Since it is now time for me to rebuild the front suspension (negative camber tire wear and pull to the right, squeeking/moaning suspension) I was wondering about the alignment.

One shop says use laser only, that the spreader bar method is out dated.

One shop has a spreader bar, but also says to to the laser way.

What do you guys think?

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Call the dealership and see what they use.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Ewing ******** in Plano, TX, uses the laser, not the spreader bar method. Cost is $90.

Ewing is the closest dealer to me, about an hour or more away depending of traffic.

__________________
RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

I had mine done with the spreader bar last summer and it has been fine.

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1983 300SD
200000miles

Sounds like either way will work, don't know how many places have thw spreader bar. On my 123, Firestone, on the 126, Sears-laser.

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83 SD

84 CD

See https://www.mbwholesaleparts.com/StarTuned/pdfs/Alignmet.pdf

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Len
'59 220S Cabriolet-SOLD and living happily in Malta
'83 240D 351,500 miles original owner-SOLD
'88 560SL 41,000 miles - totaled and parted out
https://sites.google.com/site/mercedesstuff/home
'99 E300 turbo 227,500 miles
'03 SLK320 40,000 miles - gave to my daughter
'14 Smart electric coupe 28,500 miles
'14 Smart electric cabriolet 28,500 miles
'15 Smart electric coupe 28,000 miles

I just had my 300D done today. It started pulling to the right on the way back from Atlanta last month and I waited until I had new tires on it to make sure it wasn't them.

The guy didn't use the spreader bar, but knows about them and said he would use it if he had it. The result was that he had to make some adjustments, drive it, make more adjustments, drive it again, and so on for almost three hours. The good news is that now it goes straight, and he only charged me $59.99. The work was done by Kevin at Capital City Alignment in Carson City.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Much of the discussion on this forum seems to suggest that the laser and pre-load bar are mutually exclusive concepts. In fact, the laser equipment is used to measure alignment angles, which is a necessary part of the process regardless of whether or not a pre-load bar is used.

The pre-load bar is used to simulate dynamic forces that are not present when the vehicle is not in motion. This phenomenon is not at all unique to a Mercedes vehicle. Typically, toe is adjusted slightly "in" so that the forces present when the vehicle is in forward motion result in a dynamic toe-in of zero, or close to it. My sense is that if that procedure is good enough for the rest of the cars on the road, it's probably good enough for our cars.

For what it's worth. We have the standard Hunter alignment equipment and I have been aligning our cars for years with no spreader bar and no laser apparatus. I have no tire wear issues and no pulling to one side issues. I don't really want to align a newer Benz, but the older ones have not been too much of a mystery.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

Cool guys! Thanks!

__________________
RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K