ThroughTheEsses

So I've had my alignment checked by 2 different shops (both very highly rated in the area). Not sears types, but actual shops that specialize in alignment.

My next option is the dealer but they claim $150 minimum and I'm tired of throwing money at this.

The steering wheel is perfectly centered. But driving in a straight line, if I let go of the wheel, it tilts right ever so slightly and the car drifts to the right. If I hold it straight it goes straight.

I've got brand new tires now and it still does it. I'd like to fix this before these tires get worn incorrectly.

Anyone have any ideas wtf is going on??

ilko

Welcome to the club...

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...lls-right.html

ThroughTheEsses

*face palm* damnit. How is this seemingly a "new" problem for all of us. Bah

nanayaw6

Do you by chance have a printout of your current alignment values? My car is doing this as well after an alignment and the next thing I am going to try is reduce the caster on the driver side to even out the pull. Looks like with both castor values set identical with the crash bolts, my car likes pulling to the right.

chiromikey

Tell your tech to keep the alignment within spec but adjust for road crown.

Critter

Does your alignment shop first adjust the tire pressure and ensure it is the same both sides.
Also Chiromickey makes a very good point, but then again just because a guy has a 50k+ alignment rack does not mean he knows what he is doing.
Brake drag on the right side will also cause a car to drift right, just sayin!


When you took the car back to tell them about the drift what was their reply?
Did the tech go with you so you could show him what the car is doing?

211.070

Caster is the preferred adjustment to correct a pull. This is due to it not being a tire wearing angle. I set caster out of specification on a regular basis to account for road crown. This will also require camber adjustment to keep the camber even. You want more positive caster on the right side to counter a pull to the right. Please post your alignment sheet and I can help you determine the best course of action to correct the pull.

Need4Speed

Is your caster off?

Gave you checked your front tires as well.

stockC43

What type of tires are on the car? What wheels are on the car? Stock offset, width etc. have the tires been road forced balanced and radial pull measured? Did your shop measure ride height at all 4 corners, the proper way with a romis tool? Did he relevel the suspension after getting out of the car on the alignment rack? Airmatic 211's are not as easy to do a proper alignment as some people may think. Post up your current specs and go from there.

nanayaw6

I just haven't had the time to. Do you mind if I PM you my recent alignment sheet to confirm I'm on the right track before I lift the front end to correct it so don't thread jack?

TIA

Sugar_Mouth

Mine does the same thing. Had the dealer align it today and it still pulls to the right. I think the caster is still out.

cij911

^^ This is the answer to your question....

Roads are designed to have a crown (high spot) in the center and them angle down to the side. As such, if your car is aligned within specs it will / may always pull to the right, unless the tech planned for this....some techs do and some do not....either way it is an easy fix.

The other issue can be the tires. If the tires are worn inconsistently (from a prior bad alignment), you can also get a pull even if the alignment is perfect now.

mikirepacbenz

car will follow the road and all off the roads will be angled for water to drain. i just did aligment
on my E55 after i replaced ball joints and tirerod ends.
i have aligned the weels at home with fishing line and tech was amazed how close i got it.
maibe you should try that. i don't trust but two people with my car.
where did you do alignment?

mikirepacbenz

my custer is out just a bit on rear right but my car is good. maybe you should switching tires from side to side and see if that will help

MomentumE55

I found the higher pressures everyone likes lead to wandering and crown pull being exaggerated. Dropped it 4 psi from 40 or so and it drives straight as an arrow. Don't care if tires wear faster or I bend rims easier I have 10.5" Vossens on back with 305's. So it could be an issue. I am super concerned about pulling or drifting. It also got rid of the huge bang in rear on bumps and pavement drops.

ThroughTheEsses

So i've now had the car inspected by no less than 3 different alignment shops, all three of them said that it'd be a waste of money if I get an alignment. At this point, I wonder if it's possible for my power steering to be miscalibrated (??) or somehow off center?

1) I have brand new tires (less than 50 miles). All 4 wheels road-force balanced

2) If I hold the steering wheel straight, the car tracks dead straight. In other words, I don't need to compensate "left" for the car drifting "right". If I let go of the wheel, the wheel tilts right ever so slightly and the car correspondingly drifts right.

3) This also happens "to the right" on an uncrowned surface road (and on the "wrong" side of said surface road).

I'm told that my caster plate is dead perfect vertical. (i don't have numbers as nobody ran it on a computer since they think it's a waste of time/$$)

So here I am believe this is either a feature of the car, or there's something else that's out of whack other than the alignment itself.

cij911

On 99% of the roads the road camber tilts to the right, so it may just be the roads you are driving on have a more significant grade to the right...

MomentumE55

I get the feeling you don't think it is tire pressure. I think yours are too high. What are they?
Respectfully

211.070

If your caster in dead even then your alignment people do not know what they are doing. If you tell them that it pulls to the right they should first check for a tire pull. This is usually much more aggressive than an alignment issue. Unless you are running directional tires of course. Then they cannot be swapped from side to side without dismounting them. This can cause more issues as well.

Next would be performing an alignment check to see where the vehicles alignment is at. If the alignment is good, and all indicators say that the vehicle should drive straight as an arrow... It is time to think outside of the box. I often use an infrared temperature gun to measure brake rotor temperature in these odd situations. I have noticed that a 10 degrees temperature difference can cause a drift. This is most commonly attributed to sticking pads due to lack of lubrication rather than faulty calipers.


Please post up your alignment sheet so that you can get quality input on this concern. Without knowing all of the facts this is all just speculation.

Thanks

Critter

Why would it be a waste of money, these shops should do a check on you car for free or next to, and only charge for an alignment if they indeed do one. Have they bothered to check what the back axle is doing, is it aligned properly, as stated above tire pressures as well as dragging pads.
You need to go to a shop that understands the issue and will correct it so the car tracks straight.
Does the car act different in the middle lane of a highway as opposed to city streets.
Road camber is not constant as different roads have varying degree of slope.

MomentumE55

A million year old alignment pro told me how to tell if a car is really pulling or if it is the crown. He showed me get on a two lane road. Straddle the centerline and if it still pulls you need to fix it. If it doesn't pull, it is ready to go to the customer. Obviously do this on a less traveled road. What you are doing is negating the crown as a factor which is evenly set by the road engineer, as in crowned to your left and right as you straddle the center line.

Shadow5501

I've had a couple of E55 cars. Sometimes they pull because one side or the other of the airmatic suspension settles a bit low. I have found on all of them that pushing the raise suspension button while driving along, waiting for it to completely raise, and then lowering the car back down to normal level will allow the suspension to level out, removing the cross camber, and eliminating the pull. The first car did this a lot more than the current car. Every E55 has its own personality, it seems.

jarvis210

this is vey simple. Step one ensure ride height is correct(this is done with a romes gauge). if ride height is not correct then a ride height calibration is needed. next would be to set the rear thrust angle to 0. this ensures left and right rear toe is even. next would be to check the front caster. on the 211 chassis it is very common for the car to have drift to the right. Assuming your tires are not causing the issue you need a caster split of approx 30-45 minutes. (minutes is the measurement that the machine uses. typically a 211 has approx 11 degrees of caster. so for example if the left side measures to 11 degrees of caster and the right side measures 11 degrees of caster then you have 2 options. either decrease caster on the left or increase on the right. this chassis uses alignment bolts that need to be installed. these typically move the caster approx 20 minutes. With the alignment machine there are 60 minutes per degree. I am a mercedes tech and i have a 211 55 my car is lowered slightly. i have 4 alignment bolts in the front suspension of my car. Left side caster is being reduced. right side is being increase and both camber arms have the camber pulled in to reduce camber due to the car being lowered. my car drives perfectly straight. i have approx a 45 min split of caster left to right. this is the difference from the left to the right side caster.

stockC43

I'm sure that's how his "highly rated" alignment shops do it. O well, my E55 drives straight

dsc

Pulling slightly to the right is normal for the E55. Take it from an Old Timer, we looked into this about 7 or 8 years ago on this forum. Everyone was complaining about the cars pulling to the right while the Alignment was dead on. We ended up finding out that it was a safety aspect built into the car incase people dosed, lost control of the wheel, etc. Bottom line......the cars are designed to pull slightly to the right.

Do a forum search and find this issue talked about extensively.