ti alignment

[mti]

Can the rear wheels of a ti be aligned? Looking under the car, the trailing arm looks to be in a fixed position. When I take my ti in for alignment, are they only adjusting the front wheels?

Thanks for the help.

[btschafer]

The only normal suspension adjustment on the ti is front toe. Front camber/caster can be altered with various suspension kits. BMW makes a "crash bolt" that can be used to alter the front camber +/- .5 degree, but these can be problematic due to slippage. The rear is not adjustable without aftermarket kits; however, BMW do provide rear trailing arm bushings that can be used to change the toe setting. Not a simple procedure, nor something you can adjust at the track, etc.

Bryan

[ChrisS]

Yeah there is no adjustment for rear suspension per se (the ti uses the E30 rear suspension, like the Z3). A 4 wheel alignment is really only checking your rear. Aftermarket kits replace your 4 trailing arm bushings with the bolt offset vs the radial center of the bushing. When the outer bushing is rotated relative to the inner bushing, each corner's camber and toe are changed simultaneously. It's not an ideal solution, obviously, since you have to pick one variable first (generally toe) and settle on the 2nd variable. It's a constant tradeoff, but it will work just fine for 99.99% of drivers.

I use a KMAC adjustable rear bushing kit for my 88 M3 and it works great. The ti's alignment is fine now so I'm not going to spend the $ to solve a problem that doesn't exist. :)

If you want to delve deeper into the bushing solution, check out Gustave Stroes' explanation here (http://www.e30m3performance.com/tech_articles/susp-tech/ecc_bush/ecc_bush.htm) .

[CirrusSR22]

Here's how BMW says to adjust alignment on the ti/z3 with those OEM eccentric bushing. It does NOT look like fun :)

http://www.zvolution.com/documents/33/32/RA_33_32_Toe-in_correction_on_rear_axle_(Compact_Z3).pdf