MayhemLikeMe

All,
I am currently in the process of installing K-mac bushings front and rear, along with MB Arts rear toe links on my '05 SL65.
The car is lowered with Renntech's DLM (final settings still not determined).

I am trying to achieve maximum straight line traction and high speed stability while increasing tire longevity by decreasing excessive camber.

I need suggestions on caster, camber and toe for the front and rear.

Only interested in going real fast, real quick, real straight.

Thank you in advance......

MayhemLikeMe

Crickets?

Stevant

allenjdmb

you may have distronic. Are you aware that MB says you cannot align that car without their special alignment tools? Apparently the sensors for the distronic have to talk to each other.
Or you may not have distronic. In that case, never mind.

MayhemLikeMe

Yes, I do have Distronic but fail to see how that would in any way have anything to do with alignment. Unless, of course, that your car was aligned as such that the Distronic sensor no longer pointed straight ahead.....

MayhemLikeMe

Help * bump * help

MayhemLikeMe

How about this question -

Would there be any negative effects of practically eliminating negative camber? Not interested on road courses, just dragways......

Would the factory Mercedes alignment specs work with a zero camber?

cal1

What kind of tires are you running? You might want to consider Toyo R888s or Nito 555Rs. Just remember they are warm weather tires

GermanCars

Think about this for a minute. Zero camber means full tread contact. Which sounds to me like more rolling resistance. So at least for the front I would think something around 1.5 negative camber. Maybe a bit more. For straight line stability I would stay close to stock caster, something like 11 to 12 degrees. Toe-in is a bit trickier, too much and you scrub off speed, too little and you are going to have a handful at higher speeds. With solid bushings something like 1/16 to 1/8 total static to start.

On the rear, it depends on whether you are looking for standing start traction or trying to gain less rolling resistance. For best launch I would probably start with around 1/4 negative camber with about a 1/16 to 3/32 a side toe-in. This again with solid bushings. Even with toe links you need to be careful having the rear start steering the car, so don't be tempted to get too close to zero until you try things out.

This is just a suggested starting point. Stock settings assume a certain suspension compliance that you are removing with the aftermarket bushings. So you are going to have to experiment some. You MIGHT get away with less toe-in. That is where I think you will likely gain or lose the most speed.

Disclaimer, Don't expect the same rather forgiving nature of the stock vehicle. Reactions to steering input is going to be faster and likely will not react in the manner you have experienced before hand. Work up your speed slowly, and have fun!

Disclaimer II These are suggested track settings, not street settings. I would not want to have to maintain the level of concentration necessary to drive a car set up like this on the street.

hamann1000

I was told that on there cars (sl's) the camber can not be adjusted, is this correct?

MayhemLikeMe

Germancars,
Thank you very much for the suggestions! I am trying to achieve maximum starting traction (or any extra traction below 60 mph) which would preclude full contact of the rear tires to the road (track) surface. The front is not as critical in this aspect and I would just like to minimize tire wear on the inner edge.

All of this while maintaining decent street manners! I just want the car to grab and go straight as a string, if I have to compromise the perfect race setting for safety on the street then that is the way it will be. What do you surmise as the greatest detriment to good street manners? Toe? Caster should improve high speed stability, but what happens once you exceed factory settings?

I am looking forward to driving the car with the solid bushings as mine were cracked and heading towards failure upon inspection. Those, coupled with the rear toe links should make the car better IMHO, not wishy-washy as it was. The only trick, I would think, is to find the settings that best allow good response without being "twitchy".

MayhemLikeMe

Hamann,

All adjustments are possible with the K-mac bushings........

Go here: http://www.k-mac.com.au/

I ordered mine from a place in the States that does not charge shipping but you have to wait upwards of three to four weeks for delivery.

GermanCars

Here I thought you wanted alignment spec's for a drag car or standing mile competition.

What do you REALLY intend to do with the car. Mostly street with an occasional trip to the strip? Or mostly drag racing with an occasional Saturday night on the town? Life is a compromise, what are you prepared to sacrifice?
More camber in the front is less rolling resistance, and more tire wear. More toe-in (to a point) is better directional stability, and more rolling drag and less tire life. The K-A bushings will allow less toe-in (because of less compliance) but you still need to decide whether performance (and which kind of performance) usurps tire life or vice-versa.

MayhemLikeMe

I stated in the initial post that I also wanted to increase tire longevity, that would indicate street driving, probably 90% or better. BUT, when I want to go fast, I want it to happen safely and do not want to take a trip to the alignment shop every time to do it. I owned a '67 Camaro that ran mid nines in the quarter and was street driven, no special alignment needed, 40 year old suspension technology under the front end. I would suspect that my SL will never run that quickly, but it will travel faster (somewhere) than the 140 or so that I was clocking with the '67. I REALLY want to increase straight line, giddy up and go traction, reduce excessive camber (even if it results in more drag) and promote high speed stability. I would think that these goals would be far easier to achieve than the adjustments required for a vehicle to handle well in transitional situations such as turns.

So basically, I need a compromise alignment. I will trade some street manners for straight line performance, but not to the point of being unsafe. I realize that there is no perfect result for all situations, but then again this is no competition only vehicle.

Cause and effect of the adjustments is what I need to know......what are the factory suggestions and deviating from them in a positive or negative manner will affect the vehicle how?