medici78

Well, I took my car in for an alignment at the local M-B dealer along. I gave them instructions not to touch the ride height. They called back a couple hours later and said they could not align it. It was too low and "way out of spec" according to them. WTF??? It's only 3/4" lower than stock, but they said they couldnt do anything with it. Anyone else have a similar experience? What other options do I have?

Josh K

well on an airmatic suspension with non adjustable control arms, you're obviously going to be out of spec, especially in the rear, as "spec" doesn't take into account lowered suspensions and the resulting negative camber.

It's nothing to worry about. I personally wouldn't have a dealer align my car as they really don't know what they're doing outside of "spec." Find a good performance alignment shop so they can get your toe and thrust angle settings right. The negative camber is just something you'll have to live with - one of the prices of having a lowered car.

tbone

I was told by my dealer (northern california) that they do not align any lowered cars.

Where do you live? If you live in northern California, I took my car to Freeman Frame and Alignment in San Jose. My specs after lowering my car (about 2") were:

camber: -2 front/-3 rear
toe: I forget, but way out of MB's recommended range.

New numbers:

camber: -0.5 front/-1.5 rear (MB recommended range is -0.5 to -1.5 on E500)
toe: 0

They can set your camber/toe to whatever specs you want. Initially, I had them set my camber to 0, for max tire durability, but did not like how it handled...brought my car back, and had them set some negative camber.

If you're not able to adjust your camber, have the alignment shop reset your toe, as this is the bigger contributor towards tire wear.

Good Luck

MB Fanatic

Even with the lowered E55 and CLS55 via Star Diagnostics, I was able to maintain the -1degree camber in the rear. My car is within MB specs.

The rear camber is adjustable, just need camber bolts if I remember correctly. A bit tired right now as I just got back from up north.

medici78

Unfortunately we only have one M-B dealer in a 250 mile radius. Can any decent shop align my ride? I was always afraid to take it anywhere but the dealer, but in this case, I have no other choice. I just want to avoid (excessively) accelerated wear on my Michelin PS2's.

tbone

How much did you lower your car? -1 degree camber after lowering is great!

My understanding is that rear camber is non-adjustable on mercedes. I could not find any aftermarket camber bolts for my car.

tbone

Yes, try to find a specialty shop, which only does alignment and frame work. You'll find that MB dealers are actually less experienced when aligning a lowered car.

Your toe is much easier to set than camber. I was told by my alignment shop that he has seen Mercedes with -2 degrees of rear camber, but with 0 toe wear out their tires evenly.

CynCarvin32

there are camber bolts for the lower control arm bushings. They are good old ecentric bushings and they can reduce the camber back to stock on a lowered car. I had my car aligned today to get the most negative camber possible (an effort to improve cornering grip and reduce tire side wall wear). If I can and create excessive camber well beyond spec on a standard ride height car you can easily go the other direction and reduce camber with that same camber bolt.

Most people dont even know these bolts exist. They also go by the term "crash bolt" since they were designed to make cars that were slightly bent in crash align back to OEM spec.

Good luck and tip the dealership in on the camber corrrection bolts.

The above poster is mistaken in saying that the camber or lower control arm is not adjustable. Have fun!

tbone

That's great, is there an application for the W211? Do you have the part number? How much work is involved to install?

Can you post pictures of the bolt and its location?

MBenzNL

...which is what we always advise before lowering as well...alignments by the dealer results ALWAYS in raising the car.

My own C250D is way out of alignment specs as well (too low) and has been like that for 500.000km - nothing to worry about other then that tires wear "slightly" uneven (the price of lowering).

greetingz,

Ted Baldwin

............when a car is lowered, you can have a problem with doing an alignment for the following reason. The less expensive alignment shops use a device that uses infra red beams across the axel and these beams require line of sight. With a lowered car, the line of sight can be obstructed. The option is you have if you still need an alignment is to to to a performance shop that has radiofrequency alignment.

Ted

rbc55

i have the kleemann lowering module and had my dealership align the car using the crash bolts to get it close to specs,although the crash bolts were $200; IT WORKED OUT FINE WITHOUT THE CAR BEING RAISED AT ALL.

dsc

Where can you get the crash bolts?

MB Fanatic

Any good alignment shop will have them in stock. Another place is your dealer as they might have them as well. I know they put some on my W210 E320 a few years back and I am not quite sure where they got the bolts for the E55 and CLS55 though I suspect that the tech who did my work had them in stock or something.

TECHNICIAN

The bolts are about $12 each.

The rear camber IS NOT adjustable on a 211, without an aftermarket solution, if one is even available.

MARK CUMMINS

There are several types of rear camber bars for the W211..So One can adjust rear camber...Hop/Speedy Benz/Renntech all Make them!

I Would say the tech saw that the car was lowered..and Did NOT even rack the car to see the (BEFORE) specs...

Dan Wang

Same thing happened to me at South Bay BMW. The said it was too low. I think its all BS. I have a w208 which in NOT airmatic.

tbone

I emailed Speedy Benz a while back, asking for an application for the W211. He said he did not have one at the time

rbc55

the dealer ,or should i say stealer had them.the price was outrageous when they told me,i even called cory at kleemann and he said the price was about right so i went ahead,they probaly are $12 pieces.they were $75 a piece for front and $60 extra labor.

medici78

This makes sense. They said their equipment wouldn't work because of some laser beams(?).

Ted Baldwin

........In Atlanta, this problem can be easily solved by going to Butler tire. They do alignments in lowered and modified cars including my extremely lowered CLK. Butlertire.com have a radiofrequency alignment machine that solves this problem. That is where I had my lowered CLK aligned. To find a similar shop in Texas you may wish to contact them at 404-303-1114 for a recommendation. Here is a link to their website. LINK


Ted

Hardrivr

Bulter is great, had my SR351 Saleen aligned there and a trick Honda SI...

TECHNICIAN

Did you get a tube of KY with them for $75 each? Labor sounds about right, but these should have definately been under $20 each.

Alexbenz

do what josh said and find a good performance shop to do it......dealers either don't know what there doing or just don't wanna touch it.....

medici78

Well, I took it to a shop a buddy of mine recommended. Strangely, the rear was still in-spec, but the front still has too much negative camber. The toe was adjusted, so that will help mitigate the tire wear. Does anyone know a good source for the front bolts to bring it closer?