Negative camber in rear wheel

[ejsharp]

Today I took the car in for repair of a slow leak and discoverd that the inside edge of the left rear tire had worn down through the metal belt of the tire. I was flabergasted and had no idea the condition existed. I just finished a round trip from Maryland to Miami pulling a boat trailer (yes I mounted a hitch on my 300E).

I checked the alignment rods on the wheel while the wheel was off the car and I did not see anything obviously wrong with any of the rubber bushings.

If the car has, what the mechanic calls, Negative camber... then which of the rods would likely have the bad bushing?

Also... can the rear alignment be adjusted or is it fixed by the rods and their bushings?

[aldedmon]

It made the car have probably 2-3 degrees of neg camber and for that kind of weight for those kind of miles, you were peeling rubber like a banana. The nature of the suspension is such that you are going to have neg. camber if you load down the rear. That's can be by either pulling/towing a trailer or by having a rather large dead body in the truck(dont ask how I know :p ) Anyway, neg camber is usually adjust by correcting for toe. Or you could install a set of KMAC rear camber adjustment bushings. Then as you load the ol girl up, you could dial in a bit of positive camber till she was straight and then dial it down after the wekend.... Or you could just sell it and get a 500E, an S class or other model that has hydraulic or air self leveling

[ejsharp]

Thanks Albert... that was some of the most concise information and advise I have ever gotten.

Where can I get these adjustment thingamajigs you are talking about? Do you know which of the rods they would go on?

I shall not desert the ol' girl. She's held up her part of the bargain.

[aldedmon]

They are replacement bushing for the Rear Inner lower control arm. (sorry to be so elementary)The lower conrtrol arm(s) are those bars that you see when looking underneath the car from the rear that the springs are seated in. There is a bushing on the rear diff. side of the LCA. You completely remove the LCA and then remove the bushing(from both the left and right one). Then you replace them with the KMAC units. Not exactly a piece of cake, but easy enough. Do a search on me(aldedmon) and you'll find further discussion on the KMAC's VS other rear camber adjustment kits. Buy 'em direct ( http://www.f1.net.au/kmac/contact.html)
or find a distributor her in the states