RJV

Hi all,

I posted the below in the W204 sedan forum but as this is relevant to the suspension in many other (but not all) models I think its appropriate to also post it here.

I have a 2012 W204 - C250 CDI sedan.

My wheel alignment report (front wheels) shows castor is under the lower end of MB spec by 7 and 12 minutes, and camber is under the lower end of MB spec by 18 and 27 minutes. I know that the W204 has no means of adjusting the front castor or camber in the standard set up.

I must bring the castor and camber to within the MB spec for re-registration of my car. This is not negotiable.

Does anyone have direct experience of using the MB castor or camber repair kit bolts (part A000333107 in the case of a W204) and can relay how much adjustment these delivered?

I’ve read elsewhere that the bolt provides adjustment by about 20 minutes on either castor or camber, but when you do both there must be a small cumulative effect.

I’ve thought about adjustable top mounts for the front struts (i.e. a K-Mac part) but this seems like overkill to achieve just a 7 to 27 minute change in a family sedan.

Then there’s also eccentric bushes for the upper and lower control arms, but do these really work long term or are they more of a gimmick and have a hidden downside?

All thoughts appreciated. I must make this adjustment - so advice to just leave it because it’s so close to spec doesn’t give me any comfort.

I've attached the MB Work Instruction for these kits if anyone is interested - particularly if you've not heard before now that MB supply this kit to adjust castor and camber for models which (when standard) are non-adjustable. It would be good to hear from someone who has used these.

Thank you.

chassis

Do you know the root cause for alignment being out of spec? Was the vehicle in a collision? Or curb/pothole incident?

RJV

No, I don’t know.

The car has had one hit in the front - rear ended a car with a tow hitch/ball which pierced the front bumper cover and condenser and radiator, but it only clipped the very top edge of the aluminium front bar and there was no damage to the aluminium impact absorbers. One headlight broken but no damage to chassis or frame - also verified by full Car-O-Liner chassis measurement.

I know previous owner (only travelled 40,000 miles since new) so no previous accidents.

As for curbs/potholes the wheels look original (same age/wear as rear) but there’s always a possibility it’s hit a few potholes. Just be aware I have the same small spec variances on both sides - left and right.

On another post a member suggested cause may be loss of fluid in camber bushes. I wasn’t aware the camber bushes are fluid filled (really?) but even so, I would have thought loss of fluid, worn, or soft camber bushes would lead to excessive negative camber on front whereas I don’t have enough negative camber. Or am I wrong in my thinking?