Hey Everyone,

I have a W202 C Class that's been lowered a few years ago and have been scrubbing through tires a lot since then. I've done the alignment on the car several times and was wondering if anyone has changed the Ball Point position to correct the steering geometry on a lowered 202, and what it was changed to?

Camber Front/Rear is in spec.
Caster is in spec.

However the toe out on turns is really messed up and I think that's what is causing the tires to scrub off the inner inch of the front tires. Spec is 45 minutes negative and my car is reading 0 minutes, which tells me that there is No toe out on turns. The last alignment check that I did a couple weeks ago actually had the toe out on turns on the positive side. I believe the ball point position is set at 31mm which is spec for vehicles at factory ride height. I'm thinking about raising the ball point position to 35 mm or 40 mm to try and was wondering if anyone had done this before?

 

I think some of what is causing your problems are the stock rubber control arm bushings that appear to deflect enough under cornering loads to cause severe toe out under braking and cornering.

Jeff

 

That's not a bad thought Jeff. Its very possible that could be happening at speed, however this is something I can also feel in the car and hear in the tires making sharp turns in parking lots at less then 5 mph, which is why I'm thinking about adjusting the ball point position.

A few weeks ago, I actually installed new spring pads to raise the ride height up and change the rake of the car to see if that would change anything. The car feels a little better at speed, but is still scrubbing the tires during sharp corners at low speeds.