Hi, after investigating why my CLK 430 has a bad noise from the front tires i discovered that the problem is on the alignment, the tires are badly worn on the inner edge. I went to the shop for alignment but the man said that he can correct just the parallelism and this was out of specification of 1mm each wheel, but to correct the problem i need a kit with special bolt I do not know if 2 or 4.
Apparently I do not have play on the ball-joint and silent block...and the car has 130.000 miles now.
Is it true that I can correct the problem with special bolt or is better try to change the lower ball joint and silent blocks?
Many thanks to all that can help me.
ALBERTO

Hi They make a special bolt to adjust caster camber settings on your veh,after 7 years of alignments i have found only a few that would need such a bolt mostly after an accident.I would have the lower control arm bushing and the caster arm bushing inspected,be fore and bolts are changed.joeym

The bushing that you told me are the 2 that hold the arm ore one is put in other place?
I did not have accident but the previous owner i do not know........the car started this problem 6 months ago and nothing the 2 yers before ....so i hope is somethingh worn.
can you suggest me a good way to chek the bushing or is jaut a visual inspection?
Thanks

Hi Iwould get the veh on a lift andwith a light and some one with a pry bar move the arm around were it ia fastend to the frame it should only have a slight movement,also when bad enough to require shim bolts you should beable to see the rubbers cracked or seperating.joeym

Ok i will do this as soon as possible
thnks a lot
Alberto

The control arm bushings should be about totalled by 135k. Do you have a shimmy at 60mph? Can you feel the tires move backward on braking and release on releasing the brakes?

The wear you describe on the inside of the tire is most often caused by too little toe-in (or in fact ...toe out). If the car shows being in spec there are two alternatives. First is the alignment machine is out of calibration and second is that the control arm bushings deflect unnaturally under loading creating a toe condition not existant at rest (where it is aligned).

I see no reason for bolt kits unless the car is pulling. I also don't install bolt kits just cause I'm replacing the control arm bushings. The act of installing the bolt kits changes the camber and caster, so one has to have already read the readings before replacing the bolts to know how to place them. Unfortunately this crummy alignment method can't just be installed in the nominal position. It has to change it one way or the other.

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

Hi can you tell me if the control arm bushing is the first in the front or the 2nd?
In reality the noise become worste when i brake but i can not feel any movements....
now i have the TOE fixed i hope.....is +1,1mm abd +1,1mm before cheking was -0.3mm on both side.
the proble i think is camber because is -01°34' on both front wheel when MB specification is 00°57'.
I will check everithingh before buy the bolt kit and go again to teh shop also becasue is very expensive the alignement here is SWITZERLAND about 110 US dollar
Thanks a lot
ALBERTO