Steering pulling to the left

Rich Willis

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Hi
I’ve recently purchased a C220 AMG sport plus. When driving down the motor way I’ve noticed it pulls slightly to the left. I asked the guy who I bought I from and he said that it’s not uncommon for rear wheel drive cars to pull slightly to the left or right as the rear wheels a pushing and any slack in the steering rack can be indicated as a pull to the left / right? Has anyone else heard of this?
 

EmilysDad

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Mmm? Is that a smell of bull sh1te? :D

Steering geometry needs checking for starters ... it could then be any number of suspension bushes &/or ball joints
 

Wighty

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A lot of Mercs do pull to the left , if a tracking adjustment won't do it , you may have to get adjustable camber bolts fitted . Steve at Avantgarde (Bristol) was saying the other day that he has a new Hunter alignment machine with camber bolts ready to go if needed .
 

LostKiwi

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A good operator of a hunter alignment machine can sort this out. It usually needs a readjustment of caster angles. Wheels in Motion near Aylesbury are the go to guys for this.
 
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Rich Willis

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A lot of Mercs do pull to the left , if a tracking adjustment won't do it , you may have to get adjustable camber bolts fitted . Steve at Avantgarde (Bristol) was saying the other day that he has a new Hunter alignment machine with camber bolts ready to go if needed .
Cheers for the help! It did seam far fetched to me! Any clue how much it costs for a re alignment on one of these hunter alignment kits?
 

LostKiwi

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Cheers for the help! It did seam far fetched to me! Any clue how much it costs for a re alignment on one of these hunter alignment kits?
Much will depend on who does it and what it needs. I would budget £100-250.
Beware that like anything the real benefit to a hunter machine comes from the skill of the operator. You won' get a good result from Halfords for example as they will just set it to factory figures instead of correcting the condition.
 

Steve@Avantgarde

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There is a modified Camber bolt adjustment kit to allow for extra adjustment for this complaint.

Doing loads now we have the hunter machine. Surprised how many cars out there are running with too much positive camber. Which in turn effects the toe.

But always check tyres, pressures and steering and suspension for wear first.
 

Tju

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May I suggest, before you spend any money, change the front wheels over.
 

Pathfinder

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Wheel alignment is a pointless operation and waste of money, unless all the ball joints and suspension have been checked for wear first.
 

John Laidlaw

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All true but I doubt the ops car is very old? So unless it’s had a very hard life suspension and joints shouldn’t be too much of an issue?
 
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Rich Willis

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The car has only done 28000 so I would like to think the ball joints etc should be ok. Hopefullly am alignment will fix it!
 

John Laidlaw

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Exactly as I thought, not an old car with worn out parts!
I should say every Mercedes I’ve had pulls slightly left- following the road camber moreso than other brands. Just depends how far it’s pulling whether to address it or not.
As Steve said, it’s treatable with the correct camber bolts, just needs someone with the right equipment who understands Mercedes cars. Where are you based?
 
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Rich Willis

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I’m in Devon near Exeter. I’ve had a check around and there’s a few places that have a hunter alignment rig! Can anyone recommend one in the east Devon area?
 

LostKiwi

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You need someone who knows how to adjust the suspension angles to counter the pull. This will likely involve fitting special Mercedes adjustment bolts so I would suggest using Steve.
Basically the technique involves increasing castor angle on one side only (taking it out of factory spec). Any alignment specialist not familiar with this is both unlikely to do it or have the necessary bolts to perform the adjustment.
 

Larkone

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You need someone who knows how to adjust the suspension angles to counter the pull. This will likely involve fitting special Mercedes adjustment bolts so I would suggest using Steve.
Basically the technique involves increasing castor angle on one side only (taking it out of factory spec). Any alignment specialist not familiar with this is both unlikely to do it or have the necessary bolts to perform the adjustment.
Which is exactly what Wheels in Motion do and the end result is a car that drives better and is so much quieter as well - still the best money I laid out on mine, because of the saving in not having to replace tyres early because of excessive edge wear.
 

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