gmerten

With over 130k miles on the car and no alignment problems, until now.
Had new tires installed and got an alignment. Car was pulling to the right, could not get the shop that installed the tires to properly align the car so I took it to the MB dealer.
Dealer performed a 4 wheel alignment but the car still pulled to the right.
Now the dealer is telling me that the frame is bent and they can not properly align the car, recommended I take it to a body shop.
Has anyone ran into this issue? Note that the car has never been in an accident and I do not recall ever hitting any kind of bump or pothole that was signifiant enough for me remember.
Any andive would be welcome before I start laying out $$$$$ to straighten something I am not even sure is bent.

GuestFromTampa

Had the exact same issue couple month ago, find a good alignment shop.

bmwpowere36m3

Up until you got new tires and the first "alignment" it didn't pull to the right, I assume? Did you get a printout of the alignment from the first shop and/or MB dealer?

My first thought would be one of the alignment adjusters is either frozen (i.e. rusted) and/or damaged and neither shop wanted to deal with it. Unrelated, could be a brake caliper that's not releasing (constricted brake line, seized brake hardware/guides, piston, etc...).

The only advice, is seek a trusted alignment shop and have them perform the alignment AND get a printout. You need to determine if the car is currently aligned and if its not, can it be using the factory adjustments. Then proceed further...

Left Coast Geek

well, a proper body shop would put it on a frame rack and measure the key dimensions of the suspension mounting points, which would tell if the frame was tweaked.

Blkvip

go else where. try a performance related shop maybe. when i did my lowering springs i had to correct for the excess camber. no issues adjusting the toe / camber.

thefisch

Agree with others having the alignment checked again in case they didn't do it right. New tires and pulling despite alignment, you should check for 'tire pull':
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=12

MercFiveHundred

If airmatic, you need to do a more comprehensive alignment via ride height settings etc.

Killerb

Had my fair share of alignments come in the shop, if possible swap the front tires left to right and see if the pull goes away. Common even on new tires in my world of repairs.

Left Coast Geek

on our late 80s/early 90s W124, a wheel alignment done correctly involved prying on various wheel struts with a pry-bar. any slop in the rear multilink would result in overall handing slop

rakaye47

I have a similar problem. Switched from Pirelli Pzero (dead straight tracking) to new Hankooks (slight right pull)

From googling around it may be that directional tread patterns (hankook) might interact with the road grooves and cause the car to pull.

What kind of tires did you switch to?

gmerten

Thank you all for your advise. I finally got the car into my tried and true shop and they added Camber/Caster Bolt Kits to left and right front.
Performed Mercedes Computerized Alignment and the problem is completely fixed.
The dealer really was going to screw me, did not even suggest the kit. Shout out to Star Tech Mercedes in Denver.

bmwpowere36m3

That's a pure sign of laziness by that particular dealership... Put it on the rack, likely was out of spec... oh well, we can't "adjust" it... ship it!

Dane500

do this first.