I have 87’ 300TD and I noticed some uneven wear on the tires. My wife brought the car in for a front end alignment and it drove straight before (with a very, very slight pull to the right – but nothing excessive) but now it pulls hard to the right. Additionally, the steering wheel is cocked to the right (wasn’t before). I called the shop and spoke with the guy who did the “alignment”, and he said he only adjusted the “toe” or “tow” and didn’t touch anything else.

My questions are:
- if the toe is adjusted and nothing else touched, can that effect how straight the car drives?
- Are Mercedes more difficult to align then other cars?
- What parts could fail that would make the suspension “un-alignable”

Thanks!

-Mike

Yes the toe is the direction the wheels point. Toe in will have left tire pointing right and right tire pointing in. Now if you have toe in on the left and toe out on the right the car will want to go right. Camber is how close the tops of the left and right tire is compared to the bottoms....can also affect which way the car wants to go.
IIRC there is a special toe bar or camber bar or some special bar that is need to align some MB's that the common shops don't have.

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82 300D....went to MB heaven
90 350 SDL....excercising con rods

Likely toe was very poorly adjusted, and this can cause pulling due to large caster angles and road camber. It is also possible that caster/camber were previously out-of-spec, and the condition was exagerated by the change in toe. No matter, the car should not drive this way back from the shop. If it is in need of repair, that should be pointed out by the shop BEFORE charging for a full align. Returning the vehicle in this condition is sloppy work.

Steve

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'91 MB 190E 2.3
'08 RAV4 Ltd 3.5
'83 Lazy Daze m'home 5.7

Toe can affect not only how the car drives, but also the driver's perception of how the car drives. If the alignment is perfect with the exception that the steering wheel is off-center when driving straight, 9 out of 10 drivers will perceive that as the car pulling to one side.

Benzs are not harder to align, but not every tech has experience with 'em. Because Mercedes uses an agressive caster angle, camber measurements vary greatly as the wheel turns off center. If the wheel is not pointing straight ahead, the camber measurement is meaningless.

Any part in the suspension or steering linkage can fail and render the suspension “un-alignable”. A tech should check for failing joints and bushings before attempting an alignment.

I'd take the car back and make 'em straighten it out.

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1989 300 SEL that mostly works, but needs TLC