hi, have a 01 s500. got some new tires and wanted to align them but local tire shop guys say they can't change the camber on them... no spec.... i'm actually off by 1deg,
riverside walters say that all 3 variables can be SET...

the tires are wearing OK i think but it's pulling to the right.... the cars supposed to have abt a 1 deg. more or less on the right side, to compensate for the road curvature....

what's your experience?

i can't rotate the tires on these 18" 8/9s so, i have to have a good alignment...

james rho
01 s500 Sport

jjrho@adelphia.net

 

I do my allignments in MB stealership...
Probably will try next time the Firestone tire shop that I have nearby and I pretty much sure that they will able to do the job right...

Re: Tire rotating - on S-Class (especially my S500 AMG Sport) all tires are directional and FT 18x8.5, RR 18x9 (18x9.5 for winter rims) - so there is no way, as you said, to rotate them

 

You can rotate. Just dismount the tires from the wheel and swap sides. If you do not rotate at all, you will ruin the tires by 10k (especially Dunlops).

 

That's an idea because I though that you can only rotate directional tires when your front and rear rims and tires are the same...
My summer dunlops have over 15k and over 60% thread left without rotating (yet balancing and allignment checked regularly).

Yet, I am not sure that dismounting and rebalancing tires is a good idea (you would need to do that every 6k-7k mi). And I am not sure that by dismounting you can rotate side to side

Correct me if I am wrong...

 

Think about it. Each tire is still rotating in the same direction. Only now, the inner side of the tire becomes the outer. And yes, it does cost more to rotate this way. But what is the cost of not rotating at all?

 

well, your point is good and i thought of doing the same thing.... probably will if i can't get good alignment done...

the other issue is that, technically, some tires have an 'inside' and 'outside' mounting....

the kumho exsta are directional and also specifies 'outside' on the tires... it may not make that much difference but the tread patterns may be assymetric here....

some tires are just 'corner specific'... esp. on staggered rim sizes like the s500sports....

j.rho
01 s500 S

 

I never rotate and do not have much problems. Probably I do not drive to aggressively.