I buy my Michelins from Discount Tires, but get the balancing done at MB dealers.

I do the same, except not at MB dealers, although I might switch to that.

I'm going to have the next car I need aligned..done at a MB dealer.

Once I put new tires/wheels on my 201, if its still crappy, I'll have MB do it

I'm ashamed to admit this, but I took my car to Sears for an alignment after having 4 new Michelins installed. It was 70 bucks and not worth 5. I told the manager I wanted my money back and he told me they should be given the opportunity to fix it. I said I didn't want his clowns touching my car again. He then told me he'd give me my money back if I showed him a receipt from another shop that corrected the alignment. So, I took the car to my local Mercedes dealer and paid $170 out the door for the alignment. The car rides straight now and I got my money back from Sears.

Edge,

If I understand you correctly, you have wear on the outer edge of both front tires. This is means it is toed in. This is the most common cause that requires alignment. For toe, most any shop can do it properly, but make SURE that you tell them to set it on ZERO! Many books will offer a wide tolerance for this spec. Toe can be set to some specifications that are published for some cars and be WAY away from zero. This will cause wear on the inner or outer edges.

$250 for balancing is HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A reputable shop should not charge more than $10 or $12 per wheel at the most. $140 for alignment is a high price, but not as RIDICULOUS as the quoted balance price.

If you are one to do such work yourself, toe can be very successfully set in the driveway. If you are interested in the home procedure for accurate toe setting, speak up and I will go through it for you. As far as balancing goes, you just need to find a reasonably priced source and MAKE SURE that they do a DYNAMIC balance with weights in both inner and outer planes. These cars will vibrate with a static balance which consists of weights on the inner plane only.

Hope this helps.

Sears said they couldn't do my 300SD a few years back, they claimed something about seat weights? Idk.

Seems this alignment business might be one of those gotta take it to the dealer jobs..unless of course the indy/chain knows what they're doing...I don't exactly want to play roulette with my alignment though.

I was very happy running Sears Roadhandlers on my 83 SD. Also very pleased with NTW's 2X alignment the W126 took. I was told that NTW is owned by Sears. Don't know if that was true.

some German cars need driver's weight and sometimes additional weight to properly set the alignment.

rjp

BMWs are aligned with weights in the car, MBs are not.

The MB dealer is DEFINITELY not the only source for alignment!

In well over a million miles of driving all sorts of MB's I have had ONE dealer alignment. ALL other alignment adjustments were done by me personally. There's no secret hand shake or anything just because it's an MB.

I've never heard ANYTHING about seat weights.

I don't agree - sorry!

I think you can do it yourself if you have the time and patience. Here's my effort:-

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/284337-how-i-adjusted-toe-out-camber-caster-my-w123-300d.html

(for those of you who have seen it before - sorry I do plan to update it in the near future with more photographs)

Starting with the 202 chassis there are no longer eccentric adjusters for camber and caster. They have offset washers and some also have special bolts. Not only do you have to know something about how they are installed to get them in right but if you do not assemble or disassemble them properly you WILL DAMAGE THE SUBFRAME. I've seen it plenty of times b/c the tech that did the previous alignment didn't know what they were doing.

The original posters 210 chassis has adjustment bolts and washers. To get the proper specifications for it's alignment, it will need to have ride height measured with the Romess tool. It will also need to have the toe set with a spreader bar installed. Any less than this will not align the car properly.

140Ch, 129ch, 124ch, and cars older than the 202ch do not require this. In fact I do not even use the MB specific alignment program for them as it tends to be too precise for cars of that age and you end up chasing the adjustments back and forth.

Yes, I am interested. I did have an outer wear problem but my suspension problems probably caused a lot of it. The front end has been fixed in August by my indy who told me I should get new tires and an alignment. Well I got the MXV4 on her today and it rides pretty well. Now I want to align it so I don't ruin the new tires. No way will I pay $250 to my dealer which is aptly described as highway robbery. If I can do it myself that would be great. Thanks.

Whoa- I was thinking about installing the factory eccentric bolts in my lower control arms when I do my bushings and ball joints since my car is an earlier production and does NOT have any adjustment points presently (I'm significantly lowered and need to match the camber L + R) and it appears to be nothing more than an in and out procedure.


What's the catch? I don't want to mess up the subframe?

rjp

The 202 doesn't have the susceptability to subframe damage that the 210 chassis does. I was referring to the OP's 210, though not clearly, leading to the confusion.

There are several good home methods, but I'll go over the one that I've used the most with great success:

On a relatively flat and level concrete floor raise each front wheel one at a time and suspend it safely off the ground far enough so that it can be rotated. Clamp a nail to a jack stand such that it can be held in solid position along the tire tread. Vise grips work nicely to clamp the nail.

With the point of the nail against the tire, rotate the tire one full turn to scribe a line around the circumference of the tire. You do this as opposed to measuring against the tread because the bead does not always seat uniformly.

Once both front tires are scribed, lower the car to the floor and push it forward or backward a distance of one tire revolution. This is to allow the camber to settle after the car has been raised.

Now with a reliable assistant holding the one inch mark accurately on the line at the front of a front tire get a careful measurement on the other side. Now do the same on the rear of the tires. The distance should be EXACTLY the same between the lines front and rear. Make the measurements at the same height front and rear as high up as you can go without obstruction.

Some old timers (I'm an old timer, but I've learned better) will tell you that you need to toe it in a 1/16" or so instead of equal distances (zero toe.) This is a hold over from the bias ply days and should not be done with radials.

To make the adjustments, loosen the locking nut(s) at the tie rod ends and turn the link to make the adjustment. Look at the threads and visualize what an adjustment in a particular direction will do to your setting. If the steering wheel is not straight after your adjustment, you can turn the links on each side equal amounts in the same direction to center the steering wheel without changing toe adjustment, but if you do, recheck toe after centering the steering wheel.

Hope this helps.