Wheel aligment and excess wear on tyre

[MSG2004]

Hello

I read somewhere that the w203, ci80k wears out the outer edge of the passenger side front tyre.

Changing tyres tomorrow and Kwik Fit said i needed a speacilist as car was to be weighed before alignment could take place.

Phone universal tyres, they will do for 22 and said they have lazer alignemnt.

The tyres we changed around but ruined becaUSE OF UNEVEN WEAR

Help please!

 

[Ian B Walker]

Many companies say they have laser alignment gear. What they dont tell you is that they are unable to adjust camber angles with it. Totally different setup.

 

[Nibbo]

How bazaar; I have a W203 C180k estate and it’s the outer edge on my front passenger side that’s worn also.

 

[PeterE320Cdi]

I just had to get a new tyre for my S210's mot. The garage blamed the uneven wear on worn wishbone bushes so its booked in to have these replaced. Not cheap though as quoted at 4.5 hours of laour.

 

[MSG2004]

Got 2 NCT5 Eagles on today - i was told that it was a common enough problem on the w203 - mine a classic and i did not realize that the Avatgarde has a better suspension.

I will see how it goes and may get the tracking checked.

I read on another thread that the o/s front passenger wheel wear more quickly because of 'roundabout' and read the same here somewhere - LOL.

 

[merc man]

tyre wear

I too had the same problem, i was told the tyre was out of shape/suspension was bent/bushes were worn ect by diffrent places.​

I changed the wheel/tyre set-up i had all 4 wheels aligned by computer and it seems fine, but of late it pulls to the left and i have been told its natural camber on the road, but tyre wear seems even to this point but will find out in a few months if its ok or not, but would like to know what causes this uneven wear on passenger side front, so i am aremed with the info next time i take it to my local indi

Regards
:bannana: Merc Man :bannana:​

 

[Rory]

Got 2 NCT5 Eagles on today - i was told that it was a common enough problem on the w203 - mine a classic and i did not realize that the Avatgarde has a better suspension.

I'm not sure it has. I was told they're all the same.

E Class Avantgarde is lower than other models.

 

[MSG2004]

thanks all

keepong close eye on tyres.

 

[Chas]

Hello

I read somewhere that the w203, ci80k wears out the outer edge of the passenger side front tyre.

Changing tyres tomorrow and Kwik Fit said i needed a speacilist as car was to be weighed before alignment could take place.

Phone universal tyres, they will do for 22 and said they have lazer alignemnt.

The tyres we changed around but ruined becaUSE OF UNEVEN WEAR

Help please!

The front nearside tyre on my S320 has excessive wear on the outer edge (about 20% of tyre width).

I have been told by people far more knowledgeable than me ( that wouldnt be difficult !) on such things, that this is normal for cars driven in the UK , as negotiation of roundabouts and road camber all apply additional friction forces on the front near side wheel outer tyre edge

Logic would suggest that drivers in the European Continent mainland who drive on the right hand side of the road, have excessive wear on the other front wheel ! Or maybe I am just talking crap !

I would be suspicious of dealers fiddling with the wheel alignment for no good reason.

Perhaps someone better qualified good add to this topic ?

 

[ddentrec]

How bazaar; I have a W203 C180k estate and it’s the outer edge on my front passenger side that’s worn also.

Funny. My 2003 C180K Avantgarde estate wore out all 4 tyres after 25K miles (205/55 Conti SportContacts): out edges of all four tyres were worn: front were worn more than rears, though.

Alignment was checked, but not adjusted (was told was Ok).

I replace all four with same tyres and after another 8K they seem to be wearing OK (touch wood) though it seems to me that the outer edges of both the fronts are showing early wear signs.

 

[MeanRedSpider]

My W210 (E320 CDI Est) has exactly that problem - as does my father's and a friend's - suggests it's "normal". I subscribe to the roundabout theory. It's a heavy car and the tyre walls give too. It's pretty frustrating because there's plenty of life in the rest of the tyre and I like to swap tyres in pairs too.

Richard

 

[Chas]

My W210 (E320 CDI Est) has exactly that problem - as does my father's and a friend's - suggests it's "normal". I subscribe to the roundabout theory. It's a heavy car and the tyre walls give too. It's pretty frustrating because there's plenty of life in the rest of the tyre and I like to swap tyres in pairs too.

Richard

Yes it would seem to be so.
I had my S320 serviced (B) yesterday, and told them of the excessive wear on the F.N.S. tyre, and asked them if they could check the allingment/tracking.
They said they could run it through the laser thing(technical I am not ! ) but they wouldn't like to charge me £140 to tell me it was ok, and this was normal for the front n.s. tyre. I thought this was decent of them and subscibed to the theory already mentioned.

cheers

Chas

 

[pluggers]

I noticed wear on the outer edge of my front tyres,So took it to my local indi garage and told him about it and mentioned the steering wheel was slightly offset as well,Imagine the wheel in its normal position and you have your hands at the side at a quarter to three position.
Mine is driving at a ten to four position.Its been like this since I bought the car.(I expected it to be that someone did the tracking and didn't do it correctly).He told me to take it to his mates garage to have the wheels tracked up,and he rang him up to tell him how to set it up correctly.
My problem now is the garage is telling me there is very slight play in the front end and it cant be tracked up correctly,Thats ok.But they cant understand why the steering wheel wont go into to the correct position Anyone got any ideas thanks?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

But they cant understand why the steering wheel wont go into to the correct position Anyone got any ideas thanks?

Maybe the steering wheel has been removed and replaced with the front road wheels at an angle. Whip the wheel off, turn it a few degrees and try again.

May need to be careful with the airbag though!!

 

[pluggers]

I will have a looksy

 

[kth286]

pluggers

It is highly unlikely that the steering wheel has been removed.

It was an un-professional outfit that adjusted the tracking, and they adjusted one side tie rod more than the other side tie rod, thus skewing the steering wheel.

It now needs to be adjusted back, to get the steering wheel straight, and then a proper tracking done from there.

All this time you have been missing out on steering accuracy, because with recirculating ball steering the most accurate position is when the wheel is at the straight ahead position ie. nine and three being horizontal.

To test that theory, you can stop the car with the wheels turned very hard one way. Turn ignition off and see how much you can turn the steering wheel until the road wheels start to turn - a great deal probably - very sloppy.

Now repeat the excercise with the steering wheel straight ahead, you should not be able to turn the steering wheel more than an inch or so until the road wheels start to turn - very tight and accurate.

So, you have been constantly driving around corners with more slop in the system than was intended by design.

However, do not get the tracking done until the relevant faulty suspension/steering bushes have been sorted.

Hope that helps.

 

[pluggers]

Just taken the wheel off and its ok.So will try to see if theres any slop in the system.Cheers kth286.

 

[pluggers]

I had a call from the garage earlier saying if I can get down to them they have a ramp free to be able to check my car.
Glad I went now.Had it on the ramp and its confirmed that there is play in both lower ball joints but not too problematic,it can wait till the next mot (in 6 months).
He says I can remove the wheel and turn it 1 or 2 splines without any problems.When he worked at the dealers it was quite common to do this and adjust the track rods as needed.Also it helped to cure drifting over to the left of the road by using a little more bias of the power steering on one side to help keep the car straight.


Also found was the location of a small squeeking,Only slight and something that didn't really concern me,Until now turns out the exhaust clamp that holds the downpipes firm against the bell housing is loose and needs to be welded up or replaced before it snaps and wrecks the cat.Also the clamp bolts that hold the cat to the downpipes have almost completly rotted through and need replacing asap(Its a common problem).Now booked in for tuesday.

 

[Dieselman]

Don't move the steering wheel if it is properly centered, check by turning lock to lock and counting the turns.
It sounds like either the tracking has been set off straight or more likely one of the rear wheels is toeing in more than the other causing rear steering. This you will compensate for by turning the front wheels.

 

[HughJarse]

I noticed wear on the outer edge of my front tyres,So took it to my local indi garage and told him about it and mentioned the steering wheel was slightly offset as well,Imagine the wheel in its normal position and you have your hands at the side at a quarter to three position.
Mine is driving at a ten to four position.Its been like this since I bought the car.(I expected it to be that someone did the tracking and didn't do it correctly).He told me to take it to his mates garage to have the wheels tracked up,and he rang him up to tell him how to set it up correctly.
My problem now is the garage is telling me there is very slight play in the front end and it cant be tracked up correctly,Thats ok.But they cant understand why the steering wheel wont go into to the correct position Anyone got any ideas thanks?

Exactly the same as mine apart from mine is quarter to one ( 12 mins to 2 really)

So Im having 4 wheel tracking done on Sunday, they say it will take about 2 hours.... Ill let you know the outcome!