Nocturnal-G

Anyone know anything about tread separation on our cars? My front left has separated from the inside... and my right front is starting to show signs. Maybe a misalignment? I had the car checked out and my suspension components are fine. Replaced shocks and ball joints within the last 10k miles. The car is unstable at highway speeds, pulls to the right, and when going over bumpy roads or dips... the steering wheel goes with the road. I researched tread separation and no one seemed to say they would cause these symptoms... Car has been sitting for a few days now... will be getting new tires this week.

PS. Dunlop Run Flats are possibly the worst tire you can buy EVER.

http://i45.tinypic.com/16h2q3d.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/jsk6e1.jpg

Strigoi

We had it happen to all 4 tires on our old shop truck one time (2001 F250 4x4). It turned out it was just a bad bunch of tires and they were all replaced for free.

tsquare

Wow, that looks terrible. I would be in contact with Dunlop Tires.

armaniE55

It's not the tires. I can speak from experience, it's your alignment and you also need to buy camber bolts. These cars should ONLY be align by MB even I don't because of time and scheduling.

I have the same exact problem. The thing is when you take your Benz to one of these shops do you think they really drop the front shield to try to adjust the camber bolts that don't adjust? The weird thing is MB has adjustable front camber bolts but decieded not to include them I've always wonder why my camber was off not by much but just enough that if you go a year without the adjustable camber bolts you will end up with the pics above.

Perhaps others are lucky, but my front is strong like bull and my one year tires are shot.

You can purchase the OEM mb bolts from autohause this will get the alignment to the T

If you do a search out ou find my NTB alignment sheet and the camber is off

Nocturnal-G

I forgot to mention... The tires are approx. 6 years old. I got them for a great deal, that's why I picked up a set. Otherwise I wouldn't pay 1,800 for a set... I'd rather go with something else. I'll find my alignment sheet when I got these tires put on... I switched tires and got new ball joints so I had an alignment done. Didn't think a poor alignment would cause such an issue. Thank you for the help Armani!

desired_speeds

your front bearings may need tightening. My new tires was starting to wear like that before I did my bearings. It was also feel wobbly on the freeway and would float on bumps.

Nocturnal-G

I had the whole suspension checked and so far nothing. Both front wheels exhibit minimal play side to side and up and down tugging on the wheel, which I'm told is normal. And I'm also told the wheel bearings on our cars are sealed and cannot be adjusted. Any insight to that?

desired_speeds

the front ones are not sealed and can be repacked and tightened.

armaniE55

No problem. I should also add that my wheel bearings had a little play but I was told from my Indy shop along with a few other members that they should have a little play. However I had my Indy guy re-tighten just enough before they freeze (no spin) conducted L and R.

My plan of attack is to monitor the play for the wheel bearings as they are less than a year old. Add the new camber bolts new tires and I'll keep a good eye on the tires plus bearings as I still don't believe/think they should have play.

I still believe it's the Camber bolts that need to adjust to the get a accurate alignment as the tires are getting killed on the inside aka camber or the autohaus wheel bearings sux and go OEM

Armani

Nocturnal-G

Keep us updated Armani... Here is my alignment sheet btw... if anyone has any understanding of it. I don't.

Left front: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...urnal-G/al.jpg
Right front: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...rnal-G/al1.jpg
Front: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...rnal-G/al2.jpg
Left rear: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...rnal-G/al3.jpg
Right rear: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...rnal-G/al4.jpg
Rear: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...rnal-G/al5.jpg

Nocturnal-G

Btw... suspension is stock. Not lowered.

snooozie

What is the part # for the adjustable chamber bolts? I am putting in new tie rods for my fronts this weekend and might hold off on it and get the chamber bolts and do them together. I plan on donig this myself hence a few advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, I plan on droping the car with some H&R hence bought a pair of rear chamber kit from Ghostrider.

DRBC43AMG

I think you would be better of with K-Mac bushes. Good for front and rear. They are adjustable through a large range and definitely more than OE camber bolts. You can do away with adjustable after-market camber arms
Link here: http://www.k-mac.com.au/
and MB product list here: http://www.k-mac.com/pages/newprods/...ercedes_05.htm

richyoung

If those are rear, try changing outter lower arm bushings. Those collapse with wear and cause camber problem. Also, other rear control arms have rubber bushings that wear. I replaced outter lower arm bushings and got a kit with all rear control arms from FCP. This fixed my camber and eliminated inner rear tire wear.