well i made the mistake of not getting an alignment after lowering the car so my rear tires are shot. i ordered 2 new rears and will be here tomorrow...the front tires are surpisingly fine...i booked an appointment with a reputable alignment shop for saturday...my question is will they be able to get the rears back into spec to prevent this un even wear? i searched and my06clk mentioned something about a bolt kit..can the issue be resolved without this kit?...someone help me out thanks!

 

I have heard the w220 has camber bolts from the dealer that offer more adjustment over stock if you are far out of range.

I don't know part numbers but it was on a shop forum.

 

No, No, And no.

Bolt kits or ( camber kits ) are only for the from of the car and as of my judgement from last week ineffective for what you are trying to do.

You will find that no matter what you do on these cars, the rears tend to wear like that lowered or not especially if you run wider staggered fitments. So its pretty much a waste of time trying to get even wear. if you can squeeze 10 to 12 k out of your tires, cut your loss and get new ones you will see the same thing again.

I spent 200.00 last year on an alignment and bolt kit for my car, and fro the past nearly a year my car has alwyay driven slightly to the right even though my wheel was straight. I took it back two or three times to no avail as I kept getting reassure that my alignment was perfect.

After making some measurements a few weeks ago, I decided to take matters into my own hands so I marked my tierods on both sides and tweekeded them both till my car drove straight again. I then realized after doing that my steering wheel was way off. Then I remembered when I frist got the car I took it in because the wheel was off and they "fixed" it. Well this time with my car finally tracking very straight, I reset my wheel and now all is good.

Back on the subject, in the process, I noticed that my front tires were starting to cup and the looked similar to yours causing the feeling like they weren't balanced well.. I though.. Hmm how can this be if my alignment was supposed to be perfect..
I installed the two I removed from the rear when I went staggered, got everyboy balanced at my favorite corner shop, and all was good for now, but i also noticed that my rears are wearing the same although not as bad. I will have to get a new set after the winter I'm sure.

My point to all this is, tires have been the worst part of me owning a benz. the wear on the rear because of the way the suspension flexes always gets to the inside o matter what size tire you have. This is from my experience with this car and my w211. So have just resolved to find the best tire for the best price and be happy while I can becasue they all seem to live the same life. Short.

Yes you should get an alignment if you lowered, and install a bolt kit if you can't get the front camber within specs, but you car is pretty slammed, and you will not be able to align that away.

My issue is that these alignment specs seem to be stupid. Some cars pull when perfectly aligned, and some don;t pull as mine, but wear unevenly.. so you have to find the best of two evils... DO NOT waste more than a couple hundred dollars getting your alignment tweeked its a wasted with these cars.. BMW's are the same way.

 

thanks for the informative reply...i didnt realize how bad these cars are with tires im hoping the alignment will make it a bit better...if not...tireracks got some real good prices lol thanks again

 

I recently lowered my C32 and I had it aligned and they said i need to get these camber/caster bolts to align my car within mercedes specs. each bolt cost $54 each. Is this right? seems kinda expensive for just a bolt (And I need 4) It was a FEBI made by Bilstein, the tech said it is the same one's mercedes uses.

 

Did you get your steering wheel straight yourself? if so what was the procedure I'm having the same problem you were having. I been to the dealer and they claim its find but i can feel the pull.

 

I don't know the part number on a W203, but camber bolts for a W208 are $16 each. That's at the dealer w/MBCA discount. $20 each without the discount.

 

Yes I did..Actually my wheel was straight while it was pulling, but I think that was an earlier issue that I talked about earlier.

I can't really post a real "procedure" because there is none.. A true alignment is done with a machine but there is nothing wrong with an experiment especially if it works.. and it all depends on what your issue is.. but it basically works like this:

there is an adjustment for your left and right tie rod ends that is set when your car is aligned called toe. Toe adjustment first sets the distance to the left or right of each wheel from center which in turn makes a measurement between the center to center of the front wheels when the steering wheel is straight.

Assuming your camber is ok, you car should not pull, technically..

Mercedes cars for some reason, particularly the w211 and the w220 from my experience, can be perfectly aligned as above, and yet they will still pull slightly lowered or not. I have been told that the specs for the alignment allow for the car to follow the curve of the road therefore it will always drift slightly to the right.

IF I didn't spend 80% of my time in Enterprise Rent-a-cars, I would have believed that crap, but I drive too many cars and it pisses me off when I get back to my "perfectly aligned" car and it slow drifts to the right after driving a rental that didn't.

So anyway, if you take your tie rods and mark them, you can do 1/4 turn adjustments making sure that your remember one goes in, and one goes out, you can actually change your toe yet keep them in close relationship with each other center to center.

The problem is if you go too far on one or the the other, you have no way of knowing where it was so take care..

Just go in 1/4 on the right and out 1/4 on the left for example, drive the car on straight see if it pulls. if its okay, don't adjust anymore.

If it isn't try another 1/4 on each side till its ok.

I would not go more than one full turn in any case because there is no way you can be doing any good with that much of a turn.In this case you should head to the alignment shop.

Don't be alarmed if your steering wheel is crooked with this adjustment, just make sure your car is driving straight. If it is okay, you can remove your steering wheel and put it wherever you want. It is monted on a 360 degree splined shaft.

I'm thinking that now I have my wheel correct, I may take it in just to see where it is and what the machine is saying. I really don't care because now my car drives perfectly straight, and my steering wheel is perfectly straight.
I change tires in a few months anyway maybe i'll have a look then.

 

If your benz is slammed the alignment and bolt is a waste of time and money...The bolt barely corrects any camber issues.

 

True true.. I mentioned that at the end of my post #3

 

myo6clk you certainly did. I was just making it short and simple.

 

How many degrees of camber do the bolt fix? Do they have bolts for the back as well?