Is the rear toe adjustable on 1986 300SDL? According to alignment shop it is not. I changed some front end suspenion parts ,and the rear shocks{bilstein to boge} back in February so I decided to have alignment done. The techican at that time gave me the computer print out after completing the alignment, not mentioning that the right rear toe was out of spec. Needless to say the rear tire on the side of the car that was out of spec is shot.Returned to same shop and got the story that there is no adjustment. Seems a little strange since toe has always been adjusted to bring witnin spec. The shop has agreed to re-do the alignment, but I wonder if they are blowing smoke about lack of adjustability. They felt that the car could have a spring going bad. Help. I take the car back to them on monday am. Thanks.

Your shop is telling the truth. There is no toe adjustment on the rear. I suspect the bushing(s) on the rear trailing arm may be bad or the arm is bended.

If the new alignment still shows the toe is out, call the dealer to see if they can fix it. Good luck.

Shop is correct about abjustment, almost!! There are off-set control arm mounting bushings for a small correction of toe/camber. Very complicated & only slight correction avail. Microfische is only source of info on subject.

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MERCEDES BENZ MASTER GUILD TECHNICIAN
ASE MASTER TECHNICIAN
27 YEARS DEALER M.B. Shopforeman
190E 2.3 ITS RACECAR
1986 190E 16V

Before I worried too much about the toe I would have to know how your tires are wearing and what the readings are.

The offset bushings can change the toe by about 5mm a side, BUT toe on the swingarm rear ends wasn't a matter-of-fact proposition. Most alignment equiptment won't give a rear toe spec for MB because MB doesn't. What they do give is a chart with the spec for toe at a certain camber. This is all changed by ride height.

If your rear toe is even side to side I wouldn't worry about it unless your tires are wearing poorly.

If one side has inappropriate toe then it is probably a bent control arm. They bend pretty easy if you go off road or airborne.

You might also check you rear subframe bushings. a 1986 is a pretty old car now and those bushings are begining to show up as needing to be replaced. I also agree with checking for previous damage especially if you don't know the car's complete history. If this wear just started rather suddenly and you have been off-roading then a collapsed bushing somewhere is doing it.

Thanks guys for the input. I do have a tire that is wearing on inside edge of right rear, but I don't remember doing anything that would have bent the trailing arm since my previous alignment. I found some info on MB cd about using eccentric rubber mounts to compensate for toe being out a small amount. My plans are to try re-alignment at current shop and if that does not work then I will try an independent MB shop in the area to see if they can fix the problem by using the rubber mounts. Last resort will be going back to the dealer. I have some unpleasant memories of past dealer transgressions or screw-ups.

The bushing replacement is a major affair, The two bushings alone will cost near the price of a tire. With labor you could probably buy two tires for what it will cost to adjust one side (the control arm and spring will have to be removed).