500e Alignment Question
 

Guys, hope you all can provide some suggestions as I am quickly running out of ideas to cure a bad pull in my 500e. The car has 43k on the clock and pulls hard to the right. There has been no body damage or under carriage problems under my watch. The control arms have been replaced on both sides before I bought the car. It has been aligned by 3 different places; 2 dealers and 1 indy and it doesnt seem to fix the problem. I know the new E class has a problem with pull and thats traced back to a bolt in the control arm. I am not sure it is the same issue or there is any relation. I have 19"x8.5 on the front but I have also run with the stock rims and tires and it seems to be the same result of a pull.

Any help would be appreciated. Thoughts?

Thanks

Hey bud

Just a thought Mark, is your right rim dirtier with brake dust than the left....possibly a kinked brake line is causing the brake to hang up on the rotor and is pulling it to the right?

George up in PA had the same symptoms last summer with his 500E and it turned out to be that...:)

Please post the alignment numbers before and after the shops performed the work.

The Numbers...
 

Hey Jimmy...we thought that too but it doesnt appear to be anything odd there...thanks.

Interesting...we swapped the tires left to right and the pull is now on the left side with the same fervor so I guess it points to the tire. I do recall tho with the stock rims/tires there was the same pull so I am going to have the tires swapped and turned inside out since they are directional tires here at the shop to see if that will work. The shop seems convinced its the tires from this experiment we did they might be right. The alignment numbers are as follows:

LF Camber (-1.10 after) (-.70b4)
LF Caster (10.2 after) (10.65 b4)
LF Toe (.15 after) (.06 b4)

RF Camber (-1.10 after) (-1.25 b4)
RF Caster (10.45 after) (10.9 b4)
RF Toe (.14 after) (.34 b4)

Cross camber (-.00 after) (.55 b4)
Cross caster (-.25 after) (-.20 b4)
Total toe (.29 after) (.40 b4)

What about the rear?

wheels
 

Hi,
I have a suggestion : maybe you should have your alloy wheels checked without their tyres.
Alex

Q: If the car's alignment adjustment is not able to provide alignment results within factory spec's....does this point to a suspension repair?

(for purists): What if- in this situation above- the car still car drives/tracks straight (with alignment outside factory spec)

...would suspension/bushing work still be reccomended to allow for adjustments within factory spec?

tks-fad

Well if your alignment was off and you drove around your stockies for a while, then your bling for a while, it would make them both do the same stuff.

So I think you need some new tires, and definately get it aligned right after new tires.

Have you lowered the car? Make sure they do a 4 wheel alignment.

Well an undercarriage inspection showed 2 new control arms but nothing else seems to have been changed or altered/damaged. Not sure why they were replaced and the Tech that did it is no longer at the dealer. Helps to work there so you can pull repair orders but there is no explanation of the repair.

Can someone explain or tell me where on the alignment sheet I would find factory specs so I can see if they aligned it to that? Is it the specified range? Everything seems to be within the specified range from the alignment sheet if thats the target.

A buddy is gonna help me with an experiment...take his front rims and swap to determine if tires or suspension is problem anyone think this will lead to some answers? They are the same size but tires differ a bit I really do not want to spring for new SO3's as they are very new so if anyone else has some suggestions I would appreciate it.

FYI...The car is lowered 1bump rear and believe 3 bump in front and the springs (Lorinser) and shocks (Sachs) are non OEM.