Can speed humps really do this ?

[540YMX]

Any other recommendations for a good independent place to do wheel alignment either in North Birmingham or Cambridge area?

I use Cambridge Performance Tyres, MOT & Servicing | Protyre

I think the check is free but £20 per wheel to adjust if my memory serves me correctly, when my rear tyres where wearing more than they should the alignment check showed it was significantly out.

Will be going there myself this week.

 

[RickMM]

I use Cambridge Performance Tyres, MOT & Servicing | Protyre

I think the check is free but £20 per wheel to adjust if my memory serves me correctly, when my rear tyres where wearing more than they should the alignment check showed it was significantly out.

Will be going there myself this week.

Thanks, I saw them during a quick search yesterday. Not been there before, but might give them a try

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Mine were like this on my car, fitted new Michelin’s and a few weeks back got the car properly aligned at Wheels In Motion in Chesham. Quality place and know their C63’s, I had three adjustments and two new bolts fitted, wasn’t expensive

With speed humps as someone else mentioned, I’ll alternate diagonally rather than straddle. I also try not to dry steer as much as I can

Check WIM out, Tony the guy there really knows his stuff. I found them from recommendations on here and in the c63 group ~ https://blackboots.co.uk/wheel-alignment/

 

[Steve84N]

I went to Tony years ago when I had an Integra Type-R DC2 and he was already well respected then. Haven't been back since but I might when I get coilovers so they can fit and do their famed alignment at the same time.

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

I went to Tony years ago when I had an Integra Type-R DC2 and he was already well respected then. Haven't been back since but I might when I get coilovers so they can fit and do their famed alignment at the same time.

Really good experience there, I was slightly early but was in and out in around 45 minutes. My backside didn’t even go numb on the waiting chairs!

 

[190]

Whatever speed humps do or don't do to tyres and wheels no one can deny that over time they cause premature wear on suspension components. Speed humps are an ignorant form of speed control that punishes everyone for the sins of the few. Why does the government feel it's OK to deliberately wear my car out faster than it needs to, that's not a green policy. Then there is the increased emissions caused by slowing down and speeding up again. A truly civilised and enlightened country would not have speed humps. I wonder if there are any.

 

[ShaunB]

He still has it then Shaun? How old now?

No, it's gone now, he changed to C220 about a month ago, the old CLK500 was done, the trader took in part ex, but I guess it'll go to the scrap yard.
I think it was 17 year old, so not bad going.
Engine was still good enough, just the body work was done.

His tyres took a battering in the harbour estate straddling those squarish speed bumps, I guess the weight over the front wheels added to the problem.
He was told by Hursts in Sydenham that was the problem, and to go over those one wheel on/one wheel off.
Seemed to do the trick

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Whatever speed humps do or don't do to tyres and wheels no one can deny that over time they cause premature wear on suspension components. Speed humps are an ignorant form of speed control that punishes everyone for the sins of the few. Why does the government feel it's OK to deliberately wear my car out faster than it needs to, that's not a green policy. Then there is the increased emissions caused by slowing down and speeding up again. A truly civilised and enlightened country would not have speed humps. I wonder if there are any.

For the last twelve years I’ve lived on a development with speed humps on every road, a mixture of the square type and broad full road width type. In that time I’ve only had three cars (2 Mercedes and a Porsche) all with low profile tyres. I haven’t noticed any uneven tyre wear and only had a ball joint fail on my CLK with over 100k on the clock. I always drive around the development at a steady speed of 20mph, not changing speed for any of the humps (other than one that I could abseil down!). I think it may be all the braking and accelerating between humps that most people do that’s the cause of most damage - to their cars and the environment.

 

[RickMM]

Booked in this afternoon for 4 wheel alignment.
I'll be back... with the results !

 

[RickMM]

OK, essentially everything was pretty much as it should be.
There was a fraction too much toe in (18 minutes) on the left front (the tyre in the original picture) but everything else (camber, castor) was within AMG spec all round. That said, the left front was on the edge of tolerance for camber, which may well account for at least some of the wear on the inside of the tyre. But this is how these cars are supposed to be set up !
Got the toe in adjusted perfectly and went on my way.
Have to give a big shout out to Cambridge Performance Tyres (ProTyre) who were very efficient, know their stuff and are very reasonably priced.
Not sure where this leaves us with the speed hump discussion. In my normal week I don't go over many, but these tyres were on when I got the car used so I don't know what the previous owner did.

 

[Will]

Could be worth looking at getting the camber tweaked? I’m not sure on your model but most of the other MB models required adjustable bolts to be installed for camber to be adjusted.

Did they give you a printout? Would be interesting to see the before/after and the geo settings for your model.

 

[Cyclone1]

OK, essentially everything was pretty much as it should be.
There was a fraction too much toe in (18 minutes) on the left front (the tyre in the original picture) but everything else (camber, castor) was within AMG spec all round. That said, the left front was on the edge of tolerance for camber, which may well account for at least some of the wear on the inside of the tyre. But this is how these cars are supposed to be set up !
Got the toe in adjusted perfectly and went on my way.
Have to give a big shout out to Cambridge Performance Tyres (ProTyre) who were very efficient, know their stuff and are very reasonably priced.
Not sure where this leaves us with the speed hump discussion. In my normal week I don't go over many, but these tyres were on when I got the car used so I don't know what the previous owner did.

Like I said previously, this type of tyre wear is normal on AMG cars. I’m on my 3rd AMG and they always wear excessively more on the inner edges. Means you don’t really get full value from your tyres, but its not a massive issue when driving an AMG.

 

[grober]

OK, essentially everything was pretty much as it should be.
There was a fraction too much toe in (18 minutes) on the left front (the tyre in the original picture) but everything else (camber, castor) was within AMG spec all round. That said, the left front was on the edge of tolerance for camber, which may well account for at least some of the wear on the inside of the tyre. But this is how these cars are supposed to be set up !
Got the toe in adjusted perfectly and went on my way.
Have to give a big shout out to Cambridge Performance Tyres (ProTyre) who were very efficient, know their stuff and are very reasonably priced.
Not sure where this leaves us with the speed hump discussion. In my normal week I don't go over many, but these tyres were on when I got the car used so I don't know what the previous owner did.

What did Cambridge Performance Tyres say about the "speed hump theory" or did they remain diplomatically silent?

 

[RickMM]

From the report, it looks like the limit for camber on the front is around -2 degrees 15 minutes.
Mine was originally -2.13 which then became -2.11 after toe adjustment (the change could just be acceptable measurement error?).

Cambridge Performance were diplomatic on the speed hump theory, although did say that they'd seen several high performance low profile tyred alloy wheels damaged on the inside by straddling speed humps. They didn't get to see the tyre in the photo, but their stance was more that this was likely to be just "normal" wear for a car with this geometry set up.

 

[Bellow]

Why are they set up with so much negative camber? For cornering? If the driving style doesn't include the scale of cornering the set-
up is there for - why not reconfigure to closer to vertical?

My car has negative camber all round (2deg at the rear, slightly less at the front) and the tyres without exception wear evenly across their width. A lighter car cornered hard.

C63s eat their tyres. No, they don't. They nibble at the edges and leave the rest untouched.

 

[Will]

That’s quite a lot of negative camber for a road car.

What’s the alignment spec range? It could be worth adjusting closer to the other end of the specified tolerance if you want longer life out of your tyres.

To put it into perspective, unless you’re cornering hard, the contact patch will be less with increased negative camber. As an example braking hard in a straight line - would be less than ideal. For comparison that’s a lot more camber than say a Porsche 911 GT3 or an M3, which are quite driver focused cars. I would be interested to see what the minimum and maximum camber range is for your car.

Did they measure the ride height and stuff like that? If speed bumps are being blamed for the tyre wear I’d have thought it worth checking the condition of the rest of the suspension items too.

 

[RickMM]

Difficult to tell exactly what the acceptable range is from the chart, but comparing the front right measurement and arrow position to the left I'd guess the minimum camber is set about 1 degree 50 minutes.
The rears run slightly less camber (1.55 seems to be the midpoint of the scale).
Apparently there's no adjustable bolts on these to change this, so I guess you'd require different bushings or spacers fitted or such like?

 

[Will]

Usually with Mercedes they fit non-adjustable bolts from factory and you install a MB part which allows you to correct the camber as required.

Could you post a photo of the printout?

 

[RickMM]

 

[RickMM]

Can anyone tell me for definite whether the front camber can be adjusted on the W205 C63 ?
I've heard differing opinions from different sources.