W203 - Wheel Alignment - Your Thoughts

[Wully]

Following on from my thread this time last year LINK it appeared i had 2no faulty ball joints.

So after getting over the shock that arms last just one year i decided that i'd replace all the arms while having the thing in pieces.

Anyway once complete it was clear that the alignment would need done so after checking out www.AlignMyCar.co.uk it would appear that there was only 2no garages that could perform a 4 wheel alignment.

The most popular appears to be Pro-Grip in Bonnybridge however they are snowed under so i decided to try McConechy's in Thornliebank. Result!

They have Hunter Hawkeye equipment and the guy, although young, who carried out the adjustment was 1st class.

The result, my camber is out on the front however i don't have the adjustment bolts so not a lot that could be done. However for the toe settings it appeared to be miles out. What he did say was he wasn't sure if the bolts would correct the camber fully.

What i'd like is for someone to have a look at the printout and see what they think.

No matter what the difference is huge.

 

[wheels-inmotion]

Two things
1: When the toe was corrected it would definitely change the castor position but this wasn't measured again for the final positions.

2: The front camber is way to deep, this will stuff your tyres and bearings.

I'm not concerned with the rear camber positions. Fitting front camber bolts won't cure the problem but it will help, so i suggest you consider having them fitted.

 

[Wully]

So why do you think the camber is so way off?

 

[wheels-inmotion]

So why do you think the camber is so way off?

Stock camber is around -20 +- 10', on the modified car you can afford -50 to around -1d 10 but not -1d 50'. Don't forget there's large camber gains lock on lock plus inertia during transition. The adjuster bolts give between 30' and 50' so fitting them would help.

 

[Wully]

I'm still not getting why mines would be so far away from stock. Surely there must be a reason.

I have however just thought of something, the set up used was for standard suspension. Would there be a difference with having factory sports suspension?

BTW thanks for the replies, this is a subject i have no idea about and i'm learning fast!

 

[wheels-inmotion]

Unfortunately the cambers are the same.... Are you on stock coils or lowering coils?

 

[Wully]

Factory lowered springs.

 

[wheels-inmotion]

Seems severe to have dropped the camber so far but that's your criminal.

 

[Wully]

Not sure what you mean "but that's your criminal"

I just can't understand why it is so far out, at the end of the day the upper mounts cant change so the only adjustment is the arms.

BTW do both upper and lower bolts get changed?

Cheers

 

[wheels-inmotion]

By criminal i mean the lowering is the reason for the deep camber. The bolts fit in the lower wishbone.

 

[Wully]

So Mercedes themselves have sold a car with camber settings out with the tolerances that they themselves state?

I know you mentioned it earlier but basically what you are saying is get the revised bolt fitted anyway.

 

[wheels-inmotion]

It appears the factory lowering coils do violate their own tolerances. The adjuster bolts will help but not cure the problem.

 

[Wully]

I assuming you have never came across this problem before then.

It would be interesting if any other members with factory sports suspension have had the alignment carried out by the same process. This would show if this is the case.

In fact not just MB's but i bet there must be a huge amount of cars out there that have alignment settings that are miles out.

wheels-inmotion, i'm not even sure of your name but thanks for your input and good luck with the business as you obviously know what your talking about.

 

[gazzz]

It would be interesting if any other members with factory sports suspension have had the alignment carried out by the same process. This would show if this is the case.

This is how mine came out:



Looks good but I have to say I felt the technician was a bit evasive about the caster readings when I quizzed him - greyed out initially then magically all in the green

 

[Wully]

That's interesting, yours is listed as having sports suspension.

WIM mentioned this wasn't an option, did you tell them and does it?

 

[gazzz]

When they gave me the first set of results I pointed out that they'd used the settings for a 203 07 onwards

Pointed out it was a 203 2000-2007 with sports suspension so they dialled that in.

 

[Wully]

I'm going to fit the camber bolts and get it done again.

Do you have the camber bolts fitted?

 

[gazzz]

Do you have the camber bolts fitted?

No.

 

[wheels-inmotion]

I assuming you have never came across this problem before then.

It would be interesting if any other members with factory sports suspension have had the alignment carried out by the same process. This would show if this is the case.

In fact not just MB's but i bet there must be a huge amount of cars out there that have alignment settings that are miles out.

wheels-inmotion, i'm not even sure of your name but thanks for your input and good luck with the business as you obviously know what your talking about.

My name is Tony and i can assure everyone i'm not looking for business (mods please look at my posts, there nothing other than informative)

There is a difference between the stock and sport calibration but these area's do "not include" the camber positions, so as said there is an issue here where the camber positions have indeed exceeded MB's tolerances.

 

[wheels-inmotion]

This is how mine came out:

View attachment 18527

Looks good but I have to say I felt the technician was a bit evasive about the caster readings when I quizzed him - greyed out initially then magically all in the green

This was measured on the Hunter machine, it asks for the angle of the front wishbone and the rear drive shaft, from this it calculates the coil condition and trim height thus setting the Geometry parameters for that particular car. If this is not imputed the target data is denied and shaded gray on the screen and printout.

Unfortunately this can be overridden by imputing modified specs ( check your printout, top right ) where the operator can dial in a target and change the gray scale to green.