A 1/4 degree of toe-in comes out to roughly 1/32 of an inch on a 14 inch wheel (just guessing based off of memory). They'd have to be really, really stupid to make that mistake. But like you said, you never know...

Scott

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Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

Very glad to find this thread. Just started trying to figure out what do do with my 85 300TD. Has 175K - had it about a year and have put about 7000 miles on it. Drove well for a while and then a few months ago started pulling to the right. Noticed the insides of the tires were wearing pretty bad at this point also. Had it aligned and corrected some toe-out. But the machine confirmed a lot of negative camber. In fact when you just look at the front wheels carefully it's pretty obious they lean in at the top. The driver side wheel even has some cord showing on the inside while the outside looks brand new.

I've rocked the wheels back and forth and nothing clanks or even seems to move much, if at all. Just end up rocking the whole car. Is there anything else I need to check, or should I just go ahead and do the UCA bushings? How do I know if the ball joints are bad?

Source for UCA bushings? NAPA and other national chains or do I need to order online from specialty places? Typical cost for a set?

Thanks,
Mark

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1985 300TD 214k. Elsbett VO system + Fattywagon injection line heaters. (SOLD!)
1996 VW Passat TDI wagon 327k. No VO
Two white german turbodiesel wagons. One analog, one digital.

Camber is adjusted by the bolt that holds the bottom arm on. It is not placed in the center and as it is turned it drives the arm in or out.
I am going to return to a differant alignment shop. Probably MB. I think that the issues I have are related to not knowing how to do the alignment, I still have adjustment left.

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

I had my car's front aligned but I still check the toe in/out my self and adjust it about every 3 months. The toe is the one thing I can do at home but the rest of it needs a lot more equipment. Ever since I started setting the toe to "0" the car has driven a lot better and I am not showing uneven tire wear after 2 years.

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1983 300SD
200000miles

That is hardly a MB exclusive feature. Plenty of cars use the same concept. It would be unthinkable that the dimmest of alignment techs would not be crystal clear on the concept.