gtojohnny

Has anyone experienced unusually fast wear on the inside edges of the rear tires. I got only about 10,000 miles and the belts are showing. The front tires are fine. It is only the inside edge of both rear tires that is worn. There must be some alignment issues. Where do I look? Thanks!

Richard / E320

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtojohnny

Has anyone experienced unusually fast wear on the inside edges of the rear tires. I got only about 10,000 miles and the belts are showing. The front tires are fine. It is only the inside edge of both rear tires that is worn. There must be some alignment issues. Where do I look? Thanks!

What year is your vehicle and how many miles are on it? While an alignment is the most likely place to start, I would look at other components first if it had, say, 80k or 90k miles on it.

gtojohnny

2000 with 85k. What components should I look at?

Richard / E320

Anything suspension related: shocks, air shocks, struts, coil springs, alignment / toe in / tow out, etc. When it sits, does it 'squat' in the rear? Any prior suspension work done?

I'm not familar with the wagon set-up, but I believe it is different than a sedan. At 85k, it's been around the earth more than three times, so the suspension has wear, though since both rear tires wore the same way, it could be something as simple as an alignment.

gtojohnny

Does anyone know if there are adjustments for this type of alignment problem in the rear or if they would require replacement of components. It doesn't squat in the rear and the shocks seem fine.

fatchance

Things to check would be rear camber, rear control arms(bushings) and sagging springs (increases negative camber -> increases tire wear on the inside edges). Sorry, if the wagon has rear self-levelling, then you're probably gonna be looking at bigger $$ to fix.

I've got about 75K on my E430 and the rear end bushings are starting to get sloppy. Lots of side-to-side movement when hitting small bumps... Probably going to get some of those fancy adjustable control arms, seeing how I've already installed eibach springs.

Hope that helps,

-travis

Jimbeau

I have exactly the same problem with the same vehicle. The right side is pretty bad. On a level surface, I arranged a bubble level to just touch the top and bottom of the wheel rim, and it was obvious that there was about 2.54 cm difference between the top and the bottom (i.e., neg. camber). The opposite side was neg camber less that 1 cm. I then gradually elevated the rear of the wagon wioth the wheels still on the ground (to determine if the rear end was squatting, thereby affecting camber), but saw no significant improvement in camber as the car came up. Also, there are no apparent worn bushings. For those who have dealt with this problem, which is a better method to make the camber adjustable?: installing eccentric lower control arm bushings, or the adjustable camber rod? Or perhaps something else, since I am only familiar with these two solutions? Thanks kindly.

MARK CUMMINS

I HAD the rear camber problem on my 2000 W210 Wagon.I Installed a set of adjustable camber bars..The rear camber is Now adjustable No More tire wear from negative camber..Also My Wagon IS lowered


The Camber bars AND the Kmac kit both will work..
I like the bars because the bars can be installed in 10 min
Where the Kmac kit requires the rear lower control arms be removed to PRESS out the old bushings..Aprox a 5 hour job...

BTW The Camber bars have been on my 2000 Wagon for Six years..WITHOUT any problems..

gtojohnny

Where do I find these Camber Bars and how much will they set me back.

Jimbeau

Here is one source I found, but I don't know it its the best.

http://speedybenz.com./

It was encourging to hear from Mark that this method works OK, because it seems very straight-forward compared to installing the eccentric bushings.

Ben'z

House of Power in Huntington Beach
http://www.hopracing.com

profile1948

Anyone know where I can purchase the camber adjusting bars besides Speedybenz? It looks like they make a quality product buy I dont want to wait six months.

ohlord

bushings in stock and rebuildable adjusts rear camber if lowered.
If your car is not lowered something is worn out.
or bent

unitfreebie

Did you rotate the front tires to the rear then discover the problem?

That said, the rear suspension has a lot of multi-links with rubber bushing inserts that wear out, but maybe not at your mileage? That a screw driver and poke all the rubber bushing inserts of all the links and see if any of the rubber are deteriorated or weak.

profile1948

I discovered the problem when I took to have tires rotated and balanced. The tires had approx. 20000 miles and the steel belt was showing on the inside of both rear tires. The car has 170000 miles on it but it really looks nice runs good and drives good. My thinking at present is to install the adjustable camber arms. The original camber arms have a slight curevature and the adjustable camber arms that I have looked at are straight. Will this be a problem?

profile1948

ohlord

need adjustable to correct a standard wear issue.
either bushings,springs or arms are bent.
Replace the worn items and it will be back to spec.
You use the custom links when lowering to allow for adjustment that takes camber way beyond stock non adjustable range.
www.autohausaz.com has all the stock suspension parts.

profile1948

Thanks for the info ohlord. I understand what your are saying and certainly agree that would be the proper way to correct the problem. However, it sounds like a very expensive fix. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the car and thought the adjustable camber arms would correct the camber and prevent excessive tire wear. The car is not lowered. My question is will this after market adjustable straight link fit where the original has a slight curveature?

thanks profile1948

ejsheltra

The adjustale camber arms will NOT cure your problem. They are for lowered suspensions of one inch plus. As Mark said I also have a lowered wagon and adjustable rear camber arms. You have other issues that need to be corrected first. Do not waste your money on adjustable camber arms if the vehicle is not lowered. To answer your question, Straight will fit where the curved ones are. Please check your bushings and springs as well as the self leveling rear suspension. Those are not shocks in the rear and are fluid filled. Check for leaks around the hoses and seals as well as the front power steering pump which is different than the sedans. You may have a bad pump (enclosed in the power steering pump) that is allowing your suspension to drop. Look for level ride height first. If the rear is down it would directly be attributed to the self leveling rear suspension which the sedan does NOT have but most all wagons do.

profile1948

Thanks for the info. My E320 wagon is self leveling and that may be the problem. I checked for leaks over the entire system and didn't find any. Is there some way to check the pump? The power steering is working fine.

thanks profile1948