Rear camber 85 300d

[ftwchopper]

This is a fairly new car to me and is in nice condition with a huge pile of maintenance records.It has 190k on the clock and runs really strong.After purchase,i put a new set of tires on it but today I noticed the rear left tire has excessive wear on outside portion of the tire.The right side rear looks perfect and the car rides as it should.Is there a way to set rear camber on these cars other than replacing LCA bushings? Could it be another problem that im overlooking?? Thanks

[Skippy]

The W123 doesn't come from the factory with a camber adjustment for the rear. If it's out, it's generally because of worn or broken parts. The funny thing is that as the rubber parts age and the springs sag, the rear usually develops negative camber, and your wear is indicative of positive camber. Also, enough camber to have a noticeable effect on tire wear can usually be detected visually. I'm wondering if that wear happened at one of the front corners (or even on a different car), and the tire was then switched to where it is now.

[ftwchopper]

The tires were bought and installed by me and I have never done any kind of tire rotation on it.I have maybe 10k miles on the new set.I know im over due for a tire rotation.When I bought the car,it had a spare tire in the trunk showing the same kind of wear..

[SD Blue]

I would be suspicious of trailing arm bushings. On my W126, I noticed rear tire wear and when I lowered the trailing arm, was surprised at how worn the were. It is hard to see the wear until you lower them.

[Skippy]

Toe wear can also look like camber wear, and can come from worn trailing arm bushings. I'm having a little of this problem myself now, but I plan to wait until spring and then do all the rear rubber at once, since I'm also getting a wiggle (diff mount?) under large changes in accelerator input.

Time for an alignment check and probably some new trailing arm bushings for you.

[ftwchopper]

Sounds like a good winter project to keep me out of trouble....Oh hell ! The old Harley needs work also..

[whunter]

Originally Posted by ftwchopper

This is a fairly new car to me and is in nice condition with a huge pile of maintenance records.It has 190k on the clock and runs really strong.After purchase,i put a new set of tires on it but today I noticed the rear left tire has excessive wear on outside portion of the tire.The right side rear looks perfect and the car rides as it should.Is there a way to set rear camber on these cars other than replacing LCA bushings? Could it be another problem that im overlooking?? Thanks

If it is not the trailing arm bushings?
I suggest a previous owner might have replaced the rear spring shims, and accidentally installed a mixed pair = 13mm on side #A and 19mm on side #B.

I assume you have inspected the trailing arm for corrosion and fracture/cracks, this is not uncommon in Michigan salt = replace the assembly with a good used unit.

.

[ftwchopper]

Thanks WHUNTER...The thought would never have occurred to me about the spring shims.The trailing arm looks to be in good shape with some minor surface rust in a few spots.
Wouldn't worn bushings cause negative camber with wear on the inside of the tire??

[whunter]

Originally Posted by ftwchopper

Thanks WHUNTER...The thought would never have occurred to me about the spring shims.The trailing arm looks to be in good shape with some minor surface rust in a few spots.
Wouldn't worn bushings cause negative camber with wear on the inside of the tire??

Depends on which bushing is worse, as to applied load and thrust angle dynamic.

The math and descriptions only get more technical from here, useless data for you.

IMO:
View the bushings as perfect condition/alignment or TRASH, and you can't make a mistake.

.