camber question with H&R sport springs

[Sparco]

i just installed H&R sport springs and i went to get my car aligned and my mechanice told me that the camber is way off. Did anyone else have this problem? and if so is there any way to fix that? thanks for the input

fred

[J!m]

Did you only change the springs, or did you do the struts as well? If you left the stock struts with a much lower spring, I could the tops moving in a bit.

There is no adjustment for this on the BMW. Adjustable camber plates may be the only solution. Tire wear will increase if left as-is, but corner traction will improve. I'd probably just get the tires pointing straight, and say to hell with it.

I stick with predominantly factory parts (I do have Bilstein struts and shocks) in my suspension and have had no problems.

[bimmerboi318]

there's no way at all to adjust the camber? i know on my friend's maxima there wasnt either, but the upper strut mount bolt holes were drilled larger (to permit movement) so the camber could be changed. now i know our rear isnt a strut setup, but can the alignment still be maniupulated like this?

[J!m]

You can modify the mounting holes in front. In fact, you could cut the entire strut tower out and fabricate a new one as well. You could also try M3 strut tops, mounted incorrectly (pointing in rather than forward) but this may be too much correction.

There is no stock, factory allowance for adjustment. You can of course do what you want... I would slot, rather than enlarge the holes. If either option is selected, I would add the factory strut top reenforcements for sure.

The rear may be made better with offset bushings- but I don't know of any for the stock ti rear suspension. You can fabricate an entirely new rear suspension to correct the problem.

[bmwracefan]

There is a way to adjust camber. You can use shims in the lower strut bolts or better yet replace the upper bolt with an esentric bolt. BMW calls it a camber correction bolt. Part nmbr 07 11 9 900 587. H&R also makes these for thr E36.
As for the rear suspension it can be BENT by a custom alignment shop. That's how TC Kline did all his ti's.

[318tibimmer]

Yes there is a way to adjust them - goto www.bmpdesign.com - I looked and they don't have the kind that I wanted to get on their website, but they have one that if fully adjustable in the catalog if you order it. The one that they have on the Site will work though and it is only like $90 ea.

[Sparco]

thanks guys..well i called H&R and they told me that turnermotorsports makes camber adjustment plates for the front..

[bmwracefan]

go to http://www.hrsprings.com/site/frameproducts.html then click on the triple C camber adjustment bolts.

[fourbanger]

bmwracefan: what exactly do you mean by BENT?

Because right now I have an issue where my rear left tire has just about everything out of whack.. camber.. toe-in.. this is what happens when you hit concrete poles with your car.

at any rate, I was thinking about having that tired aligned by a body shop, but I've had my reservations. is this what you meant by bent?

[Sparco]

The triple C camber bolts don't fit the TI cause when i called they said that they dont' fit it..

[bmwracefan]

Sorry, I never really used an H&R but thought they would have one for BMW seeing how much business they do with BMW people.

So, order the BMW camber correcting bolts. I know it fits. Part nmbr.
07 11 9 900 587.

[318tibimmer]

I tried ordering some bolts from BMW that were the camber correction bolts from part numbers I found online. When the Bolts came they were just the stock bolts there was no difference... It was a while ago, if these bolts work please take a Picture or something, I would like to order them for my car, but I don't want the buy the wrong ones again.

[mrnine]

This is somewhat of an old thread, but...

I've got some serious wear on the insides of my rear tires. Don't have a pic handy right now but when I bought this ti, it had Nitto 225/45/17's http://www.mediabrite.com/rich/my17.jpg and I guess the camber was never properly corrected to accomodate. Not sure if the sport springs have been upgraded but it's got newer Bilstein sport shocks on all 4. Fronts look very evenly worn; plenty of tread.

So what do I need to correct this? Bavauto sells a adjustable camber kit for strut mounts (item #192026) but they're pricey at $270. As it is the tires are worn enough that I'll be replacing them somewhat soon.

I guess the question is whether the adjustability would be worth it? Or would I be better off simply using a camber correction bolt as mentioned above? Primarily use this vehicle as my daily driver but would like to get out and track it a couple times this summer.

Thanks!

[John W]

The problem with lowering the rear suspension is not just the resultant negative camber, but the nearly 1/4" toe-in that is also a side effect of lowering the trailing arm rear suspension on a ti. That much toe-in will definitely accelerate tire wear and likely adversely affect high speed stability.

I currently have H&R springs and between this problem and the car bottoming out over speed bumps, I think I'm going with somewhat taller springs.

[socal318ti]

I also have the H&R sport springs on my car. The biggest problem for me is the bottoming out on almost everything around San Diego. The camber problem, if you can call it that doesn't seem to effect to much tire wear for me. If your really concerned and can afford to get things aligned then I would do it but otherwise it doesn't seem to that big of an issue.

[KIRASIR]

As John W said most of the tire wear comes from too much toe. I've been running with more than 2 degrees of negative camber all around for more than 3 years, and have zero problems with tire wear. The car is also heavily autocrossed.

SL

[JedzE36/5]

to fix the rear toe and camber for the rear of the car you will need to get eccentric trailing arm bushings. i think we all suffer from the weird tire wear. my buddy austin installed eccentric bushings on his and another ti and i have to say i dont want to have to take the rear trailing arm/subframe off unless i really need to. i did however cheat a bit by getting 15mm lower rear spring pads and that has seemed to have solved the problem (or at least prolonged the time period for which the tire will wear). i am running Vogtland springs with a 1.4 inch drop. the 15mm pads raised the rear about .2 inches and it made a noticeable difference, as well as allow me to not worry about bottoming out when i have a passenger in the rear.