Ate the curb - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

TheDon · #1 11-17-2006, 01:14 PM

deleted the last thread since it was going waaay OT

but here is whats what

someone told me to take some string and tape it to the rear wheels and line it up with the front wheel on the offending side and make the string touch both sides of the front wheel one at 9 oclock and the other at 3... so i did.. measured how far of fit was on the rear wheel at 3oclock which came out to 1/8" on the offending side(right side which is what hit the curb)

the left sides was smaller than 1/8"

the camber on the front right wheel is slightly posative while the left side is unchanged..

nothing appears bent underneath and it drives and turns fine at speed limit.

vstech · #2 11-17-2006, 01:23 PM

sounds interesting. how do you attach the string? how are the measurements made?
thanks,
John

TheDon · #3 11-17-2006, 01:25 PM

i used tape, and stuck one end on the rear wheel at the 9 oclock position and then stretching it out to the front wheel and using my hand just got it to the point where the line was straight and made sure the wheel was straight so the line was as close to 90* as possible then attached it to the front wheel and measure how far off the string was from the rear wheel at the 3oclock position... a bonehead told me how to do it

this is no substitute for an alignment.. im getting one as soon as i get some money

F18 · #4 11-17-2006, 03:36 PM

Its funny how 1/8 or even a 1/16 of an inch can just ruin a tire at high speeds.
That use to be close enough on a Model T Ford. And actually the method you discribed was used to align thoughs early cars.

TheDon · #5 11-17-2006, 09:03 PM

the handeling sucks.. i drove 50 miles tonight to go somewhere... the car rolls worse than ever(need to inspect shocks), it feels like its tracking sometimes.. and i can feel every little bump... damn curbs

Ara T. · #6 11-18-2006, 07:09 AM

Wait, so what happened, I missed the first thread.

TheDon · #7 11-18-2006, 08:39 AM

i was shoved into the curve more or less by a women on her cell phone apparently she didnt see me... was going about 10 mph ish because i was slowing down to turn(i guess she had the same idea) and caught the curb where their is a cast iron sewer grate, caught the corner of the cast iron and blew a hole in my wheel and ruined the wheel(pushed in and cracked a part of it)

so now my alignment is off and the handeling sucks

TheDon · #8 12-07-2006, 03:40 PM

went and had my tire flipped today (i.e. now the whitewall is showing and looks stupid since its the only one)

this will give me some more time before i get the parts in for the alignment

the alignment guy put my car up on his machine and lifted the front end and checked out the front suspension. apparently the left and right upper control arms need to be replaced since they are no longer zero tolerance according to him and the right side lower ball joint i guess it is needs to be replace(i whacked the right side)

that sound about right to you guys? ive got the money for the parts.. but they charge 65$ an hour (by the book) to do work.. shouldnt be to hard to do ball joints and an UCA?

they can do my w123 they just dont have the spreader bar but he assured me that .02 degrees off is just fine and they have been doing it for years on the w123 and other mercedes benzes... hell 50$ sounds good to me

Surf-n-Turf · #9 12-07-2006, 03:50 PM

Let me know when you get the parts.

rg2098 · #10 12-07-2006, 04:10 PM

Yea Belle Tire said they could do it for $50 too. Long story short they re-did it twice before I took it to the dealer and had it done correctly. The destroyed $400 worth of tires with their sh** alignments. Be wary of these type of places. The W123 is very particular on the alignment rack.

MattBelliveau · #11 12-07-2006, 04:18 PM

Don, just an insite: I did both upper control arms myself with 2 jacks (one of them being the factory), in less than a day. If you have the time, it may be easier on your wallet to do those yourself.

TheDon · #12 12-07-2006, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBelliveau

Don, just an insite: I did both upper control arms myself with 2 jacks (one of them being the factory), in less than a day. If you have the time, it may be easier on your wallet to do those yourself.

im planing on doing it.. i sent surf a pm asking if he had done his... i belive he did.. right surf?

the uppers are 70$ each plus 2 bushings each side and then the ball joints are 23$ each or something..

Larry Delor · #13 12-07-2006, 07:34 PM

The uppers you can do yourself. For the lowers (you probably know this already) you need a press to get the new ones in. Oh, and you need a big ole brass hammer. You dont have to get new bushings (unless they're busted somehow), but since you're in there, and if you have the extra dinero, I suppose you could.