people,

Have anyone tried putting a camber castor on their E? I've been having problems with my car, as it will always pull to the left ( mine being a right hand drive car) I was told since the Mercs were built for left hand drive being in germany, the conversion to right hand drive never left all german cars (audis and beamers) with the problem of always pulling left, and thus balding out the left tyres first.

Its to the point now that even a full alignment won't straighten my car up. I'll be putting in the camber castor on Monday to see whether it'll make a difference.

 

Did you purchase your car new? Has it ever been in an accident?
The kind of problems you describe are usually cars with frame damage or aftermarket rims or both. If the car was used or has been in a serious accident, perhaps you should take your car to a body shop and have it measured for straightness.

 

affalterbach,

the car was bought brand new, and never had any accidents. I think the mercs in america it doesn't suffer from this problem, because they are left hand drive cars just like the germans. However, in Asia, we're driving on the right hand side, so there was a conversion, and I was told that Mercedes actually didn't correct this problem. That's why they came out with a camber castor kit cures this prob straight away. But the funny thing is they didn't inform the owners. I was told that they know this problem, but they just couldn't be bothered fixing the prob with the car when its built brand new. In fact, its also the same scenarios for the W211s. Anyways, will have it fixed, and will let everyone know the situation

 

I don't have a problem with my RHD Benz - straight as an arrow!......

 

then you're one of the lucky ones whitey!

funny thing is mine was straight for a couple of years,
now the guys at the tyre alignment can't straighten it anymore..

anyways, will let anyone know on monday

 

Did your problems start before or after you replaced your OEM tires and wheels?

 

Carlsson9, how do you do a tire alignment???? Do you mean a wheel alignment (or tire balancing)? If so, try a different mechanic before spending on something that may not be necessary - may be its just the technique or knowledge. My point is not to say you're BS'ing but my experience is all mechanics have their own opinion about something and appear to have some credit, often feel very strongly about them but the fact is, they may not be true. My advice is always get a second opinion. I find it strange that your car should go out of line after a few years due to an inherent problem. The quality of roads in Malayisa could be the cause of throwing your wheels out of balance or out of alignment.

Also, what is the quality of your wheels like btw? Can't say I've heard of them - got a link to a site or soemthing?

I had a bimmer before for ten years and never had this problem either. My only problem is my steering wheel (on both cars) goes out of line but the car remains straight, even upon braking.

 

had the problem even with my OEM wheels..actually its been happeing for a while, and every tyre alignment couldn't get it right.

LOL Whitey..no worries..the roads here are pretty top notch compared to lets say 15 years ago. That's why I've invested in 18 inches in the first place. The thing is the guy that i go to does these fittings for all Cycle & Carriage malaysia cars (the merc dealer in malaysia, before Daimler came in) as its apparently a well known fact over here in Malaysia. I can honestly say I trust him a bit, since he's street cred over here is pretty well known. He worked for hella germany for 10 over years, and is basically the main agent for all german tuners in malaysia. He infact got this info from Mercedes Germany . Now whether that BS, I dunno, but so far, he's been pretty reliable.

Nonetheless, i shall see whether my prob gets fixed and imform all accordingly..

The rims are Azev rims..you can check www.azev.de . Apparently, Michael Schumacher has a small share in it. They're german made rims, and well known over there. They're prob around the Hammans and AC Snitcher ranges in comparison.

 

have a look at this web site..

http://www.continentalimports.com/ser_ic4232.html

talks about the bolt kit thats suppose to adjust the camber of the 210s

 

H&R makes longer camber adjustment bolts for the front. K-Mac makes the camber arms for the rear but very expensive and very poor customer service. I tried for over a week to buy these things and they sucked at service! Speedybenz then came through as he manufactures the arms and they're fully adjustable. I bought them through him and installed them myself. What a HUGE difference.

To answer the original question though, even with my camber off my car never pulled with stocks or with my 19's.

 

haven't heard of speedybenz Jimmy..are they an american company? I dunno why mine keeps pulling to the left though, even with OEM. Based on the article i posted, something to do with the out of alignment of the camber/castor by 1 degrees. so the bolt kit is suppose to fix that.

But i've been driving with the pulling left thing for bout 7000 Km and I was told my tyres are already wearing out on the left hand side.

is yours a LHD jimmy?

 

My ex-company owns Cycle & Carriage!

Interesting wheels.........but still dunno why you're pulling to one side.....

Jimmy has a LHD, he's in SolCal.

 

Thanks Whitey. Speedybenz is not a company, it's a guy in this forum that is making these arms himself. Here's a couple of pics, sorry about the dirt, it was winter...

 

Not trying to trash speedybenz but I often wonder what the quality of these things are like since they're basically "homemade"....... Is there a factory version of these things out there?

 

My suspension buddy thought these things were some of the best ones he has ever seen. I have had them on my car for quite some time now and they're perfect!

 

I know, a lot of guys have them but sorry, still can't help being sceptical.. visually they're perfect but I guess only time will tell with the strength of the material.

 

Well, you gotta try some things especially when others have tried and it's worked. Why don't you ask Ron (Benz) to elaborate...

 

Well, at least we have the choice right? Go through a retail solution, or in speedybenz's case, when the retail solution wasn't enough, make your own. As a consumer, you get to decide where to go and what you value.

Also, good for you for being skeptical. No mod, esp one with any kind of safety impact should be installed based purely on faith. It needs to be backed up with proof.

 

 

i don't know why either Whitey..

took for alignment again yesterday..its STILL pulling on the left..so after Chinese New Year, will be taking it to another so called "famous" tyre guy, who only align the wheels manually without any computers. This shop is so famous that you'll have to line up before 7am, just to make sure you get squeezed in..:/ I'm skeptical, but the guy who did my car is hell bent in getting straight ..(and won't cost a dime)

its apparently a family runned business, and they've been doing cars like the M3s and M5s plus a couple of ferraris...

weird...

but will see how it goes..

What was your ex-company Whitey? Now that daimler has come into malaysia, C&C are pretty much screwed, so they're selling Mazda's now..

 

Jardine Matheson.

Are u doing all this with a balder tire on one side?

 

nope..tyres are like 7000kms old~!

i was checking it out, its not bald or anything, but it is slightly off on the left side of the tyres..they've also thrown the tyres back to front..

and it still drift to the left!!

will wait after CNY.

btw Whitey, do you celebrate CNY?

 

Yeah but I'm here by myself......

I reckon its could be jsut a bent rod, not an inherent problem. Don't tell me, you're pulling to the side where you hit the pothole or hit something hard before, right? The guy might have been trying to get you to buy some mod item to make more outta ya.

 

well, its been turning left for a while now, even with my OEM wheels..When i bought the rims new, had a full check up by C&C and the guys i bought the rims from, everything is a ok. Then when i took it for alignment, they couldn't straighten it then. they kept trying and trying. SO i told them i'll come back later ..7000ks later, took it for a service and put in the bolt kit, and they still can't do it..so its pretty odd..

And it's never been in any accident, and i've never runned over pot holes before..

suspensions ok, bushes are ok, rods all fine and dandy..will have to wait and see....

Btw, Happy Chinese New Year to you Whitey..will definitely be a big thing over there in HK..!

 

What tire pressures are you running and how often do you check?