Here's a tip to ensure your steering wheel remains properly aligned while you adjust the toe on the front wheels. I tied a large socket to a length of paracord, looped the paracord over the sun visor, adjusted the paracord to hang (like a plumb bob) aligned with the centerline of the steering wheel, and adjusted the sun visor so the paracord just *barely* brushes up against the stitched seam on the bottom of the steering wheel.

I performed a four-wheel alignment (toe only) this past weekend. Even using turn plates (intended to reduce friction between the tires and the floor) there are times the steering rack moves rather than the tire. Using this plumb bob arrangement did the trick; after each tie rod adjustment, I would verify the steering wheel was straight then go back to the wheel and verify the toe measurement. Previously I would tie the steering wheel straight and eyeball it while setting toe. Invariably the steering wheel would still move a few degrees off-center and I would spend another 2 or 3 days getting the steering wheel straight. This time the steering wheel was straight on the first attempt. Huzzah!

A small piece of information: a single rotation of the tie rod equates to ~3mm change in toe.

 

Question please: when I changed out my engine mounts I dropped the steering rack for clearance. When getting the rack bolted back up after alot of movement, my steering wheel as you can imagine, is off center. Can you recommend a way to straighten the steering wheel out (centered) without going to the shop?

thank you and know I appreciate it!

 

This one will give you an idea of how the setup looked on my first attempt. I've modified it from this photo as I now have 4" worth of wood blocks under each wheel. On top of each stack of wood I have two each aluminum sheets ~0.080" thick with salt sprinkled liberally in between; the aluminum sheets are my turn plates. Not as good as the professional ball bearing versions but a heck of a lot cheaper. Get the aluminum plate at your local metal supply house; be sure to take a b*****d file to round off the corners.

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ml#post7338053

This thread is a written description of how to set the toe. Be sure to raise/lower the car 2-3 times after lowering it onto the wood blocks. Despite the hardness rating of the Continental tires I'm running I still like being able to pull >30,000 miles per set.

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ml#post7339193

First time is the most time-consuming. Setup is toughest the first time and gets progressively easier. First time I spent almost 4 hours but now have it down to 1 1/2 to 2 hours total to include setup, alignment, and tear down.. Ditto for the actual alignment; the tip above using the plumb bob saved me literally 2-3 hours in repeat efforts to align the steering wheel over my previous efforts. At $140 for an alignment I have no problem spending two hours of my time for the same work.

If your wheel is off counter clockwise, that means your wheels are pointed to the right (when the steering wheel is in the 12 o'clock position) and to drive straight you are counteracting that turn to the right that by turning the wheels back to the left. This means the right side wheel's front needs to come in towards the center of the car some amount and the left side wheel's front needs to push out away from the center of the car an equal amount. Reverse everything I just typed if your steering wheel is canted clockwise.

You'll have to look at the threads on the tie rods to determine which way to pull and which way to push. Remember, you want to go opposite for each side an equal amount until the steering wheel is straight; you then have to use the clear ruler and thin monofilament to ensure the toe is correct.. One of the hardest parts is remembering which way to turn the tie rod. You'll need a 13mm open end for the inner tie rod (the part you turn) plus a 21mm for the lock nut and I just use a crescent wrench to hold the outer tie rod while using the other wrenches.

 

thank you for the info!

 

Anytime. Please note that if you are not calibrating the suspension or adjusting the camber it is not as important to ensure an absolutely level surface. For just toe, floor offsets equivalent to a couple of thicknesses of floor tiles shouldn't make any difference.

 

I had bought my 07" E63 in 2017 and it pulled to the right something awful. It had many more problems than that but after completing the repair of all of them in my garage over 3 years! (Heads & Intake and Air Struts Rebuilt, new rear shocks, new subframe bushings, hubs, F1 Fab Camber Arms, UPD Rear Toe Arms, Radiator/AC and AC Compressor, PS Pump w/Upgraded HP Hose, UPD Engine Bearings, DS Disc(s) & Intermediate Bearing, Rear Main Seal, Cleaned Tranny Valves, renewed linkage, Racing Brakes/Pads, 3.06 Ring & Pinion with LSD) I then thought I'd finish it off with having a "professional" complete my alignment!! What a waste of time and $$$ it was!!

I took it to 3 places demanding my $$ back after the first two!! The First place was a little miffed that I hung around to begin with even after having to explain that any adjustment of the front "Crash Bolts" would require my using the STAR to deflate the Air Spring system. Of course, when asked if they would be able to suspend the car body in-situ while I would have to deflate pressure from the Airmatic, if need be to adjust front Camber, I was met with that proverbial Stare. Fortunately, I brought the proper sized 28mm wrench to adjust the rear UPD Toe, but i ended up with his (useless to me) 29mm in place of my 28mm!!! Nevertheless, after setting Rear Toe, we went up front where he caught me off guard by loosening the passenger front AirSpring Arm Crash Bolt!! He obviously didn't hear me when I asked him the question if he had the ability to suspend the car while I released BEFORE he was to make any front Arm Adjustments!! As soon as I turned around, I was met with a startled look right as we both hear a "BANG" occurring as a result of loosening the Crash bolt in the AirSpring Arms under pressure! He looked at me and said "That wasn't supposed to happen?" I replied that of course it would happen as there's 7 Bar PSI plus the weihgt of the whole car on each side pushing down and my concern was that by doing what he did, he might have stripped the eyelets within the AirSpring Bushing!!! His response was that it now all lined up according to his system!! Crazy!! He took it out for a ride, returned only to say it was still pulling right. Of course he blamed it on the relatively new tires (less than 5000mi). After making the necessary manual checks in my garage, the eylets fortunately were intact!!

The last place allowed me to come back a few times to give the kid a chance to correct the pull, but in the end, again, it wasn't meant to be. I will say his effort at fixing the pull was to Toe-in the Driver Rear?!?!?!

So I followed a post I saw of Birdwell a while ago and thought I'd give it shot. I will say the preparation is very important as you have to make sure your on a fairly level surface. I used 8 pieces of linoleum flooring squares sprayed with some lube and built up each surface under each wheel in an effort to make the car level as possible. My notes regarding this were scrapped after I bought one of those Laser FLoor Level Lights and set it up at the highest wheel and made sure each other wheel was intersected by that light indicating 4 corners being level. Pretty useful device! I also got one of those digital magnetic angle devices that I could stick to my rotors. This made setting the Camber a Breeze! I went rather upright (like -1 degree) and it provides a very light touch to change direction. I'm getting ahead of myself!@!

Once the Front Camber was set, I then surrounded the car with a line of nylon string attached Hub Level to jack stands all around. When doing this you have to take into account the difference in Track Width. For the 2007 E63, the manual states the difference is 9mm wider in the rear. So, that means you select a distance away from the center wheel hub all around (Say 60mm) but add 4.5mm distance away further from the front Hubs to measure from. This should set the lines parallel to all the wheels. I first made sure to correct that "Adjustment of the Driver Rear Toe" and set that the same as the Passenger Rear. You do this by measuring the distance away from the front of the wheel rim to the nylon string and visa versa for the rear side of the same wheel. Use a notepad to record the difference to determine proper placement. Sometimes just tightening will cause the distance to change, so note this going forward as it will take you more than just one go to get it right!

Once the Rear was aligned, I moved to the Front. Bear in mind, I had already made the switch back to Neutral setup in the front (ie-No Crashbolts), but that clearly was not helping. Using the Crashbolt Schematic that is available somewhere here on the forum, I proceeded to adjust step by step for a pull to the right until I got to the very last extreme which ultimately did the trick!! (Which for me was to simply pull the Passenger Torque Arm Forward and the Driver Side Rearward and set them up with the Crash Bolts! I left the AirSprings Set to Neutral) As for the alignment, I ended up setting both Camber Arms to the same amount of threads showing and confirmed with the Angle Device to be within 0.04 of a degree set up at -1 degree. Next up was setting the Toe. Before you do this, you have to make sure the Steering wheel is set to Center. Sure Birdwell's DIY can get you close but I found that you can use STAR/Xentry to Dial it in perfectly to Center, which must be done after each adjustment of toe as even a 1/4 turn of the Toe (Tie) Rod will pull the wheel out of True Center!! It takes a couple tries on each side to get the measurement of each tire to be within tolerance difference, but I was simply blown away after trying this that my first test drive resulted in perfection!!! I mean, there could be a little more Camber on the front (ie set to -1.5*) to tighten things up a little, but I'm so Centered now that I don't want to mess with it!!!!

 

Now that you wrote it, it is perfectly obvious that STAR/Xentry could be used to ensure the steering wheel is absolutely straight ahead. I just never thought of it...

Appreciate the tip for us.

 

This is how I do it at work