big_mike1979

OK I ALREADY POSTED THIS AT THE OTHER BENZ FORUM AND I JUST COPIED AND PASTED AND I NEED HELP PLEASE. THANK U

Hello ladies and germs:
I drive a CLK 320 cabriolet 2001.
its sitting on 19's and progressive HR sport and took #1 pad from E class.
I WILL PROVIDE PICS ONCE THE WEATHER IS NICE.

I wanted to remove the pads to make it lower like CLKFAN but i could not do it, it rubbed and once my camber kit got installed, its brought my tires close to the fender and rub lil from left side.

the results were this:
im happy from my rear camber but i dont think the front did much.. i dunno.. WHAT DO U ALL THINK?? I REALLY NEED A FEEDBACK...
First i used to get like 8000 miles on my new tires but now the shop told me i should hit 18000 and if i rotate the tires it will be 22000..i hope they are right.
Results were:

FRONT LEFT
ACTUAL BEFORE SPECIFIED RANGE
-2.3 - 2.2 -1.3 -0.6 CAMBER
5.5 5.7 5.0 6.0 CASTER
0.19 1.51 0.12 0.29 TOE

FRONT RIGHT
ACTUAL BEFORE SPECIFIED RANGE
-2.0 -2.7 -1.3 -0.6 camber
6.3 7.5 5.7 6.7 caster
0.20 1.52 0.12 0.29 toe

REAR LEFT
ACTUAL BEFORE SPECIFIED RANGE
-1.7 -2.1 -1.7 -0.7 CAMBER
0.39 -1.13 0.03 0.53 TOE


REAR RIGHT
ACTUAL BEFORE SPECIFIED RANGE
-1.7 -2.7 -1.7 -0.7 CAMBER
0.19 1.06 0.03 0.53 TOE


im guessing the green is that im doing good within the range that im suppose to be at and the red is bad..correct?
HOW CAN I GET THE FRONT FIXED? SOME SAID TO ME TO GET BOLTS FROM THE DEALER?? IM LOST

big_mike1979

NOT TO MENTION LABOR WAS $552 (GAVE ME A DISCOUNT AND I WAS HONEST TO HIM AND TOLD HIM I DONT MAKE THAT MUCH, HE SAVED ME $250)AND ALIGNMENT $225 AT A DIFFERENT SHOP SINCE I HAVE 19
RIDICULOUS
AND THE BUSHING SQUEAKS ON AND OFF WHEN U ARE DRIVING SLOW AND OVER A BUMP.. I GUESS SINCE THEY ARE POLY BUSHING

sfclk

hopefully the urehanes were greased.

big_mike1979

they were greased by the stuff that came with the kit

big_mike1979

yes boss. they were greased by the stuff that came with the kit.

deyainrdy4ds

ya i heard of ppl having creaking problems...so i made sure they greased the krap outa mine

big_mike1979

OK..GONNA ASK EM TO GREASE THEM UP BIG TIME.
BRO HOW DID U GET UR FRONT CAMBER FIXED? MY KMAC DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO MY FRONT NOT EVEN .01 DEGREE..NADA .. ONLY FIXED MY CAR

sfclk

I had oem camber bolts installed for more negative and I'm sure you can get them installed for less negative camber by pushing the arms in with the bolts. They're only about $60 for the 4 sets you'll need.

big_mike1979

ok thank u ...def gonna get em

Ghostrider

From looking at the pictures of your car, the reason it didn't change much is because the car sits so close to the wheel itself.

big_mike1979

yeah its very low and sits in the fender.... so how do i fix that? everyone been telling me to get the front camber bolt?
im looking into it...

Ghostrider

I don't think you will be able to get it fully in spec. You should also reach out to CLKFan to see what he did on his ride.

big_mike1979

i pmed him ONCE a while back and never responded so i dont want to bother the dude.
I know i cant fully in spec, but i want it as close as i can , better than nothing.
it did not even change a degree (front)..sucks

sfclk

From what I've seen of clkfans setup, I don't think he minds the negative camber. I think his car needs the camber to tuck his wheel and tire setup.

big_mike1979

Im not rich like him where i can afford tires.. i love it the way it is now, but going thru tires is bad but i love

trinispeed

What is it did you grease? Im having made creaking out of my left rear. What kind of grease did you use?

And what are these "pads"?

wnycec

So I guess based on this post, we could have our caster adjusted on the front wheels? I took my car in for an alignment yesterday and the guy told me that he couldnt adjust my caster. I have a slight tilt of the steering wheel to the right. He measured my rear wheel base to front wheel base and it was off by a quarter inch. This could be fixed by a legitimate shop right?

Ghostrider

The steering wheel being cocked is a function of toe, not caster. What do they mean the wheel base is off? What shop did you go to?

big_mike1979

they could not grease mine since it has a metal between the bolt and the bushing..they sprayed em with some type of oil and its much better

big_mike1979

well i have a camber kit in the front and it fixed my caster but not my camber..such waste of money but the rear worked....
what do u mean by the wheel base? im lost

sfclk

did the front gain any positive camber?

big_mike1979

no bro not at all. my front left side went -.02 and right front gain.01.. in other word it was waste. been talkin to simon from evo and said i need to remove my k mac front kit and gets new bushing and a camber bolt from clk 55 and should help lil.

wnycec

I went to a local shop where I buy my rims from. The guy doesnt really work on mercedes.

As for my comment, I was just repeating what he told me. Imagine a tangent line runing vertical from the front of the back tire to the back of the front tire - please excuse my weak illustration

O = Tire
|------| = distance he measured

O|---------|O

and told me that this measurement on each side of the car was off by a quarter inch or so. So essentially, if both rear wheels are aligned perfectly then the two front wheels were not aligned perfectly. One was slightly ahead of the other.

Any help would be great. Right now my steering wheel is slightly to the right.

Ghostrider

Get it aligned at the dealer!! I know it sounds crazy, but when it comes to cases like this its sometimes better to take it to them. Aligning a car is sometime like an artform...

GiZzO

artform? i usually just take it to a well known alignment shop that has really good laser gear.