In July, I got my CF aligned all four wheels. Huge improvement on handling. However I noticed when going straight, that my steering wheel was off slightly to the right. I took the car back about 8 weeks later to have front tires installed. I pointed out the steering wheel to them. They are a great shop and strive to do it right. Great reputation in town. No charge, but after the second adjustment, it is slightly worse, not better!!! It is going back shortly to have my new wheel installed. They say they will check it again no charge. Is there anything that is hard about these cars to get this right. Not sure why or what the problem could be or should I just go to another shop or to a dealer (ahhhhh ) to get it right.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Mine had a similar issue after the drop. If I let go of the wheel doing 80mph, the car will gradually merge to the right and will completely change lanes after five seconds. It's repeatable on various straight stretches, regardless of road condition or road crown.

Therefore, I have to drive with the wheel at -5° (counterclockwise) at all times.

This has strangely not affected tire wear. My front tires wear evenly on both sides, with the only deviance being a bias to negative camber, meaning the inner side-blocks are 1/32" lower than the outer tread blocks.

I've had it realigned twice, with no fix.

 

The shop I use for alignments, drives your car before and after an alignment. That way any small details as that are caught and corrected before the customer gets back in their car. I would think a good shop would not give you your car back in worse condition considering a particular complaint issue.

James

 

Thanx guys. While I totally agree with your assessment James, it does not solve my problem. Maybe a new shop, I guess. Everybody oohs and awes over this car and remarks "Never see one of these, I'll tell ya" so obviously they have no experience with these cars, but no different than an SLK. Oh well. See what tomorrow brings.

 

Tired
Are you anywhere near a Mercedes Benz Dealer, if you are, I would suggest that you make an appointment with their service department for an alignment. At least they would be familiar with the set up of the Crossfire SLK 170 suspension.
Just my 2 cents....
Dennis

 

Sound advise and one I would heed if they would take my business. Seems like they want nothing to do with a crossfire and refused my business. I am not even sure the service manager even saw what I looked like with his nose stuck so far in the air.

 

My experience as well...

 

Many look to the front end for alignment. If you have had children you should have the information to know that all in life is not as it should be, ie most things are backwards . The C is no difference when it comes to the steering angle.

You need to have a 4 wheel alignment as the back can thrust you off center and then you have to STEER back on to the path that you want to take. If the rear alignment is off a bit the front has to steer to correct this rear alignment. The front can be all set but the rear toe and CENTERING can cause you all sorts of issues. WOODY

 

One of the steps on the old Bear and Hunter alignment machines was a step where you centered the wheel and then locked it in place. Then you did your alignment. That way the steering wheel was not off in relation to the four wheels. Of course that was many moons ago and I am quite sure things have changed. Before computers, imagine that??

I had this same issue a number of years ago with my last Ranger pickup and they were able to fix it straight up. Not sure why this time not so easy. But at any rate, no biggie, just picking some brains. Things usually will get worked out in the long run.

 

Getting the steering wheel straight is very basic when performing an alignment. The tech has a spring loaded tool to lock the wheel in the preferred position and then does all his adjustments. Rather than spend more money at another facility, I'd take it back one more time and get permission to watch the tech do the alignment with special attention to what he does to the steering wheel. If he doesn't lock it down in the straight ahead position get the manager! You can't just turn it to the position you want, not lock it down and get it right.

If the steering wheel is off center because the car pulls to one side or the other then switch the left and right front tires to see if it pulls to the other side. If it isn't a tire pull then it's the fact that the tech has the toe angle wrong per the first part of this note.

99.9% of the time it is one of these two cases and a good shop should easily diagnose it!!

 

OK, so they still lock the steering wheel in place when they do this. I suspected so, but did not want to assume. Thanx for your input, much appreciated. I explained to them before we started that i am an **** pain in the a## about my car and if they wanted to back out say so now. I would find another shop. I have found that clears the air of any future misunderstanding. They assured me they could make me happy. Well, it is now pay up time. LOL.

 

I know for a fact my tech never did this.

Thanks for the tip!

 

And I'm beginning to suspect this was never done on mine either. I will be asking tomorrow if my wheel comes in today, which is now looking doubtful.

 

If you car's steering wheel will lock in the straight ahead position with the key out of the ignition, then the extra tool to hold your wheel straight is not needed. And I have found that "most" cars will lock in the exact center/straight ahead position. If not, something could be out of position.

James

 

You know, mine does the same thing, except it pulls slightly to the left.

I got my Hankook V12's put on, and then got an alignment at a Sears near my house.

The guys at Sears told me that because the Hankooks are a directional tire, it was causing my car to pull slightly to the left. He told me to have them taken off and put back on, and that the tire shop should be able to correct the problem.

I never did this, because it was way too much of a pain in the @$$, but.. I guess it's always an option.

No idea if that guy was messing with me though.

-Eric

 

^^^^ ROFLMAO...... the "tech" at Sears probably needs to go to school again..... directional tires wont make it pull to one side or the other..... all the tire shop can do is mount and balance the tire/wheel and put them back on the car.....(unless they do alingments also... )

 

I would have laughed in his face if he told me that.

 

It didn't make much sense to me when he said it either. Fair enough, so at least that's not the issue here..

 

I went to get my car aligned and they told me my front bearing needed to be changed. They were just slightly too loose, no threat of my wheels falling off. The car drives pretty straight but since i had brand new tires on there I figured i out to get it fixed.

They figured 2 1/2 hours of labor plus parts and such will set me back close to $350. Then he started talking about special tools and micrometers and such and convinced me i couldn't do the work myself.

Anyone messed with the front wheel bearings.

Also charged me $54 to figure that out.

 

My wheel was straight ahead and tracking fine. After I pulled the rear to install my wacetrac rear, it now requires about a 10 degree offset to go straight ahead. I have to go back and check the REAR TOE IN ANGLES to correct this since the rear was disturbed.

Woody'

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