Lowered E55, wearing tires and pulling after alignment
 

At a bit of a loss with my 2005 E55...

Had the alignment checked twice, all suspension parts are in good condition yet the car steers to the right and wears the insides of the tires pretty intensely. Just to point out, it doesn't pull right, it actually steers right. If i hold the wheel straight, it drives straight, but when i let go, wheel turns right by itself.

On the rack, i leave the car running so the airmatik doesn't settle, im in Sport 1 and i set the toe on the low end of the setting (nearest to 0) to accommodate for the extra negative camber due to lowering. Camber is at -2* on both sides. Car is lowered via STAR and i drive in Sport 1 99% of the time.

See attached photos of the inside of the tires. This is after 3,000 miles.

What am i doing wrong??? :confused:

1) -2° camber is too much. Ideal would be -1.1-1.5°, but unless you go aftermarket, you can't get that with factory hardware on a lowered E55.

2) What is your caster like? A caster drag can cause the car to pull to the right and some manufacturers set them up like that to help avoid head-on collisions. However, this would not cause wear.

3) Another thing to consider is that roads are crowned for drainage, so keep that in mind when checking your wandering.

What is you Cross Caster or your Cross SAI? Post your alignment sheet, if possible.

I'd start by getting your camber within spec.

How is you Caster? Caster stagger can cause this.

Also, don't rule out a dragging brake.

To me, your tire wear looks fairly normal for an AMG

Chris

From memory, my caster was even and right within spec. The car also didnt pull until i lowered and realigned it so i dont think its anything factory related.

i will try to dig up the alignment sheet and post it tonight.

Get a new alignment ,your place sucks no offense .!I would have gone back and say you owe me tires.

Found the alignment sheet. Maybe my camber is a bit more than -2*. Wheel bearings also needed re-adjustment at the time of alignment which i have done since, so maybe that will take it back in a notch.

With the alignment as is, do you really think that it explains the excessive wear on that inner portion of the tire? I cant agree... I agree that it'll wear more on the inside, but mine wore the inner portion down completely and the rest of the tire is at 90% tread life.

I see X5's and plenty other BMWs with noticeably more negative camber from factory, and i cant imagine that they all replace tires every 5-6K miles. Not to mention, my rears have the same negative camber and they are wearing completely normally. Same exact tires, all 4 bought and installed at the same time. I may be the first E55 whose rear tires will outlast the fronts. :smash:

This is a common problem with lowered E55s. Yes, your camber is wearing those tires. It happens faster on the front because most of the weight of the car is on the front and the front does all the steering.

Your pull/steer is due to the front camber. The car will pull away from the side with the least amount of negative camber. In your case, that would cause the pull to the right.

7,000 miles car lowered no wear at all .gat a alignment from a real place trust me

Thanks HeissRod. Any suggestions for correcting the camber? Whats the popular way to do it? We have 2 lower arms so i have to assume new uppers?

On a lowered car, you cannot get camber back within spec using OEM equipment. See the K-MAC Bushing link in my sig for what I did to fix it.

Vehicles will pull to the side with the most positive camber. This car should really be drifting a little left or straight on a road with slight crown.

You are setting the toe the opposite way to accommodate the negative camber. You want more toe in (away from 0) to help with camber wear. How much did you lower it? You can help some with camber adjustment bolts on the lower control arms, raise it up a little and give some more toe in and you'll be good.

Rocman,

Ironically, mine steers towards the side with most negative camber, not most positive as you stated. See attached alignment sheet a few posts back (post #6).

Also, are you sure about needing to be more toe-in? I was always under the impression that when you have negative camber that its better to have toe more near 0 to avoid the additional scrubbing effect on the inside of the tire. Some toe in but less than spec'd. But I'm no expert, so please fill me in as this may be what I'm doing wrong.

I saw your alignment sheet which is why I'm confused why it pulls to the right. Are you also checking ride height with a romess? You should swap your front wheels/tires side to side and see what happens to the pull. Sometimes it's just a bad tire and you go in circles trying to figure out the alignment.
You have the toe idea backwards. More tow in (positive tow) will scrub more on the outer edge of the tire. More tow out (negative tow) will scrub the inner edge.

Crap. Any reading you can point me to? I'd definitely like to read into this more.

And i did swap the tires. I was hoping that was it too but it didnt change a thing unfortunately. The weird wheel turning still continues and i have no clue what it may be... Could it be bump steer since im lowered now? I know the 90's mustangs would do this if lowered without a bumpsteer kit. Though i feel like there would be many reports of this and i havent seen any yet...

I've got my toe set just a smidge in from 0. I also got rid of almost all the camber at the same time. The combo worked wonders. Now I get board with my tires before I wear them out.