NachoLibre

Hello everyone. Alignment was off when I first got the car. A local shop did the alignment. But it wasn't perfect. Now the Dealer replace the front shocks and performed the alignment. The Car is pulling to the right. Everything is in spec. I switched the tire from left to right. Some Improvement but not much. Car is eating tires from outer edge.

Arrie

Car pulling to either side or/and eating up the tires means alignment is off, i.e. the toe is not set correctly. Take it back to the dealer. You paid for the job already to the guys from "Best or nothing".


And don't take the crap about it being the tires. It almost never is.


If your tires are wearing at the outside edge the toe is closed too much no matter what they say.

Sean1234

Agreed, if the alignment was done at the dealer they need to re do it. I had the same issue last spring when I hit a pot hole and bent one of my winter wheels. Had them put the summers on and do a alignment. Got it back and it was pulling, I drove the thing right back in to talk to the SA and he said I needed new tires. Told them to do the alignment again and problem solved. Like Arrie said "Best or Nothing"

rediesel

Should never wear the outer edge if aligned correctly.

sghokie

I have had a hard time with getting alignments with 2 mercedes cars.
I finally found a good shop that for the most part alignments is all they do.

It seems as though most if not nearly all shops will just put a car up on the rack and say, the numbers are in spec. But I don't think they actually think most of the time that spec may not actually be good. With my w212 I had taken it in to one place that spent almost an hour to put it up on their very sophisticated bosch alignment rack only to say that the numbers looked nearly perfect, yet the pull was there. They insisted it was tires. I took it to the dealer and there service lane alignment check system seemed pretty worthless as the numbers were in spec but no where near the bosch rack specs. I took it to the alignment place and they got it pretty good, not perfect.
I ended up getting new tires so I could actually drive in snow and the pull was even worse with new tires.
Back to the alignment place on the 3rd time I had them put a fluted bolt in, now it is perfect and I like the car so much more.

I don't think that many shops or even dealers bother with installing the fluted bolts because it is a PITA.

NachoLibre

I will take it back to the dealer and have them redo the alignment. What is this fluted bolt??

rediesel

^^^I'm guessing a concentric bolt also known as a camber bolt. Had the dealer install them on my W211 to get it in better alignment.

sghokie

My experience with a lot of places is that they don't really feel like doing the alignment correctly, they will say, it's tire pull or theres no adjustment spec for that, or my favorite, its supposed to pull right incase you fall asleep.

NachoLibre

Got new tires continental DWS. Great tires. Took it for alignment at a good shop. When I let go the steering wheel the car start to drift to right. I called the shop they said on the right front I need more negative camber. I think I do have camber bolts. Is there anything that will help this issue.

mleskovar

Everyone has the 'camber bolts'. They allow for slight adjustments. You need to find someone that understands how they work. "In spec" doesn't mean squat if the car is pulling. Tell them you don't care about the spec and all you want is even tire wear, good tracking, and no pulling. Fine tuning alignment is an art not shared by all shops. Need to ask this....are you sure the strut bearings/bushings are good?

iGeorge

Perhaps this bit may help. Had an alignment performed at the dealership and the car kept pulling after. They tried three more times until they sent me away. My regular MB mechanic did an alignment and it was spot perfect after. He says the machines used at the dealership are less sensitive than units they used to have, and less able to correct small errors in alignment. My only concern is I'd never thought these cars would be so sensitive to alignment issues.

NachoLibre

Dropping off the car back at the alignment shop tomorrow morning. I will update with new results. I was also looking into the k-mac front camber kit. I called the Tech and he said i need more negative camber front passenger side.

K-Mac

THERE IS ONLY FRONT AND REAR TOE ADJUSTMENT OEM!

You can fit (for the front only) “one only position” offset fluted bolts. But these only allow .3 of one degree (3mm/1/8”) – insufficient range and not being “precisely adjustable”.

We saw the need therefore to design, invent precisely adjustable – Front Camber and Caster and Rear Camber (with extra Toe) replacement bushing kits.

The K-MAC front kit provides up to 4 times the adjustment range and unlike the one position bolts there is no labour intensive disassembly required. Instead these unique front and rear patented design kits provide precise “single wrench” adjustment accurately (under load) direct on alignment rack.

It means steering pull, premature edge tire wear or changing settings after altering vehicle height, fitting wide profile tires, curb knock damage is FIXED RIGHT THE 1ST TIME.

No more ongoing visits to dealers or alignment shops or constantly changing tire brands.

CAMBER – Allows to actually change the tire contact angle, improving wear/traction/understeer/oversteer

CASTER – Resolves steering pull, increases steering response. With better turn in and high speed directional control, along with improved anti dive/lift under brake and acceleration.

Front bushings also replace the 4 highest wearing bushes and have twice the load bearing area. They eliminate the OEM air voided, oil filled bushes yet retain 2 axis movement. Result is improved brake and steering response.

For the Rear similar adjustment of Camber to resolve premature edge tire wear, improve traction with extra Toe adjustment to compensate for the new rear Camber facility.

W212 Front Camber and Caster kit # 502916K $480
Rear Camber (and extra Toe) kit #502226K $480

Current promotion for MB World members USA/Canada delivery - $30 one kit or $40 front and rear (normally $70 one kit, $80 front and rear). Can pay by Visa, MasterCard or PayPal.

See link for latest 2015 catalog Audi to Volvo – World’s largest range. http://K-mac.com/mercedes/

aaacsdai

You have confused me and maybe a few others regarding your kits. Please clarify; The Kits that are $480.00 are MB kits or KMac kits? Because the 30-40 kits in my humble opinion are a true value and will pay for themselves by saving you the cost of purchasing even one tire-any brand. I had a friend with a BMW who took it to 3 shops and the dealer for alignment, all said in tolerance and spec for that model, so as a friend and Porsche-Audi guy, really air-cooled guy I checked it out, right tie rod was damaged, and bushing had cracked, but was filled with grease which I cleaned off, we ordered tie-rod and bushing through dealer that could not repair for 45 bucks total. His cost for two sets of tires and 4 alignments at that time was 1600. Also KMac can I install these without a rack (my 4T floor jack) and take it to a friend for alignment? I do not need a pitch, thanks.

NachoLibre

Just got the car back. The tech installed a camber bolt on driverside. Everything is good and in spec. He worked on the car for almost 2hrs.
Thank you all for the help.

K-Mac

The kits listed are K-MAC. They have the Part number alongside.

Fit all W212 models.

Front P/N 502916K (Preceise Camber and Caster)
Rear P/N 502226 (Precise Camber - with extra Toe)

Yes can install and set at original settings. Then take and get shop to accurately align (fast/precise - single wrench).

aaacsdai

K-Mac, thanks for clarification.