2 Alignment Questions
 

I have an 83 300D with 279000 miles on it. When I rotated my tires in October, I noticed the inside edge of the front right tire was worn on the inside edge. Also, with the rear tires now up front the car started pulling to the right. I checked the pressure and swapped the front left with the front right and it still pulled to the right.

I had an alignment done at the indy shop I've been going to for over 20 years. They said the tie rods were frozen. They got one to move but I needed to replace the other. I ordered a genuine MB part, replaced it and brought the car back to the shop. They charged me for the alignment and 3/4 hour for monkeying with the tie rods. This brings us to late November.

I pick up the car after hours and...it's still pulling to the right. With the holidays and all, I decide to drive the car sparingly and call in January for another alignment. I go, and the car is on the rack for over an hour and they call me into the back. The car still pulls to the right with all alignment settings within MB specs. I ask if there's anything wrong with the car since all the suspension parts are less than a decade old and both front calipers have been replaced within the last 18 months. I am told no, the car is fine. The tech explains the settings he's going to use to fix the problem. I agree and go back to wait for him to finish.

I get the car back, am charged for another alignment plus .8 of an hour labor. And...it stills pulls to the right! Mildly, but it's definitely going right.

Here are the 2 questions:

1. Is there something wrong with the car? Is anyone else experiencing this? The settings that are out of spec are Front left camber -.6%, Rear left camber +1.8, Rear right camber +.7

2. Am I getting raked here? I inquired why I was getting charged again for an alignment and was told that it wasn't their responsibility since the car would not drive straight under factory specs.

All help/comments greatly appreciated!

This can be some of the reasons for the front. I don't remember who the quote is from.

Essentially you need to inspect the ball joints and if they are OK and previously your alinement was OK I think then you can suspect control arm bushings are shot.

I had the lower control arm bushings go out on mine and within 3 days it runied the front tires due to wear on the edges.

Tire Tilt Tire wear
"Sagging upper control arm bushings will cause the camber to become negative, resulting in inner edge tire wear.
Barring some catastrophic failure due to rust, the most common cause of the front wheel tilting inward at the top is failure of the upper control arm's inner bushing, where it's bolted to the inner fender.
Rotted out Lower Control Arm Bushings will cause outer edge Tire Wear and unless they are extremely bad you cannot see the Bushings are no good."

I have not read a good write up on what happens when the rear control Arm Bushings go out. Perhaps someone will post some info on that.

I replaced the LCA bushings in 2012, there are only 35,000 miles on them. I can't imagine they are bad already. And I replaced everything in the rear 2.5 years ago.

The uppers are a bit older- 70,000 miles. I will check them. Thanks!

This is part of the quote "Sagging upper control arm bushings will cause the camber to become negative, resulting in inner edge tire wear." That fits the description but I don't know if it that is the only cause of inner tire wear.

I would take it to a better shop....

But, you can't get a good alinment if parts are worn or the rubber bushings are rotted out. If there is wear in the steering, suspension or rotted out bushings no one can do the alinement and have the alinement not change.

See post #7.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/376005-anyone-have-trouble-upper-control-arm-bolt.html#post3576627

my experince,most shops don't now how to setup a w126.

What size tires ?

I had a similar experience, took my 83 300SD in for new tires at NTB and the tires for her were so cheap, somewhere around $250 for all four with mounting and balancing, road hazard and tax that I didn't think too much of it when the sales guy came out and told me that I needed an alignment. Granted she had almost 390K on her at the time but she drove straight going in, with old tires and all.

When I left she pulled like, well like something that pulls hard to the right. LOL. It was closing time when I left but went back the next day and their alignment rack was out of commision for the time being. They sent me to another store close by and the guy there aligned it, even though he said it was within spec when he started. All of the steering components had been replaced with OEM stuff within 40K miles and everyone who looked at it said that it was in good shape.

Basically, that didn't make it much better, although driveable, I work about 60 miles from home and since no one could figure it out at the two stores I went to initially I decided to try my luck on a store by my work. After I made an appointment and brought it in, dropped it off, they called me and said that they didn't have the ability to align this car. I took it to another store close to work and they, having exactly the same rack, amazingly could do it. It was still within spec according to this guy too but after I pleaded with him to try something, he did and it was better even yet, not perfect by any means but I drove it this way for almost 40K miles and the tires were wearing pretty heavily on the insides I "accidently" drove over a board with nails in it and it put holes in the sidewalls that were unrepairable but since I had the road hazard warranty they replaced the front tires and I have been driving on them with a slight pull to the right still. I think that my steering box needs to be repaired/replaced as there is a little bit of excessive play in it but the Moral to this story is don't let an idiot try to fix what isn't broken. I have 435K miles on her now but since she isn't my daily driver anymore I can just live with it until I find someone who can align this car, aside from the dealership.

With there being so many of these cars produced, I would think that someone would be able to perform an acceptable alignment but I guess not. For the record, I do all of my own work on all of my vehicles aside from Alignments. If anyone has a good recommendation in the Houston TX area, I am all ears. Good luck to the OP.

Phillytwotank- The tires are 195/70R14. Pirelli P4's up front and Cooper Trendsetters in rear.

Diesel 911- thank you for the link. There is no play in the steering, but I suppose the bushings might be worn on LCA's. Hopefully I will get a chance to inspect them tomorrow.

APS13- That is a terrible story! I only brought mine in to save the tires. I have now spent more than a new set of P4's, mounted and balanced, would have cost. I just wish that I had a solid answer considering how much money I spent.

My car pulled and I was wearing out tires until I started doing my own partial alignment but using a tape measure and setting it so the front tires track parallel and after that I was able to go a lot longer on a set of tires. I was also able to finally center the steering wheel that the shops could net get right. If you take your car to a new shop have them check bushings and ball joints just to be sure all is OK.

You need to find a tech that will adjust it so that it steers and isn't judging his work by whether it is "in specs" or not.

I have a lifetime Firestone alignment on 2 SDs and usually go on the machine twice before getting something that works. One person gave me the car back with camber maxed out to one side. He made a note that "the car couldn't be aligned". He meant that is couldn't be aligned by him.

Have them get the specs as close to the center as possible then adjust caster out on one side to offset any slight pull that there may be. Caster is a no-wear item.

X2 on doing your own alignments. I bought a camber/caster gauge and some toe plates, and using those tools in combination with the old school "string method" I get pretty good results. The string method allows you to set toe for each wheel in relation to the vehicle's center line, and also makes centering the steering wheel a snap. It does take more time since you don't get immediate feedback like you do on the nice Hunter machines. One advantage is that in doing it yourself you can explore subtle variations in adjustments and see what you get without having to pay a shop to do it multiple times for you. Another is that good feeling you get from not having to rely on an outside source.

There is a pointed bolt that you can screw into the Steering Box after you remove a bottom plug that centers the Steering Colum and if the Steering Wheel is already centered that.
I made one the real one is expensive.

See post #4 for pics
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/305789-steering-wheel-not-straight.html