Hi all,

I am new to the forums. This is my first post.

I bought a 2004 6 speed two days ago. Love the car.
Today I noticed that rear left wheel has a noticeable toe.
I guess this explains why the car is pulling to the right.

What concerns me is the level of how badly the toe looks like.

Can you please take a look and tell me if this is normal or this is a result of an accident?

I am worried that the alignment shop won't be able to fix this.



Thank you!
f.b.i.

PS
I hope my pictures look reasonble

 

Looks like a pretty bad toe in on the left to me.
jack it up by the chunk ( differential ) and remove both wheels.
Compare all the linkages from the right side to the left and see if you can identify any bent ones.

 

Thank you ala_xfire,

Do you think it is possible that the rear suspension mounts are bent?

Although I am optimistic because of no body damage and no accidents, still trying to figure out the worst case scenario...

 

That is possible, but unlikely.
Luckily, on this car that entire sub frame is replaceable.

 

double post.....

 

Maybe I just need new glasses, but it doesn't look bad to me.

 

Double post.

 

I took my car to the shop and curently waiting for them to check what's wrong with it . Gosh I love my car and feel so nervous ...

 

Just got back from the alignment shop...I was told by the "mechanic" that the front toe is the only factory adjustment that can be done on the Crossfire...to set the front/rear camber would take aftermarket parts to the tune of over 300.00....???...Carl

 

Not sure on the price Carl.. but yeah toe in is the only factory adjustment.. You have to buy a camber bolt - bushing adjustment kit

 

Go to another shop. The rear toe is adjustable.

 

He's actually somewhat right. The fronts can only be adjusted +/- 0.5 degrees. The aftermarket/OEM eccentric bolts will allow +/-1.5 degree adjustment which should be plenty to get you in spec. The OE p/n is just Mercedes putting their name on it and doubling the price. The Febi-Bilsteins are essentially the same bolts as the OEM Mercedes eccentrics. The Febi ones I got from AutohauzAZ were stamped with DYTSA which is a well respected vehicle bolt mfg. You're better off sticking with the Febi price wise. You'll need 2 for each side - 4 ea. total.

Your Parts Search Returned 2 Part(s)

As for the rear they are NOT adjustable. You'll need aftermarket adjustable rear cambers to do the trick. Here's a link to the DIY sets that I have on both of my XFs. These will eliminate the common premature wear we get on the inner tread of the rear tires. Install these and the front bolts, get a 4-wheel laser alignment and everything will be just peachy.

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...r-cambers.html

All told you'll spent about $150 for all parts. Whatever the labor cost, you'll never have to worry about misalignment again. Before the adj. rear cambers I was averaging around 15k on 3 previous sets of tires. After the adj rears were installed, I got 42k out of my last set. Hugh savings on tire replacement cost!.

 

So I had my car checked. Apparently the toe arm (L201477068LEM) is bent (as seen on the picture).

The shop wants $90 for the parts and $100 for the labor plus alignment $80.

What should I do?

 

Check all the local scrap yards.
I know that slk320 will be the same, possibly slk230's and c320's also.
Maybe you'll even get lucky and find a Crossfire ......
( take the bent one with you )
With a new link, toe-in may be acceptable, as long as the body mount didn't get bent too.

 

new link like that costs $43 online. Should I just get the part and let an independent mechanic work on it ? I personally don't have the tools to do it myself...

UPDATE: one for slk320 costs only $30. Just ordered it. I am really hoping this is all it takes to fix the toe (including the alignment of course)...

 

For $30, it's worth a shot.

 

... and Amazon sent me a control arm instead of what i needed...

UPDATE: actually Amazon did the right thing - it was the service guys that confused the toe link with a control arm.

In order to figure out what the actual part was I cleaned the toe link and looked at its part #. Having the part number I discovered that the toe link is actually shared among all of the MB sedans and coupes ~1994-2004. So I bought the link on ebay and currently waiting to get it.

 

Ok, so finally my left rear suspension has been fixed. The part ( A2103501753 ) cost me $30 used and labor $55 plus alignment $79. Pretty good deal for fixing a totally "loose" rear end. Now it feels good and straight.

Unfortunately there is another problem with the suspension indicating that the previous owner must have hit a pot hole pretty bad. The front caster is way off.. But this is a discussion for another thread.

Thanks everyone for all your answers.