realien

Hey guys,

I've got pretty bad cupping on both front tires on the inside, sounds like a bad wheel bearing but checked that and you can feel the issue on the tires with your hand. Tires still have great tread on them, at least 50% life left, they are Yokohama S type. One thing to note I do have Michelin pilot spot 3 in the rears, I just didn't replace all 4 due to the S types still having wear, and as you know these damn cars eat rear tires, I assume this should not have any real affect, but figured I'd mention the tire brand difference.

I was going to try an alignment since I haven't had it checked in about 18 months, anyone like a shop in Atlanta for alignments on our cars or a specific dealer ? I hate dealerships, but I'd like to get this sorted out.

ALEN35

I did the alignment but the sound was still there. Did u check your wheel bearing?

ALEN35

I have the same problem with my front tires. I have about 60% tread left on mine.

Shadow5501

Once the tires cup, they are going to make that noise. If they are not directional (I'm not familiar with the Yoko S type) you can swap the front wheels side for side. The noise will go away. But do to the individual wear on each tire you will likely pickup a pull to one side or the other. BTDT, but with Michelin PSS.

GregMB

How many miles are on the car?

I would definitely have the front-end checked for worn components before wasting money on new tires & alignment. My car only has 45,000 miles and I think I've already had 3 ball joints replaced up front (2 lowers and 1 upper so far)...

If everything checks out nice and tight, then check the alignment for excessive toe and buy a new set of front tires.


-G

allenjdmb

I've had the best luck at Bulter Tire on Roswell road. Ask for Craig. Tell him Allen with the E55 from Macon sent you. Fairly priced, and you can get some good tire advice while yhou are there (which will probably mean taking off the S drives, good tires, but not well suited to a Benz). I'm sure other Atlanta guys will disagree, they just did an excellent job or sorting out my alignment issues with a lowered car.

moosejaw

I have cupping too on the fronts. My alignment tech said your shocks are worn which i doubted. That would be the first conclusion if it were a coil suspension, but since its airmatic, I would assume that if the shocks are bad, they would be losing air. For some reason he strongly disagreed with me. I had no wobble with ball joint and checked the wheel bearings.

First thing i did was buy a new tire, that will go on
In any event I'm going to take it to a different alignment place for a second opinion. I purchased the eccentric bolts from Mercedes to put on and maybe get another 1 degree of camber. Im hoping the wear can be attributed to toe. Both of my fronts are doing this.

realien

Thanks guys,

I don't know if the car has ever had an aligment or replaced front end parts, I bought the car at 55,000 and it now has 79,000 and I haven't done an alignment ( hangs head in shame). I also don't know if any of the balljoint where replaced prior to me buying it.


allenjdmb - do you trust butler to check the balljoints etc and to know if they are worn ? I can do work on brakes (took me 5 hours the first time ) and the motor, but don't know anything about suspension or checking.

06cls55amg

mine are cupped as well : /

GregMB

One other thing I will tell you about these cars......

If the car is lowered (STAR, ELM or washers, etc) the alignment will be way off for toe.


It's unfortunate because when I bought my ELM, the idea of having 2 different ride heights (one stock, and one lowered) seemed really fun and convenient. The problem is that only ONE of those settings can have proper toe values... as soon as you adjust the ride height, the suspension geometry changes enough that you will either end up with excessive toe-in, or toe-out depending on whether you are lowering or raising the car.

So.... basically if you want to use an ELM (for example), one of the settings will be basically "for show". If you try to actually drive around at the altered setting it's going to tear-up your tires on the inside edges.

My guess is that either:

1. You have worn suspension parts or a bad alignment
2. Your car was lowered since the last "good" alignment was done, and now your toe settings are way off

The nice thing about most alignments these days is that the machines capture the "before" values as well as the "final" adjusted values, so it will be easy to spot if anything was wildly out-of-spec....


-G

06cls55amg

i usually drive in sport 2, will this cause excess wear compared to comfort? IIRC sport 1 lowers cars stiffens dampers, sport 2 same height, stiffens dampers eve more ? difference between comfort and sport height is 22 mm?

GregMB

22mm sounds pretty drastic... especially considering that at 68mph the car will lower itself another 10 - 15mm (depending on suspension mode).... If those values are accurate, that puts you 1.25"+ lower than where the alignment probably took place (Comfort Mode)

It might be good to double-check those assumptions and then decide if it's worth it to get a fresh alignment at your preferred suspension setting.


-G

realien

I don't think my car is lowered, but honestly don't know what the stock height is, its not got its skirt in the air, but not slammed either. I think you and others may be on to something with worn parts since I'm betting they have never been replaced.

FASN8N

Butler is good, on the expensive side but they are good.
I use Perfect Performance in Roswell too, they are cheaper and do great work but don't have the same overhead as Butler.

Also http://www.granturismoeast.com/ is known in the Atlanta area for setting up many race cars alignments.

As far as suspension work, I am sure any of the above are capable, but I would rather use someone who deals with MB repair on a regular basis like Jonathan at Blueridge Mercedes http://www.blueridgemb.com/ in Lilburn or Buckhead Imports Performance in Smyrna http://www.buckhead-imports.com/performance.html depending on who is closest to you.

06cls55amg

im not 100% sure about theride height between comfort and sport, i swear i read somewhere it was 22mm , but now that i am thinking about it is slightly over and inch and doesnt seem right. was not aware the car drops at highway speeds either.

HeissRod

For stock cars with no lowering, Comfort mode is considered 0 drop, Sport 1 drops the car 10mm, then Sport 2 drops the car another 5mm per the owner's manual. Sport 2 has been reported as 10mm around here as well, so 15-20mm drop compared to comfort mode is the range. I don't know how much the car lowers as speed over those values. I'm out of town and don't have access to my manual, but it's all explained in there.