I've got a spreader bar. I bought it to write an article about MB alignments for a trade magazine. Thirty years of first dealer then indy alignments were done successfully without it and continue the same.

In the experiments I ran using the bar I got toe differences of between .5mm and 1.2mm over five cars. Of course if you are aligning that 210 car with the bad tie rod still in place the reading would be vastly different. Any tech worth a hoot can judge the level of flex in the toe through various techniques. The acceptable range of toe variation is considerably larger than the spreader bar change in solid front ends.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician