W210 Front Tyres Worn on Inside - Suspension?

[too_juicey]

Hi All,

My 2001, e320 cdi Avantgarde has shown rather a worrying fault.

Both the tyres on the fron are virtually showing the metal strands on the INSIDE. I was getting a little concerned with the wear on the OUTER edges and put the car on full lock when only noticed the horror.

The rest of the tyre is fine, and there has been no problems with drive, turn, lock, etc etc.

I took the car to several places for tracking and was told it HAD to go to MB as they needed to "weigh the car down before tracking"????

I am confused - any help =

1. On the tyre wear (inside and out) and what to look for when I get it to a garage.

2. The story about no one being able to do the tracking but MB by weighing it down (with my cash no doubt!).

Thanks.

 

[television]

The tyres wearing on both the inner and outer would show that they are running under inflated, that is the only thing.

If the tracking was out then the tread would be feathered, that is on side of the tread would have an upstanding edge

 

[too_juicey]

Malcolm,

Checked the tyre pressure as soon as I seen the damage, both were at 32psi - correct as far as the specs go...

Outer edge seems feathered, but the inner 1/2 inch is bald and wires.

 

[oigle]

You basically have either too much negative camber or too little toe-in (or both) One must use extra toe-in to compensate for negative camber but both have to be within reasonable limits. For instance I use 3/4° neg camber and 4mm toe-in on my ML and tyres are wearing fine - 60000km and still good to go.

 

[television]

Malcolm,

Checked the tyre pressure as soon as I seen the damage, both were at 32psi - correct as far as the specs go...

Outer edge seems feathered, but the inner 1/2 inch is bald and wires.

Feathering can be felt by rubbing your hand lightly over the tread where you can feel a upstanding edge, this is down to tracking where the tread is scrubbed off in a sideways fashion.

Many cars will and do wear one side more than the other, but the difference should not be more than 1mm over the width of the tyre

 

[turbopete]

in my experience, mercs in general tend to be slightly harder on the outer edges of the tyres due to cornering forces and the weight of the car! as has already been said, id get the camber and tracking checked. ive never heard of MB dealers weighing a car down to check geometry though. can anyone shed any light on this?

 

[LYNALL]

Mine did the same thing came back from France and the cords on both front inners were showing.

4 wheel alignment by wheels in motion and it was cured, tyres have now done 5k and are wearing nicely.

Wifes started doing the same but on the outside, new track control arms and 4 wheel align by elite tyres essex and that to is okay.

Not cheap both were about £150 incl 2 adjust bolts on each car, but a pair of tyres costs that.


Lynall

 

[bigasotonuk]

I agree with Lynall get the geometry properly checked, it will transform the way the car handles, but do expect to pay in excess of £70 plus camber caster adjustment bolts, in general, if its any less than this, they will not be doing it correctly.

 

[too_juicey]

Lynall / Bigasotonuk, Thanks for the input - I have had a look both my tyres today and the inner walls are shot. No play on any suspension parts (just a slight play in one of the ball joints). So looks like geometry.

I will check to see how much local MB will charge and then try and find an Inde in the Warwick area to compare.

 

[The Rock]

I went through two sets of front tyres in the exact same way - even had a blowout. There is a camber adjustment kit that can be fitted to help which basically stands the wheel more vertical. I preferred the stance without the kit because it looked a little more agressive with the wheels leaning inwards at the top but hey-ho, I'd rather get more miles out of my tires thank you. I had it done by a Merc specialist and now my tyres don't wear like that anymore.

Rock

 

[R11PAK]

My E320 CDI did exactly that....the insides were completely shot....i would have been screwed if stopped by the police....luckly noticed it when i changed wheels.....got the tracking done at Kwik fit....for £27 Inc VaT....the car no longer pulls to the left and 5K down the line...inner wear is totally gone.....tyres wearing evenly now....i wouldn't mess with the camber....merc designed it this way....and makes the avantgardes handle much better.....so just sort the tracking and leave the camber alignmnet alone.!!

: )

 

[too_juicey]

R11PAK - thanks for the response.

What year is your e320? Prior to 2000 they had the adjustment bolts installed, after this year there are adjuster bolts that need to be fitted as required.

I have been in touch with Wheels in Motion - as used by Lynall - and they should sort it hopefully. Prices are fair about £125 for the geometry, and about £30 for each of the adjustment bolts (of which there can be up to 4 to replace). Mercedes quoted £400!!??

I will give kwik fit a call to find out if they can do the adjustments.

 

[too_juicey]

Note - 3 Kwik Fit garages in the Warwick / Coventry area have said they can NOT do the tracking adjustment to this car as it has to be specially weighted...

 

[turbopete]

what they mean is they havent got enough technical knowledge to do it! never heard such cr@p in my life! typical quik fit in my experience though! all manufacturers say the car has to have full fluids, full fuel tank, driver aboard etc! no one ever does it though, and in all my time setting tracking etc in garages ive worked in, never once did anything more than check tyre pressures if they looked soft. even on my own car! neer had any problems whatsoever!!

 

[EGBM]

Definitely worth getting the geometry sorted properly, inc camber bolts if you need them, in my opinion.

 

[R11PAK]

mines a 2001. The car is great....goes like a rocket and the gear changes are a smooth silk.
The only massive down side is the thumping noise i get from the rear....even small road irregularities cause a horrible cluncking noise. I have had the car up and checked the subframe mounting...thinking they could have been causing the subframe to knock into the body or something...but they look fine...even sticking a crow bar between the subframe and the body show very little play.
I am looking to now change the rear shock absorbers over the weekend...there £225 each from ECP and £340 from mercs! i don't really fancy spending so much on the car...and even considered fitting normal shock from the salon...but seems a bit pointless have SLS and not using it.

any of you guys get / resolved a similar issue on your estates..a hard ride...thumping noise.

 

[wheels-inmotion]

Note - 3 Kwik Fit garages in the Warwick / Coventry area have said they can NOT do the tracking adjustment to this car as it has to be specially weighted...

I'm impressed they stood back and recognized they couldn't calibrate the car correctly... Fair play for once.

To explain

The MB's Geometry chassis checking position is "natural state", meaning the target data assumes you have a certain level of fuel and loads of other normal parameters, spare wheel, floor mats and alike.

The MB suspension does not need to be preloaded with additional weight, either to simulate human or aerodynamic conditions.

The MB was not designed to "pull, drift" in any direction.

Wheel alignment AKA four wheel alignment is pointless on a MB since it's line of sight is liner or "X", the MB chassis is adjustable in 3D or X,Y,Z.

X,Y,Z = left/right, up/down, fore/aft

The MB does not have issues with actual Geometry positions, but it does have issues with Geometric disparities, meaning the "over the axle" positions holds critical information to how secure the directional stability will be.. or not.

 

[EGBM]

And what would you know about it?

 

[turbopete]

I'm impressed they stood back and recognized they couldn't calibrate the car correctly... Fair play for once.

To explain

The MB's Geometry chassis checking position is "natural state", meaning the target data assumes you have a certain level of fuel and loads of other normal parameters, spare wheel, floor mats and alike.

The MB suspension does not need to be preloaded with additional weight, either to simulate human or aerodynamic conditions.

The MB was not designed to "pull, drift" in any direction.

Wheel alignment AKA four wheel alignment is pointless on a MB since it's line of sight is liner or "X", the MB chassis is adjustable in 3D or X,Y,Z.

X,Y,Z = left/right, up/down, fore/aft

The MB does not have issues with actual Geometry positions, but it does have issues with Geometric disparities, meaning the "over the axle" positions holds critical information to how secure the directional stability will be.. or not.

although you have much more in depth knowledge than i do, im glad to see that what you say also backs up what i said about not needing to be loaded up! at least my time in college on my day release course wasnt all in vain, all that time (half my lifetime) ago!!! :lol:

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>>not needing to be loaded up!

The spec varies between cars - some do need to be loaded up.

What doesn't vary is that almost nowhere actually does load the car correctly before taking measurements.