MB rear wheel camber adjustment - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

lsmalley · #1 07-04-2019, 01:00 PM

Need some help with figuring out rear wheel camber on my 201. I understand that the stock camber arms can't be adjust, but I just want to know if some negative camber is normal on the rear? I was doing an alignment all wheels are as straight as I can get them. Car goes straight with no tracking to either side, steering returns to center on turns, and virtually no bump steer when going over rough roads. The car measures about 13 inches plus or minus a a mm or 2 all around from center of the wheel hub to the lip of the fender arch. I ran a strip of paint across the tire treads and drove the car and paint wore evenly on both fronts, but as you can see the 2 rears show a small section on the outer treads that is little to no wear, though they are even on both tires. Thanks.

Duke2.6 · #2 07-08-2019, 01:02 PM

I recall the rear is camber spec is -0.75 degree and the front is also slightly negative, like about -0.3 degree.

Since the 190E 2.6 is about 57 percent front heavy, it definitely understeers. To mitigate this and increase steering response and effort back about 1990 I realigned the front end myself for maximum negative camber and maximum positive caster, equal on both sides, and was able to achieve -0.75 deg. camber and 10.something deg. caster.

Steering response definitely improved and wear is pretty even across the treads of the Dunlop 205/55ZR15 Sport 8000s on 15 x 6.5" early forged 300E wheels. Later I got the dealer to check four wheel alignment. The rear was in spec and their measurements for the front were essentially right on what I achieved with an inclinometer and tape measure in my garage.

The rear alignment has never been touched, but I recall there is one adjustable link for camber and one for toe.

I just wish it had a limited slip differential as it too easily spins the inside rear wheel accelerating hard out of a tight second gear corner...same problem when I took it to a drag strip a couple of times back in the nineties - no traction.

The best 60 foot time I could get was about 2.6 seconds, which is terrible. It turned about the same ET as my Cosworth Vega, but was slower than my '91 MR2 with the 130 HP 2.2L Camry engine, both of which had 2.2 60 foot times, but slower trap speeds.

Nothwithstanding the lousy off-the-line performance, it's definitely faster on the open road... gets from 70 to over 90 impressively in third gear. In the 1989 Silver State Classic Challenge it was radar gunned at 132 MPH by the Nevada Highway Patrol. It pulled top speed at about 6200 in fourth. Shifting to fifth drops revs to 5000, and on level ground it held.

There was a 16-valve gridded a few cars behind me. About halfway into the race I saw him gaining on me about a quarter mile back. Then he disappeared. Found the 16V driver after the race and asked him what happened... head gasket blew!

Duke