Botus
Senior Member
Thought this might be of help...
Wheels in Motion do suspension geometry and fix all the ones nationally for Mercedes that their own dealers can’t get right. Which doesn't sound so surprising when Merc dealers near me I have spoken with, only ever sell the “wrong” adjustment bolts when you ask for Camber bolts !!!
Caster Bolts, fit the front aluminium lower arms. Wheels in Motion say they don’t like to disturb these due to the impact on other settings and they seldom need to use them. But I believe on S class work same way as the camber bolts on a std round hole bush).
Part of the problem is Mercedes are set up with too much Caster and with the wrong stagger. Set up the way Wheel and Motion do, they reduce the camber sensitivity and tend to drive in a straight line better. It sounds like Merc set up for LHD and either forget or are just too stupid to set up correctly for RHD. Also as both myself and my father have discovered trying to get the steering wheel to sit straight is difficult. Wheel in Motion have a special spirit level they use to set this up but still offset Mercs fractionally right hand down so it sits straight when driving and agreed with me, Mercs interior trim misleads you into having the wheel to the left.
Camber Bolts, Wheels in Motion fitted to the right side front steel lower arm to give camber adjustment and showed me how they work. The bolt hole in the sub frame is not just a round hole. It has a strange pattern cut into it and this lines up with the pressed out part of the big washer of the adjustment bolts kit giving a small degree of movement and locking the bolt in place. Its fiddly to get right and you have to be careful to ensue each washer sits exactly in the sub frame cut outs. Obviously washer placement comes in to play as you tighten up the last few threads. From what I saw I guess the missing outer part where the washer is cut back allows you to see if you have pushed the arm out to give more Neg camber or the other way to reduce. On my car, fitting gave about 25 minutes of adjustment (1/4 of a degree) each way. I think if you turn the washer 90 degrees it would be mid way, so with it 180 degrees round it gives just under ½ a degree of movement back and forth.
I did three Dealer training courses at Jaguar Cars Browns lane back in the early 1980s V12, XK and General Suspension. Here they taught me about doing up suspension bushes in the “mid laden position”.
Mid laden position is vital for the long life of suspension bushes. If you tighten the arms on a two poster ramp with the suspension hanging in maxed out position, the bush is under huge stress when the car is sitting at its normal ride height and almost ripped apart under max bottomed out suspension movement e.g. when hitting big bumps.
A better way would be to put the car in sport mode so it sits a little lower (about where it would be if the car is loaded) and tighten the bushes on a 4 poster ramp with the suspension taking the cars weight.
Wheels in Motion do suspension geometry and fix all the ones nationally for Mercedes that their own dealers can’t get right. Which doesn't sound so surprising when Merc dealers near me I have spoken with, only ever sell the “wrong” adjustment bolts when you ask for Camber bolts !!!
Caster Bolts, fit the front aluminium lower arms. Wheels in Motion say they don’t like to disturb these due to the impact on other settings and they seldom need to use them. But I believe on S class work same way as the camber bolts on a std round hole bush).
Part of the problem is Mercedes are set up with too much Caster and with the wrong stagger. Set up the way Wheel and Motion do, they reduce the camber sensitivity and tend to drive in a straight line better. It sounds like Merc set up for LHD and either forget or are just too stupid to set up correctly for RHD. Also as both myself and my father have discovered trying to get the steering wheel to sit straight is difficult. Wheel in Motion have a special spirit level they use to set this up but still offset Mercs fractionally right hand down so it sits straight when driving and agreed with me, Mercs interior trim misleads you into having the wheel to the left.
Camber Bolts, Wheels in Motion fitted to the right side front steel lower arm to give camber adjustment and showed me how they work. The bolt hole in the sub frame is not just a round hole. It has a strange pattern cut into it and this lines up with the pressed out part of the big washer of the adjustment bolts kit giving a small degree of movement and locking the bolt in place. Its fiddly to get right and you have to be careful to ensue each washer sits exactly in the sub frame cut outs. Obviously washer placement comes in to play as you tighten up the last few threads. From what I saw I guess the missing outer part where the washer is cut back allows you to see if you have pushed the arm out to give more Neg camber or the other way to reduce. On my car, fitting gave about 25 minutes of adjustment (1/4 of a degree) each way. I think if you turn the washer 90 degrees it would be mid way, so with it 180 degrees round it gives just under ½ a degree of movement back and forth.
I did three Dealer training courses at Jaguar Cars Browns lane back in the early 1980s V12, XK and General Suspension. Here they taught me about doing up suspension bushes in the “mid laden position”.
Mid laden position is vital for the long life of suspension bushes. If you tighten the arms on a two poster ramp with the suspension hanging in maxed out position, the bush is under huge stress when the car is sitting at its normal ride height and almost ripped apart under max bottomed out suspension movement e.g. when hitting big bumps.
A better way would be to put the car in sport mode so it sits a little lower (about where it would be if the car is loaded) and tighten the bushes on a 4 poster ramp with the suspension taking the cars weight.
