PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

stevebfl · #9 06-05-2004, 12:44 AM

None of your measurements address your complaint. Your complaint as I read it was that the steering wheel wasn't straight. That has absolutely nothing to do with any of the measurements indicated.

There is considerable missing in the story of your alignment. The first issue is that there is no one spec for your car. A completely different measurement must be made first and then the machine or a table can convert to reading such as you list. This measurement is made by a device called a Romess (sp?) tool. This tool is a sophisticated electornic inclinamometer. The values it gets from placement on the drive axle in the rear and the control arm in the front gives a reading that relates to ride height. If one has a docking station the numbers are converted to caster and camber numbres directly. if not the numbers must be plotted on a chart of Romess numbers versus caster or camber.

Once you have found that all out you can't do anything with it anyway as the new POSes have no caster or camber adjustments anyway. If the car, unlike yours, doesn't track properly and the numbers explain it, (Your numbers say the car should go straight BTW. the cross camber that would give a left drift is opposed by the cross caster which is working to the right and are within acceptable standards) then one can make small corrections to the measurememts by installing bolt kits at the proper control arm attaching points.

I see no problem with your alignment front or REAR. Its my guess they measured wrong on the Romess number in the rear as I wouldn't want negative 1 plus degrees camber on my rear end.

As I pointed out above the steering wheel centering has nothing to do with any of those numbers and is a carelessness on the part of the alignment tech. Other than triggering your steering angle sensor for driving in a circle while the wheels are giving equal speed readings it won't be corrected with any of those angles.

There is basically nothoing that can be changed within standard aligning proceedures for your car. Bolt kits are not an adjustment they require disassembly and are either this way or that no adjustment. The trick is to make the minimum number of bolt kit mods to achieve even tracking. By your statement you are there so the reading are acceptable with the exception of the rear which I believe has the wrong spec attached because of an improper romess measurement.