac posted (see below( Glun M Ruck then tried to disguise his ignorace by adding the line quoited from his post just below this. YOu will notice the time of the editing.

QUOTE:

All you can adjust is toe without bolt kit. The cars come with a standard bolt in the centre position. __________________

Llandudno, Cape Town, South Africa


Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; 04-03-2015 at 05:27 PM.

Glyn M Ruck

Castor & camber are adjusted with 3 way fluted bolts that can be placed in the castor & camber bushes in 3 different positions. I have it all in the Wiki.






Here is the W203 bulletin but same for all models.

https://mbworld.org/wiki/index.php/F...rection-1-.pdf This bulletin is written for LHD cars. The reverse applies for RHD cars which is why I always talk about passenger side castor.





Benz geometry gives varying camber with degree of turn. I doubt that this is a camber issue from Benz experience but get them to check the camber while they are about it & fit fluted bolts & adjust if necessary. Camber must be checked with wheels dead ahead. Check toe first. Don't listen to Eilers bluster.

All you can adjust is toe without bolt kit. The cars come with a standard bolt in the centre position.

Eilers

Did you bother to read what his problem is? His front tires goes bald on the outside..

BTW Your first link ends at ebay.. I dont know what that is about?? The other link is to a description on how to adjust if the car wanders..

There is no talk here about a car that wanders to one side or the other, so your reply is completely off the subject.

Caster angle affects steering wheel return and straight line stability. The only type of tire wear you get with Caster issues is cupped tire wear. In racing we use caster kits to tune out understeer from nose heavy cars, but that is not relevant for a road car.

EDIT: I dont usually like to use link or diagrams to support advice, but will do so today to hopefully avoid further bickering from Glyn M Ruck.

K-Mac

DO POINT OUT – GONE ARE THE DAYS WHEN “FULL FRONT AND REAR WHEEL ALIGNMENT” MEANS WHAT IT SAYS!


ONLY OEM ADJUSTMENT IS “FRONT AND REAR TOE”





For the front (only) you can purchase “one position” offset slotted bolts for the 4 main front bushings. But these only allow a miniscule .3 of one degree (1/8 of an inch – 3mm). And to change setting means labour intensive disassembly each time.


We saw the need therefore to design, manufacture “precisely adjustable replacement bushings” for the front providing both Camber and Caster adjustment and with 3 times the adjustment range of the one position bolts.


For the rear also precise Camber adjustment with additional Toe adjustment to compensate for the new Camber facility.


The patented K-MAC design allows full precise ongoing front and rear adjustment capability – “single wrench” (no disassembly, on car, accurately under load).


To correctly resolve costly, premature inner edge tire wear, steering pull, improving traction, allowing to return to factory specs after curb knock damage, fitting wide profile tires / wheels, altering height or just the advantage to be able to change settings for “track days”.


YOU FIX IT RIGHT THE 1St. TIME WITH K-MAC – No more ongoing trips to dealers or alignment shops or constantly changing tire brands because of only Toe adjustment or the minimal adjustment offered from inaccurate one only position offset bolts!


Bonus is the 4 front (and the 4 rear) bushings also replace the highest wearing suspension bushes. The K-MAC patented design allows twice the load bearing area with the front bushes being 2 axis/self aligning without the use of oil and air voids. Result is improved brake, traction and steering response.


Also importantly K-MAC rear adjusters move lower arms/tires inwards when wanting to reduce inner edge tire wear/improve traction (unlike “Camber Arms” that move top of tires outwards diminishing essential clearance to outer fender).


All kits come with instructions and bush extraction/insertion tubes (MB World member Heiss Rod has kindly provided step by step picture sequence re front bush installation. See https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/518431-k-mac-bushing-install-guide-w211-airmatic.html )


W205 Front kit (Camber and Caster) #502816K $480.


W205 Rear kit (Camber and Extra Toe) #502226K $480.


Including airmatic.


Special promotional price delivery for MB World members USA/CANADA $30 one kit or $40 for front and rear (average delivery time 3 – 4 days). Payment Visa, M/Card or PayPal.

Eilers

Thank you K-MAC.. perfect timing!

As i suspected the only alligment option you get from OEM on this car is TOE In/Out. I think that should put Glyn M Ruck to shame once and for all.

Nice kit BTW. If I was driving a lowered W/S 205 on 19", I would definitely get one installed to save on tire wear.

Glyn M Ruck

I am well aware of all your diagrams & normality Eilers. The K Mac kit is excellent & a more elegant solution than the Benz one & always has been ~ but the Benz bolts get the job done generally. However, I'll bet the OP's car's camber is in spec. His toe is likely out.

Due to Benz varying camber with degree of turn castor comes into play.

My W203 C240 with castor set at 10.6 deg & 9.6 deg. Tyre pressure 2.3 bar no shoulder wear.
My W209 CLK350 (same chassis as W203) 2.3 bar tyre pressure. Bolts to be fitted now at first tyre change and all alignment in spec. Front tyre shoulders very badly worn at 20K Km's. You don't understand Benz varying camber with rate of turn. LOOK at difference in front wheel camber on a Benz from straight ahead to full lock either way. The camber change is visible & huge.

We all know all the standard car alignment guff you have posted.

The standard alignment as I posted is only toe adjustment without fitting the fluted bolts. The 3 way bushes are there already standard fitment.

You are stuck in a rut of what is normal. Benz front geometry is not. You really don't know these cars very well do you. In a corner have you ever noticed how much positive camber the inside wheel develops - it's huge?

Subtleties of Benz front suspension design. Your pretty pictures would only apply with a Benz traveling in a straight line.

Glyn M Ruck

My C240 ~ note no shoulder wear. Castor 10.6 degrees passenger side. 9.6 degrees driver's side

Glyn M Ruck

You can't read. Severe myopia. I stated exactly what K Mac did before they did in my post #12. They have their elegant solution & Benz has it's 3 way fluted bolt solution. Both work.

Glyn M Ruck

There are 2 X 3 way bush pictures which we all see clearly and one link to rectify cars that pull with the camber of the road. We have found that correcting this with castor adjustment also mitigates most of the shoulder wear. Don't know where eBay is coming from your side.

The other cause of shoulder wear is of course aggressive cornering.

Eilers

LOL... three full laps of back swimming.. Do you expect anyone to read all that bullcrap about another model? This is W205 section.. "Earth to Glyn M Ruck"...... ahh too late.... lost in space..

The problem with being a Google/wikipedia Desk Jockey, is that you end up in a situation like you just did, where you do not know the difference between Caster, camber and Toe, so you make a silly statement, and then spend the rest of the day trying to make it look like you were right.

BTW, you are not part of the Benz organization, or any other organization that deals with Suspension setup, so stop with the "We" please, you are not fooling anyone.

juwivive

I try to shy away from using the ignore function on forum software, but in your case I think I'll make an exception. You really do have the most appalling attitude and you obviously don't learn anything from your enforced absences. I give it a month before you get banned again; I suspect that's being generous.



There, much better.

Glyn M Ruck

The same principle applies to all Benz cars of recent times. If you can't turn the steering of your car to full lock & observe the vast change in camber angles then you are blind. These cars are all an evolution of previous models & thinking.

Fortunately the complaints list against you is getting so long that you won't be around for much longer.

Glyn M Ruck

I wish I could use the ignore function but as mods we can't. Have to tolerate until people are given enough rope to hang themselves.

The sheer arrogance to suggest, that I don't know the difference between, camber, castor, toe, scrub radius etc etc.
I know who the Google parrot is & it's not me. I use the WIS & EPC. I've been involved with the automotive industry for my entire working life.

Glyn M Ruck

Now we are watching live Eilers modifying his posts. You see I can track these things with the forum software.

Glyn M Ruck

Seems you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Front tyre shoulder wear on Benzes is all over this board. The "We" that I refer to is working in conjunction with the MB organisation & the collective wisdom of members of this Board over many years. Take off your blinkers.