Alignment for Lowered 300TE

[Cardude]

I had my TE aligned yesterday by a very reputable alignment shop yesterday. Too me it looks like they never touched the car. Is it normal after lowering the car and having it aligned the wheels still look like they are diving in at the top. I guess I should call it the dog leg effect. I am ordering the kit from K-Mac for the rear of the 300TE. Guys please post your thoughts on this one. I was expecting the wheels to straighten out at the top for less wear to the inside of the tires. Why else would we buy the K-Mac kits for the rear of our cars.


Any thoughts...............


Cardude

[Glen]

The rear suspension in stock form does not allow for camber adjustment. Basically, only toe is adjustable in the rear. The K-Mac kit modifies the lower control arm pickup point to make it adjustable. To dial out camber the kit moves the pickup point towards the center of the car, effectively reducing camber. Another option is an adjustable camber link, which replaces the stock, non-adjustable arm. Each has advantages...the K-Mac kit will narrow the rear track slightly, the adjustable camber link will not. If you are running or planning to run really wide wheels and tires, the K-Mac kit will give you slightly more clearance.

[mbdoc]

The thing that matters is the readings that the alignment shop came up with from your car! CAMBER is the most important critical for tire wear. You car run upto -1.4deg w/o much wear.
What were the readings?

[Cardude]

I was really concentrating on the front suspension first. The front end visually looks really bad to the eye. I was wondering from you guys. If there is enough camber/caster adjustment after my car has been lowered with HR springs to relieved the inside tire wear problems I will face after lowering the car.


Hopefully I will have it checked again today!

:-(


Cardude

[Edited by Cardude on 04-25-2001 at 06:26 AM]

[Cardude]

The car had to moved to their other shop. They finally admitted they could not do it at the other location. I will post pictures, when they return it to me today. I will also have the specs then.



Thanks guys


Cardude

[Cardude]

Finally I have some pics of my car, We almost have the Alignment dialed in now waiting on the adjustable links for the rear though. Tell me what you think.

Yes I need a better camera, or I need to learn how to use it.


Cardude,
http://smwelch.dynodns.net/~Cardude/
1989 300TE

[Glen]

Cardude,
Very nice wagon!
What spring/shock combo did you install? Did you retain the self-levelling rear suspension or just remove it?

[Cardude]

1989 300TE
Springs: Lowered with H&R springs
Spring Pads: 2 bump pads all around
Rear Susp: Self Leveling Suspension Retained completely
Front Susp: Stock OEMs from Merc. soon to be ....need help!
Wheels: 17 inch AMG knock offs from Bekkers Imports
(Intra Wheels)
Tires: 215/45/17 Kumho Z rated Tires
Audo: Complete Custom Job by yours truly! Pioneer
Head Unit and 6 cd changer hidden in the
compartment in the rear passenger side panel
and a Custom Sub behind the rear seats.
Lights: Euros of course and Clear Corners(no wipers
yet)

Future: Sportline bushings and front sway bar
Another Engine, haven't decided yet
Camber kit for the rear end SOON!


Commments: It rides great and its a lot of fun.
These alterations were made possible by the
Forum members, I realize its work in progress
So be nice when you re-read my specs :-)

[Sludge]

Looks really good, Cardude!

Bill

[ke6dcj]

Your wagon looks great. I look the looks of the AMG replicas.

The only place I've had consitently great alignments is with my local dealer. I've met with the actual alignment tech, and for $90, he takes about 2 hours to align (front & rear) & measure my car (I'm there watching him). I asked him to set it up with SportLine alignment settings and things are great.

The front is perfect, with no "dished-in" look. The rear, esp. when I had 225 tires definitely had the the "dished-in" look, but that's because I don't have the KMAC or adjustable camber arms for the rear. It doesn't look like that from the rear with 205/55R16 tires.

Also, note that the standard 195/65VR15 tires had a load rating of 91 (1356 lbs). Your tires (215/45R17) and mine (205/55R16) have load ratings of 87 (1201-lbs) and 89 (1279-lbs) respectively.

If you plan to carry heavy loads or a full load of people, be VERY CAREFUL especially at high-speeds. Our wagons are much heavier than the standard 300/400/500E.

On another note, have you noticed that with the H&R springs, things are a little too low? It took about 1-month for everything to settle in for me.

Also, I've noticed that with H&R Springs and Bilstein HD, Sport, or MB SportLine front struts, the suspension wants to settle down super fast which can make for a very non-MB ride when travelling 75MPH+ on freeway dips. Perfect for the track/autocross, but fatiguing on a cross-country trip.

Also, do you drive your car very hard? I've noticed even with 205/55ZR16 tires, that a very hard hairpin turn with dips in it will cause the front & rear wheels to rub very slightly due to the extreme compression forces.

Any rubbing with the 215/45R17 tires when under extreme driving conditions?

Also, I'd like to know how you mounted your sub-woofer to the rear. Got a picture or two to post or email?

Thanks again,

:-) neil
1988 360TE AMG
http://www.silcom.com/~neilv/sportline/index.htm

[Cardude]

Wow,

You have 205/55R16 on 8inch wide 500E wheels?

I have little or no rubbing at all (none sense proper alignment up front). According to the "TireRack" guys I wouldn't have problems unless I went with the 18x8 wheels. But, after calling Bekkers Imports, some of the sales/techs guys said I wouldn't have any rubbing. Basically, I dont have money to toss around so I went with 17x7.5.

I love the look and they clean really easily. I still want to mount 225 on these wheels! I've been warned several times, by everyone I can think of in the forum.

To answer your H&R question, yes they are low. Yes they did settle after a few weeks. Thats why I was in a panic. The rear end looked terrible. After a lot of tweaking with the height adjustment rod in the rear, I have it where I wanted it visually from the start.

I will take a couple of pictures of the sub-woofer today an post them asap.

Thanks for all the advice. I didn't even check the load rating for my tires. Boy, I wish I could mount 225s, because really I would prefer a little more meat on the road.

Does anyone have a link for the adjustable camber links? I have changed my mind about the KMAC kit!

Neil,
Your car is awesome. Excellent look, great conversion I could go on forever. One question; Does it really feel quick now. My 300E feels very quick compared to my Wagon. I need an engine transplant. I feel my engine is getting a little tired now. :-)


Cardude,



[Edited by Cardude on 04-30-2001 at 07:38 AM]

[ke6dcj]

Try the Delsing camber arms.
Check out:
http://www.delsingmotorsport.com/

I'm installing these for our lowered & AMG'd M104 W124 wagon.

Yes, it is fairly fast, but it does have to be "on the cam," doesn't have the tremendous torque of a V8 (only 270 ft-lb), hence that's why I'm going to a 3.07 limited slip differential.

Yes 16x8 with 205/55R16 rubber. It does stick out about 1/4-inch, so I just might go with 16x7.5 or 17x7.5, it will all depend on the Brabus suspension kit.

:-) neil

Ke6dcj, where did you find adjustable links? I have been thinking of lowering my 300E but I was afraid the fact that you can't adjust the rear would eat my tires entirely too fast and possibly affect the feel of the ride. Please let me know, I looked at Delsing's page, but 300 bucks is a lot considering springs hardly cost that much. Thanks a million, your car looks amazing. Just out of curiosity, (I don't want to be nosey) but how much did just the engine conversion cost? The 3.6 looks like a perfect fit in the 300E's bay. Thanks alot,
Chris

[Edited by Chris S. on 04-30-2001 at 02:53 PM]

[Cardude]

Wrong guy! Its ke6dcj who has the 3.6 AMG engine. Thats a dream for me at this point.




Cardude,

[ke6dcj]

It's either KMAC or Delsing arms, both about $300.

I've ordered the Delsing arms.

Engine, Tranny, and computers about $8K; $5K for install.

I did the electronics research, and made the wiring looms.

If I didn't figure about $3-4K just in wiring.

:-) neil