Wheel rotation, balance & alignment

[260ebenz]

Carl,

I have seen one of the wheel alignment machines before at my old tyre shop in the Bay.

Tyre shop purchased their alignment machine from Germany.

 

[Helmet]

I just dug out the post I made on the W116 forum about wheel alignments, not sure of the protocol but I hope this doesn't tread on anyone's toes. I am the original poster in the following link and the procedure is the same (Although the specifications are different) for the W126. HTH:

http://forum.w116.org/mechanicals/how-to-align-a-w116/msg29907/#msg29907

The W126 is much easier and quicker to align than a W116.

 

[260ebenz]

In answer to your question Carl.

Scanned copy of the Beissbarth measurement printout.

ACE alignment FR & REAR Pass $66.00

BOS Balance- Premium

Clean wheel mounting surface and vehicle hub with high speed wire brush.

Centre and position wheel and tyre on balancer using Duo expert adapter and flange plate to ensure optimum balance $58.00

Cheers.

 

[carl888]

The W126 is much easier and quicker to align than a W116.

In what way Helmet?

 

[carl888]

In answer to your question Carl.

Scanned copy of the Beissbarth measurement printout.

ACE alignment FR & REAR Pass $66.00

BOS Balance- Premium

Clean wheel mounting surface and vehicle hub with high speed wire brush.

Centre and position wheel and tyre on balancer using Duo expert adapter and flange plate to ensure optimum balance $58.00

Cheers.

Thanks Tim,

The Beissbarth machine is very nice, and Mercedes-Benz approved. The alignment report shows an adjustment to rear toe, I'm not sure how they did this as the rear of the 300 SE is not adjustable (Unless you fit eccentric trailing arm bushes). They front toe figure has been made symmetrical (With I assume the steering wheel pointing straight ahead) however I see no adjustment for camber or caster (I can't see the caster figure anyway).

A W126 with over a degree of negative camber on the front will wear the inside of the front tyres more than the outside but around town this won't matter much, only of you do lots of miles straight ahead. I don't know the front toe figure for the 300 SE but .02mm per side doesn't seem like much, can anyone confirm? It should be in the back of the owners manual.

I think you received very good value for money but just bear in mind the alignment is for toe only, not all the adjustments including camber and probably caster (It's not shown). And if the car drives much better, great!

I've found with the tyre pressures that the cars seem to drive better if you keep them at the upper end of the chart on the tyre placard for high speed running. Certainly 40 is very harsh in the W116/126 and 32 is too soft and I find 34/36 works fine with the 14" XWX Michelin tyres I run. All the best, CJ

 

[260ebenz]

Reading from the report Carl.

There is results for the rear and front axle camber, individual toe.

Anyhow the car is driving great.

300SE is running on 15" Continental's which have only travelled 2,000kms if that.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[carl888]

Reading from the report Carl.

There is results for the rear and front axle camber, individual toe.

Anyhow the car is driving great.

300SE is running on 15" Continental's which have only travelled 2,000kms if that.

Thank you for the advice.

Hi Tim,

Sorry I didn't explain myself properly, yes, the camber is shown on the report, however it was not adjusted. Perhaps there is some issue with viewing on my screen but I cannot see a figure for caster at all?

 

[Helmet]

In what way Helmet?

The caster adjustment doesn't affect the camber as is does with the 2 eccentrics on the 116.

 

[carl888]

Aha, thanks for that. I find that the caster adjustment on the w126 does affect the camber but only slightly compared to the w116. The issue seems to be for me at least are the wildly asymmetric caster and camber settings on these cars after they've been fiddled with. I actually prefer the adjustment of the w116 as it's just faster with the eccentric as opposed to the turnbuckle like arrangement of the w126. I can cheat a little as my aligner reads caster live which saves a lot of time, but getting down the final few minutes of a degree can takes ages (despite such symmetry being really unnecessary).

 

[Styria]

Hi Carl888, I don't have any problems for posters to provide links from the 116 site. I have often been bemused by references on that site by posters referring to TK in 'hush, hush tones, as if there is a law against mentioning Styria or Topklasse.

I occasionally have a look at the other site, and there are some good posters that I wouldn't mind having on TK. I have also noticed that the owner/admin/member of his site has been stuck on about 980 posts, or whatever, for God knows how long - to consider that his site has been going for about eight years, I'd suggest that his efforts in propoting and improving the site would fall somewhat short of expectations. So, you are most welcome in posting on TK - you obviously have great experience in dealing with tyre and alignment matters, and that knowledge is not going to waste on TK. Thank you. Regards Styria