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Two front tires crapped the bed...at the same time.
My wife took off for a short errand and returned home after calling that the car was making noises. She's not one to get this wrong...comes home and this is the condition of them.
I wasn't under the impression these E53's ran a pile of camber or anything crazy...but this is too much for both to go like this at the same time. The last drive before this was a tame 150 km roundtrip with speeds under 120 km max, mostly around 100kph and under on nothing special in terms of roads.
I don't know how aggressive the stock front camber on the 53 is compared to the 63, but on the 63 models this is normal. For reference, I get about 8k miles out of my front tires with my C63S coupe at best. It gets exacerbated if the front toe is out. Something that happens quite frequently. I pretty much have to get it aligned at least once a year. When was the last time you had an alignment done?
REALITY E53 (or any model AMG) “PERFORMANCE MODELS” - BUT YES IS HARD TO BELIEVE….
THERE IS NO FRONT “CAMBER OR CASTER” AND NO REAR “CAMBER” ADJUSTMENT OEM !
YET ESSENTIAL. TO ALLOW TO ADJUST TIRE CONTACT ANGLES - SPREAD LOAD MORE EVENLY
NOW THE ONUS IS “BACK ON OWNERS” - TO FUND COSTLY PREMATURE TIRE REPLACEMENT !
THE OFTEN QUOTED REASSURING “WILL CARRY OUT A FULL FRONT & REAR ‘4’ WHEEL ALIGNMENT - Is now only adjusting basic Toe (Directional adjustment).
NEW CAR INDUSTRY'S BEST KEPT SECRET. BROUGHT ABOUT THROUGH THE EVER INCREASING SPEED OF NEW CAR ASSEMBLY LINES. “STOPPING” - TO ADJUST SETTINGS IS NO LONGER AN OPTION.
NOW CAMBER (AND CASTER) IS ONE ONLY SETTING - TO SUIT SHOWROOM HEIGHT CONDITIONS. No adjustment to change tire contact angles to cater for high cambered roads with excess passenger side edge wear, Fitting wide profile tires, altered height, extra passenger loads or having “ongoing adjustment” for curb knock damage.
WHILE FOR PERFORMANCE / TRACK DAYS IT IS INCREDULOUS NOT BEING ABLE TO “DIAL IN EXTRA NEGATIVE CAMBER” - TO SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE UNDERSTEER. In the pursuit of hitting those corner apexes every time. Plus allowing to go “deeper into the corners” with increased traction and braking response. With the aim of “FRONT ROW OF THE GRID LAP TIMES”.
At K-MAC we have therefore designed “BOLT-ON” Front and Rear kits - where no special tools required to fit or time consuming need for control arm removal !
While the unique K-MAC patented design adjustment system - allows precise easily accessible “single” wrench adjustment. Ultimate - direct on alignment rack UNDER LOAD.
Front Forward facing thrust arm bushes K-MAC are also Mono ball / Self aligning - Replacing the large diameter soft rubber OEM bushes. Still allowing arms to travel through their required suspension arcs. YET SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVING BRAKE AND STEERING RESPONSE.
The above Front and Rear “adjuster kits” - are all part of a “TOTAL SYSTEM”
SEE SPOILER RE FRONT & REAR “K-MAC TOTAL SYSTEM”
Spoiler
FRONT SUSPENSION (E43, E53, E63, E63S)
Front Camber (ONLY) P/N 503416-1i $345 (Both Sides) Up to 2 degrees extra Pos. or Neg.
(Less cost then 1 Performance tire).
Front Camber (& Caster) - P/N 503416M $595 (Both Sides) Also “replacing / uprating” the 4 major front suspension bushings.
Front Upper Arm Camber & Caster Bushings P/N 503316-2i $380 (Retain existing OEM Hi-Strength forged alloy arms) recommended for Competition / extra adjustment.
REAR SUSPENSION
Camber (& Extra Toe to compensate) Lower arm inner bushings.
P/N 502326-1K Serious adjustment up to 4 degrees extra Pos. or Neg. Camber. These lower arm inner bushes can purchase OEM shim kits but inaccurate and only provide up to 1 degree Camber change. K-MAC are precisely adjustable and as above up to 4 degrees Camber change. Also these uprate / replace the OEM soft rubber inner bushes.
Uprating of the soft rubber bushings for the ‘6’ multi link arms P/N 502528K $480 (tauter response, less rear end twist, flex, loss of traction - especially when applying power to land change / overtake).
Uprated Rear Toe arms to prevent flex P/N 502326-3J $380
(used in conjunction with above 502326-1K Camber kit) NOTE: Not required Coupe models as OEM are uprated.
Upper adjustable Camber arms 502226-2L $545
NOTE: Above upper rear Camber arms difficult to fit / adjust - only recommend if wanting extra Neg. Camber for top of tire to outer fender clearance.
DHL Express Air Worldwide $40 one kit ($20 each extra).
Ran through my factory equipped Pirelli front tires in ~9 k miles. Replaced with Michelin and saw better mileage on 2nd set, closer to 11 k.
Was taking the car to the mountain and doing more spirited driving on the first two sets, more highway mileage on the current set. Watching inflation carefully and running the recommended 41/33.
But seems to be looking like two fronts tire changes per rear tire at this point.
My wife took off for a short errand and returned home after calling that the car was making noises. She's not one to get this wrong...comes home and this is the condition of them.
I wasn't under the impression these E53's ran a pile of camber or anything crazy...but this is too much for both to go like this at the same time. The last drive before this was a tame 150 km roundtrip with speeds under 120 km max, mostly around 100kph and under on nothing special in terms of roads.
Have the car's alignment checked with the new front tires. If numbers come back within spec, then consider the adjustable kit mentioned above.
Again, I have no experience with the E53, but the E63s does have aggressive camber on the fronts. Great for canyon carving, but for a grocery getter and about town car some folks are dialing it back.
The dealer's record is that two fronts were replaced at 16,000 km, so if that's the case these tires did pretty well. Nothing saying there wasn't another pair on the way to 38k km.
I tried to resolve what the dealer's approach was going to be over the phone, these PZ4's are on sale for $140 at Tirerack right now. I was getting nowhere and they said bring the car in...it was on the line of needing to be towed but I opted to keep the speed down and ride the shoulder of the freeway for 50 km. I will say, and it's not my style, but if you want to use your tire warranty, riding the shoulder for 50 km will probably leave every tire on the car flat!
Anyway, this is what they looked like when. I got there...
Make absolute sure if you go with them that you order the right parts. IDK, but I suspect the bushings on a E63S aren't the same as a E200/E350. If you look around their site you'll find the right ones.
Warning - some dealers will not install non OEM parts and if they know there are non OEM parts installed they will pretty much blame any problems on that and "there's nothing we can do" becomes their mantra. My dealer went as far as to purposefully mis adjust the suspension instead of looking at it and diagnose the problem.
The K-MAC bushing kit require pulling the arms and the press out the OEM bushings, install the new, and then do a full competent alignment. The nice thing is they're pretty much invisible once installed and unless the dealer looks real close they'll probably never realize.
08-01-2024 | 08:21 PM
