Does this alignment shop diagnosis sound right?
 

I just got my ’82 300TD back from the second alignment shop this week. The camber is off visually and the front tires are wearing on the insides. The first shop (small town guy) replaced the center link (loose) and put on some new tires before realizing he did not have the Mercedes tool to do the alignment. So I search on the forum and realize it’s not a straightforward job to align these cars.

Most people seem to recommend the dealer for an alignment. Well that’s nice, but I’m in the TX panhandle, about 3.5 hours from the nearest dealer in Lubbock. I call some foreign car mechanics in Amarillo and get an alignment shop recommended to me and take the car to these guys. They don’t have the Mercedes tools but claim they can put some weight on the suspension and do a decent job (?). They’re cheap enough that I’m willing to give it a try, like I said the dealer is really not an option.

The guy looks it over and says the all the camber adjustment has been taken out. They do some measurements, and the front springs will need to be replaced before they can fix the alignment. The mechanic did seem at least a little knowledgeable about the W123 like he had seen this before. Does this sound like a decent diagnosis? Weak springs resulting in negative camber that can’t be corrected. He said the rest of the front suspension seemed tight.

I would imagine new upper cotrol arms may be in order. I would look at those before jumping onto the springs.

Worn out springs are a possible, but highly unlikely cause. (They're way too robust.) Wear/damage to the upper or lower control arms or CA bushings should be considered first.

IMHO, the only place you can take this car for a good alignment is a qualified indie who specializes in MBZ. (Sorry, I have no idea if there is one in the TX panhandle.) It should be done manually, i.e., without a computer. That rules out most dealerships and all tire/alignment shops.

Sounds like new eccentric bushing on the inner lower control arm is also a candidate.

Concur. The camber will go negative when the upper control arm bushings are worn. If your UCA's are original, you can be sure that they are history.

Don't buy the nonsense about the springs.

The cool thing about this car is that it's got records back to 1991 when it had 137,000 miles. The only suspension work I see is the replacement of a lower right balljoint in 1992 at 157,000 miles. I'll look into the control arms and then take a road trip to the dealer and get it aligned.

Replacing the upper control arms on my car seemed to solve at least 90% of the inner tire wear (only on front) problem I was having. They are dirt cheap and easy to do yourself too.

I still need to do the lower control arms though.

If your alignment shop was incapable of diagnosing the problem, it is definitely time to find another shop.

Once you know that all front suspension components are tight then get an alignment.

Both tires wearing on the inside or outside is in most cases a toe problem, not camber. Camber has more to do with drivability. Camber has to be way off to cause tire wear issues.

That said, the camber being so far off could be causing the toe problem.

I'll add to what Larry said. With 275,000 miles, you have some worn components. There is no way, some components are not worn. Except the springs, those are the last things I'd replace.

First find the worn components, replace the worn components with good OEM quality parts, then get a proper alignment.

I would not go to the dealer. I would continue to search for a good quality independent. Call around to the body shops that specialize in high end foreign cars (not Honda's and Toyota's!) . Get a recommendation from them.

I dont see why you need a spreader bar to set the toe on these cars. I had mine aligned a few years ago and I can get almost a thousand miles on a set of tires:D
Just kidding. I have had no problems with alignments on my car. You just need to find a good front end guy.

Worn lower controll arm bushings can limit camber adjustment.

I second this. The upper control arm is so easy to replace, it should be done ASAP. That eliminated most of the negative camber in my car, and a camber adjustment finished the job for me.

The lower bushings are a bit tougher to replace, and when I did that with mine, the old ones were still solid and adjustable.

my front wheels were wearing on the inside before my alignment(after installing new front suspension stuff)... The caster was off thus allowing the front right to plow inwards a little while going forwards.. Causing it to wear.