I think I've really bad -ve camber on my front driver side. Please see photo the damaged tire. Before took it to alignment shop I measure how much is the -ve camber. I see it is 9/8 (1 1/8 inch) delta from bottom edge of the wheel to top edge of the wheel. Converting that to degrees it gives about 3.7. These rudimentary measurements are accurate as far as I can tell. Right side I see > 1/8 +camber.
I took it alignment shop and he the reading showing 2 degree -ve on driver side and .9 degree on passenger side.
My main question to knowledgeable people here is the alignment shop did not fix the problem saying the camber alignment bolt can only adjust .3 degree. What are my options? He says shocks and joints are all fine.
Thanks in advance/ramsu

 

The mechanic is correct about the camber alignment bolt.
Possible causes:
-frame damage due to a curb strike
-collapsed bushings and/or bad ball joints (lower and/or upper)
-if you have air suspension, you need to calibrate the front suspension using STAR.

 

Thank you bbirdwell.
how do you check collapsed bushings and/or bad ball joints, mechanic checked and seems to be okay.
Car doesn't have air suspension.
Somewhere in these forums I read, if spring is compressed too much, you will have this (-ve camber) problem. Do you think I should check and replace the spring? Any suggestions as to what would be the next steps?
Appreciate your time.

 

I would expect you would need to remove both front springs and measure the height of each. If one is collapsed, you'll know it easily. If so, replace with matching spring. You could email Pelican Parts and see if they can provide to you the unloaded spring height for your car's front springs; Pelican Parts sells replacement springs so they could go in the warehouse and measure one for you. If that is the case, be sure to order from them if only because of the assistance provided.

A quick check is to park the car on a level surface with front wheels straight and measure the ground-to-fender height on both sides. A fraction of an inch is no problem but an inch or more would be excessive. In the case of the negative camber, that side would be the one with the lowest height (in general, as the suspension compresses the camber will go increasingly negative). Also, consider placing the front control arms on jackstands as close to the end of the control arm as possible, remove wheels, then measure the spring height under compression on each side. If one is markedly shorter than the other, I would suspect the spring.

FWIW, my car sits at: left front 26 1/4" height and -1.1 degrees camber; right front at 26 1/2" and -1.2 degrees camber. I do have air suspension and KMac bushings so on a stock E55 suspension I would estimate the camber would be around -1.7 degrees at that ride height. If the car is noticeably lower on the side with large negative camber, you can always roll the dice, order a new spring, and replace it without confirming the old one is bad.

On a stock W211, front camber should be -1.4 degrees +/- 0.3 degrees depending upon wear and tear in the front suspension and the ride height. I would recommend a second opinion on the bushings and ball joints. You can review Youtube videos to see how it is done if you want to verify them yourself.

 

Thanks again bbirdwell. I will check the left and right height and report back. and also take second opinion on bushing and ball joints.

 

Hi Bbirdwell,

The height difference is under half an inch (26-1/4 inch). I took second opinion and he says all bush/ball joints are fine. So I went ahead and asked them to replace the camber bolt. Now camber on left is -1.5 degree and right is 1.1 degree. I will monitor it for a few days. Thanks for you help.