I just installed some adjustable rear camber rods on my car. Before the adjustable rods I could not adjust my rear camber and this made for short tire life (7000 miles). Today it was just aligned and now the camber is spot on. Before the camber was about -2.5 and now it is -1, i talked to the alignment guy (the shop I work in does not have a rack) and he said that -1 is perfect for the rear. It did take 1.5 hrs to do the alignment he said the front was quite hard to get correct but he did get it with-in specs at -.5 on each side. I am very happy now, I dont have to worry about premature tire wear from to much neg camber.

Subman

BTW after I installed the control rods I did not adjust them and my rear camber was wicked, -3.6 the car looked cool but I would never drive on it like that, and before the alignment my front camber was -2.1 (after being lowered, I know I waited way to long to do this)

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-2002 C32
(E420 has passed away)
The best way to contat me is e-mail.

Did you install them yourself?

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J.H.
'86 300E

I had the same experience with my car. After the drop I was –2.9 in the rear. I used the K-MAC bushings and now I am running –1.1 to –1.2 at all four wheels.

How do the adjustable camber rods compare to the K-MAC adjustable bushings? I understand how the bushings work, but I don’t know anything about the rods. Why did you choose the rods?

Subman,
What arms did you get? RENNtech? Delsing? Did you fab your own?

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Glen Tokuhara
Beauty & the Beast and the wagon that could!

Subman,

Do you happen to have any pics? Were the parts made of aluminum with anodized finish? What materials were used for the rod ends?

Also just out of curiousity, did you have any adverse handling with the -2.5 camber and did you notice any difference in handling after the alignment?

__________________
Afshin

Current:
02 C32 AMG

Previous:
92 500E
84 190E 2.3 5 Spd

I have the K-MAC bushings, but I can comment about handling with extreme negative camber. Even though I certainly am not pushing the car to the limits, I think the car was more stable and kind of glued to the road with the –2.9 camber. It is still awesome with the –1.1 camber and the stiffer springs and shocks, but I think it was even better for handling with that crazy negative camber. It was not a scientific evaluation, just my impression.

Just curious, how low have you guys dropped your cars? Mine are down about 1.25 inches (measures 13.75-14.0 inches from fender lip to center of wheel star) and I have no problems with massive negative camber like y'all seem to. Maybe you have your cars REALLY low and that causes the camber issue?

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

When my camber was –2.9, I had a drop of about 1.75 inches in the rear with 1 bump pads. I changed to 3 bump in the rear because the front only dropped an inch so it looked like I had a dead body in the trunk. When I changed the pads I added the K-MAC bushings and the camber was adjusted to –1. I don’t know what the camber would have been if I had not added the K-MAC bushings when I went back to the 3 bump pads.

I have Eibach ProKit springs, Bilstein HD shocks, and AMG 16” Monoblock I wheels with 205/55/16 Michelins. I measure my car from the floor to the fender lip while the car is sitting in the same place on my very flat garage floor. The height is 25.25 inches in front and 25.5 inches in the rear on the passenger side. That 0.25 inch difference from front to rear is the same as when I had the OEM set-up and the front and rear are both 1-inch lower than when I started. The driver side is 25.5 inches both front and rear.

I would like it 25.25 at all four wheels and I was thinking about changing from 3 to 2 bump pads in the rear, but I am afraid of getting back the dead body in the trunk look on the driver’s side (5mm pad difference may = 7 or 8mm difference at the fender lip). I hate when it looks like my car is sagging in the rear. I think it makes the car look old and broken down.

Based on the Tirerack measurements for the tires, my current tires are 25” in diameter and the OEM tires were 24.9” in diameter. I recognize that the narrower and taller profile of the OEM tire may have compressed a bit more during the measurement so I may be underestimating the amount of drop from just the springs. I am planning to go to 215/55/16 tires next time so the tires will be 25.5 inches in diameter. Based on the increase in the radius of the tire, this should bring the top of the tires 0.25 inches closer to the fender lip so it will look a bit lower even though it is actually higher.

I am sorry if this seems confusing, but I didn’t measure from the middle of the wheel when I started, so I am stuck with my method. Tonight I will check the measurement the other way. I did it before, but I don’t remember the number. It was meaningless to me because I had not started that way.

Gotcha. This is why I recommend people measure from the underside of the fender lip to the wheel center - it eliminates most other variables (tire size, tire pressure, wheels, etc.) Note that measuring from the floor, there will be a 1-inch rake with the rear slightly higher, when the fender-to-wheel spacing is exactly even all around. If you make it even based on floor measurements, the rear fender gap will be less, adding that "dead body" look.

I have found that with several "lowering" kits, the rear is never tall enough - it looks crappy, like you say. The spring pads only compensate for a small amount of this and after you have the thinnest up front and thickest in the rear, you need to cut the fronts or install different rears. For my Neuspeed set, I had to cut 1/2 coil off the front to make it level. I don't know why they always make the rear so damned low! For the record, the Sportline springs I got are plenty tall enough, so if you want to raise the rear you could always buy those - they should be fairly close in rate to the Eibachs.

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

ksing44

I am with you on the 215/55/16's.
That's what I am running & it looks,feels & handles absolutely perfect.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

Wow look at all the replies, I was not expecting so many replies so soon.
Yes, I did install the kit my self, only takes about 30 min a side.
I got them from a web site called benzboy.com the rods themself are very very similar to the dilsing one (bur for much less), I believe they are aluminum.
The rods or links replace the upper most link on the 5 link rear suspension we all share on our cars. Since this link is adjustable I can adjust my camber from very positive to extreamly negative, so I believe that the adjustable links are more adjustable then the bushings, not to mention that my rear suspension is now more solid due to the fact that the replacement links are solidly mounted and not floating on rubber.

gsxr, if you are running stock size or near stock size tires then you may not notice the camber but I asure you that it is there, and if you were to run some wider rubber you would find tire wear to be a problem. As I only got 7K out of my first set of tires on my 18's.

BTW check out my webpage for more info on my car.

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__________________
Factory trained Mercedes-Benz Technician
Look At My Website
-2002 C32
(E420 has passed away)
The best way to contat me is e-mail.

I lifted these pics off his site.

I also just got this off his site

"EASY ADJUSTABLE TO FIX NEGATIVE CAMBER, HAVE LEFT AND RIGHT HAND THREAT, CAMBER KIT IS MADE CHROME ALLOY AND USE CHASSIS ENGINEERING TIE ROD ENDS, SOME DRILLING REGUIRED COMES WITH ALL HARDWARE AND INSTALLION INSRUCTIONS, RACING USE ONLY."

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__________________
Factory trained Mercedes-Benz Technician
Look At My Website
-2002 C32
(E420 has passed away)
The best way to contat me is e-mail.

Subman,

Thank you for posting that info, much appreciated. Can you explain what kind of drilling is required to install these?

Is there any weight difference between what was removed and the new parts?

Thanks again!

__________________
Afshin

Current:
02 C32 AMG

Previous:
92 500E
84 190E 2.3 5 Spd

I have 205/55/16 tires on CLK wheels on one car, and 225/45/17 tires on Carat 17x8 wheels on the other. Neither shows major visible negative rear camber. From the dealer alignment printout, car #1 is -2.2 degrees in the rear, and the other car is -1.8 degrees. Neither car has shown significant wear on the inside of the tires over 10-20kmi. My rears usually wear in the center, despite only 32psi in them. One thing that is important with 124's, and probably all Mercedes, is very frequent tire rotation. I rotate about every 4-5kmi, front to rear. Of course this is much harder if you have staggered wheels, then it's impossible without a trip to the tire shop to dismount & remount the tires to swap sides only. That's one reason I like to keep the same size all around.

Subman, that's a beefy looking rear sway bar - what is it? A 500E bar?

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

Wow, those new links look very substantial and it is all quite clean and tidy too. You do nice work. I am afraid that have to admit that I am not as familiar with the underside of my car as many of you. I depend on someone else to do the work. I admire you guys that DIY.

It looks like you replaced three different links and maybe the swayber, not just the one "camber arm". That set-up looks like a better system than a "simple" eccentric bushing although the same kind of bushing is used as OEM for the rear toe adjustment. I have been concerned about the amount of force applied to the eccentric bushing during cornering and wondered if that single bolt in the bushing is really adequate for keeping my wheels from folding under the car. My mechanic told me that the K-MAC bushing seemed to be a very well made part compared to other such products that he has seen for other cars, but those links seem more substantial and would give me more confidence. Installation may be a bit easier too, because I know it is hard to remove and replace the bushings. I understand that the little extraction tool K-MAC provided did not stand up to the job. Once before I helped someone else remove a bushing from a BMW. It was a tough job, but then we didn’t have proper tools. We finally just drilled it out and removed the bits and pieces of the old bushing.

By the way, I measured my car from the center of the star to the bottom of the fender lip. Mine is maybe just a bit lower than gsxr, with a range of 13.25 to 13.75 inches. Even though my old method does not account for variables due to tires and such, it is easier and more accurate to get a measurement from the floor than to try to determine if you are in the center of the star on the wheel. Now, however, I can compare my measurements to the measurements that you others have taken, so I guess this is a better way.