Fellas,
I have gotten considerable uneven tirewear on my rear tires over the past 6 months. The wear looks like the symptoms of my camber being off. Meaning, the inside of the tire is much more worn than the outside.
I wanted to be 100% sure my camber was out, so I took my car in for an alignment yesterday. Here are the results:
Target Data for rear camber is -1.13 +/- .3
Left Rear Camber: Before @ -1.31; After @ -1.32
Right Rear Camber: Before @ 1.52; After @ -1.53
The dealer told me that the car cannot be aligned any further into specifications unless they start replacing parts.

I have 17" Brabus rims with a 235 width tire. Would an adjustable rear camber kit allow me to address the camber issues? Is this the cure? Please let me know your thoughts or if you need more info. Thank you,

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Ed
-1984 Mercedes 190D 2.2 5-speed gray market(bought@30,000 miles) (Sold back to original owner@170,000 miles)
-1999 Mercedes E300DT (245,000 miles)
-1999 Mercedes S500 Grand Edition (80,000 miles)

If the car is not lowered, adjustable camber bushings are a band-aid fix for whatever is loose/broken in the rear suspension area. Ask if they can isolate the link, arm, bushing that is bad.

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1991 300E - 212K and rising fast...

Gotcha. Thank you. My car isn't lowered, but I do have wider rims and tires than stock. The problem is that my indy and the dealer have both told me it is hard to diagnose exactly what part is causing the camber issue. They said it is likely that they can replace one part, and then have to keep replacing more in order to get everything correct to spec.

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Ed
-1984 Mercedes 190D 2.2 5-speed gray market(bought@30,000 miles) (Sold back to original owner@170,000 miles)
-1999 Mercedes E300DT (245,000 miles)
-1999 Mercedes S500 Grand Edition (80,000 miles)

Wider tires dont make a difference. You probably have a rear control arm bushing that is torn apart. Check all of them....something is out of whack.

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Or the lower wheel-carrier bushing.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

They are partly correct, the rear suspension should be a "done in one" type job. But it doesn't have to be, it depends on what is broken. They should still be able to tell you exactly what is causing the irregular wear. The multi-link arms generally don't cause too much camber wear issues, just a loosey goosey feeling rear end in corners and when the car shifts under full load.

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http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...-RESIZED-1.jpg
1991 300E - 212K and rising fast...

I'd back the car onto a set of ramps and crawl under there with a flashlight and inspect EVERY SINGLE bushing and find the worn components... be prepared for many parts to be worn though.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
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My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
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1987 300TD
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The most common problem for too much negative camber on the rear is sagging REAR springs.

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Hmmmmmm............something's not right here. The left rear camber is within spec. and the right rear is barely out of spec. What's the total rear toe???

Thanks for the further insight. I don't really know how to check the rear springs. I thought they either worked, or just failed and that there really wasn't much in between.
I'm traveling right now and don't have the alignment spec sheet the dealer gave me. My understanding is that the toe was off as well. I will post the results by Friday for review and opinions. Thanks again,

__________________
Ed
-1984 Mercedes 190D 2.2 5-speed gray market(bought@30,000 miles) (Sold back to original owner@170,000 miles)
-1999 Mercedes E300DT (245,000 miles)
-1999 Mercedes S500 Grand Edition (80,000 miles)