I recently brought my 99 CLK 430 in for an alignment and some minor services. To make a long story short, I ended up paying $400+ for the alignment job alone despite the fact that the off centered steering wheel is still not fixed and it now drives like a buick with whobbly steering feedback. The explanation given to me by the service manager at the dealership was very unclear so I ended up writing to MBUSA... A few days later, the service manager called back and attempted to explain the situation again, and this time, he used alot of technical terms but still, I am not convinced. He stated that all late model MBs are a pain to align, needing new eccentric (sp) bolts every single time the car is put on the alignment rack. He also stated that the $400+ labor charge was *normal* since they had to remove the springs and parts of the control arm (wth???!!!) for the alignment on this particular vechicle... blah blah blah...

I've owned many cars in the past, including Audi Quarttros and a E36 M3, and I've never paid anything close to $400 for an alignment job even at dealerships...

Am I missing something here? Or is this service manager simply trying to make his dept's balance sheet look good?

I will bring the vechicle back for the alignment job again when I get it back from the other dealership since he promised to do the job right this time (I had to bring it to another dealership because they couldn't fix the "Lamp Defective" and the other minor problems). When I bring it in for the 2nd time, what should I tell the service manager?

Any input is appreciated!

what ?????

since I have done literally thousands of alignments I can answer this one very technically using all sorts of big words but, not everybody reading this is familiar with all of the terms so, let's put it into basics

the proper response to the service manager .... BS !!! but, be nice about it ... he was just trying to justify the bill

all cars are a pain to align properly and some are worse than others and a CLK is not that bad

to do an alignment, while the first time eccentric bolts do need to be installed to aid in the process but, once they are in they do not need to be replaced every single time .... The installation of the eccentrics is time consuming and their flat rate is probably not the cheapest in town

you never take the springs out for that process .... or the control arms ....

Let them fix the problem and get it right ...

from my experience allignment is usually $90 at a very good shop.