[W126 Coupe] Rear Wheel Alignment

[Robert Karl Stonjek]

I think what you need is the K-MAC kit. K-MAC is an Australian outfit that supplies rear (and front) camber and toe adjustment kits.

You can install them (they are adjustable eccentric bushings) yourself, but you really need someone who REALLY knows what they are doing to get a baseline and then adjust them. I am told you need a factory tool to properly measure the 'ride height' on the rear end before you can calculate the correct camber for the rear. It can not just be adjusted to some chart.

This is the best way to clear up the eventual sag that our rear ends take - by sag I mean the pronounced negative camber at the rear that tends to wear the inside of your expensive wide tires.

I think the W124 Sportline suspension rear camber amplifies the problem because while the springs are shorter than stock W124s, the rear camber links are the same part number. That's my theory anyway.

My suspension was really wearing the insides of my tires. So I had the K-Mac installed on my 300CE Sportline. Then my Master suspension man was able to do the 4 wheel alignment properly, and he got everything nearly dead nuts in the middle of the spec range, front and rear, side to side - something that no one else was able to do. He took a day and a half to carefully do this.

If you google K-MAC you'll find their website. An outfit here in the states sells the kits (www.shox.com) for less than 2/3s of the retail cost.

Regards,
Steve


Well, I live in Australia and so these are our local suppliers :)  My suspension people said that the trap was with the non-adjustable concentric bushes, and that Mercedes were likely to supply those.  The adjustable versions are far better.

The reason is that the adjustment on the non adjustable ones can only be done by removing the entire trailing arm assembly and then rotating the metal core of the bush.  This costs a fortune in labour, but theoretically you could get the adjustment done eventually.  The adjustable types can be adjusted after assembly, which makes the whole process quicker and cheaper.

The K-mac kit costs $317AUD including overnight freight to my door.  The MB concentric bushes cost 55.85ea or $223.40AUD for all four.  But it costs around $200 in labour to pull out and put in each of the trailing arms, so if you are using the non-adjustable types and your mechanic doesn't get it right the first time then you are up for big dollars very quickly (prices are quoted in Australian dollars).

K-mac was a good piece of advice - you've hit a winner there!!  Thanks Steve :)

Robert
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/mbcoupes/attachments/20060920/1eee3ab4/attachment.htm