I just took my car to alignment and this very experienced alignment shop told me that my car is within spec and there is nothing to adjust other than the front can use a little adjustment in < 1/16 which they do not think it is worthwhile. My front does track well but feel nervous in the rain. My rear tires slowly develop some wandering and like to kick to the left which is very scary in heavy rain. I replaced my rear tires two days ago and the rear is still not very stable. When I first got my car, the rear is also unstable but it was taken care of by alignment. Does anyone has the same problem or know what is the best setting for front and rear alignment which can make the car feel less floaty? I am running on 40psi front and 44 psi in the rear on Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 tires.
My car did the exact same thing when I first got it. I then put the Pilot Sports on it and got a four wheel alignment. Last night was the first night I had the car out in the rain and it was perfectly fine. I can call and ask my alignment shop what they did, but I don't know exactly what to ask them? Tell me what you are looking for, and I will see if I can find out.
I compared the first alignment to the second alignment and the rear has a slight toe in on the first one. It is so minute that it is hard to believe that it is all that matters. If you can get a print out of the alignment of your car, it will be helpful. When I have more time, I will post my alignment numbers so we can compare notes.
The nervous feeling is killing me as I cannot take a sweeping right turn on the freeway without worrying about the rear going out to the left. Going left was perfectly ok as I can feel enough grip. Acutally if I don't worry about it and trust the car, it is ok as it grips but occasionally I got this tiny shift to the left which is annoying.
Here is my alignment numbers. I suspect that the rear toe may be the only thing. I will try to change the alignment. I also noticed that my alignment spec in 03 is different from the spec in 05. Don't know if the factory made a change or the shop took a wrong spec.
min max
caster left 5.1 6.1
right 5.1 6.1
front camber left -1.0 -0.3
right -1.0 -0.3
toe left 0 3/32
right 0 3/32
total 0 3/32
camber left -1.4 -0.4
right -1.4 -0.4
rear toe left 3/32 5/32
right 3/32 5/32
total 7/32 5/16
thrust angle 0.3 0.3
actual
3/10/05 10/30/03
caster left 5 5.1
right 5.8 5.7
front camber left -1.0 -1.0
right -1.1 -1.0
toe left 1/16 1/16
right 0 1/16
total 1/16 1/8
camber left -1.3 -1.3
right -1.5 -1.3
rear toe left 1/16 3/32
right 1/16 3/32
total 5/32 3/16
thrust angle 0.0 0.0
After a month of driving on and off the rain. I have come to realize that the car is actually holding onto the road pretty good with the new rear tires installed. It is not losing grip in hard corners and despite the shaky feel, the car tracks straight. But this is not a good way to enjoy driving.
I went back to the alignment place and found out that the spec they used 2 years ago is not for E55 but may be for E430 and E320. The E55 has more front and rear toe and after a long discussion of the risk of having more toes than needed, we decided to put in the toe at the middle of the factory setting and see what it can do. Amazingly the car suddenly stablized and the rear is not being jerked as easily by road irregularities as before. The total rear toe is a big 1/4" and I am sure the tire wear will not be ideal. However, stability is a nice thing to have when you are running fast in the rain agianst a sweeping center divider.
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