suspension help needed
 

few details about my car.

1997 318ti
s52 swap
5 speed swap
porsche front brakes
m-coupe rear brakes
KW race coilovers
suspension techniques m-3 swaybar
ltw wheels
and a ton more i cant remember

My problem is I keep wearing passenger front tires out.

I have had the car aligned and they said that my camber in that wheel is almost 2 full degrees out of spec (i believe). They told me that it looks like my shock is bent, and then proceeded to try and sell me some crap. My question is, could it be my controll arm or spindle that are bent instead of the shock itself. I hit a dog a fewe months back (more like a small cow). It caused some damage to the exterior of the car, but nothing really bad enough to warrant bending the shock (coilover). Just dont know what I need to purchase to correct the problem. Would a simple camber plate problem be a decent enough band-aid to make it not go through tires every couple thousand miles, or do I need to completely rebuild that side of the suspension.

Please any advice would be greatly appreciated

Andrew;

I'm no suspension expert, but... a few questions...

Did the tire wear/camber issue start after hitting the "small cow", has it gotten worse, or has there always been an issue?

Any other symptoms of front suspension problems? Pulling, shaking, odd noises? Coilovers are notorious for making odd sounds and sensations when they are the slightest bit out of spec.

A "bent shock" diagnosis sounds suspicious on it's own, IMHO, as the force needed to bend that would most likely cause other damage as well. Lower control arm, bad ball joints, Tie rods, etc. could be damaged/bent, but you could possibly have other symptoms besides tire wear to indicate those.

Yes, a camber plate would be a possible band aid for tire wear, but another inspection by a suspension specialist sounds like it is in order...

Good luck!

btw... I am very jealous of your car by the description... We need pics!

caster and toe are huge and often ignored culprits of lowered cars.

if you hit something, there's a good chance you got your toe out of wack.


go to a better shop, and ask them to show you what's wrong with it.

I just got back from the shop and got an alignment, and my castor and camber are correct, and the car only appears to have a bent strut. It is a bit pecular that that is the only item that is bent, and it seems to be functioning properly. It is approximately 2.4 degrees out on the passenger side. I believe that a camber kit can fix the issue I am having. I do have e30 m3 controll arms (aluminum ones) and they are measuring out to be correct, and the shock appears to have a little bend in it, but i dont know if that is a trick that my eyes are playing on me. I guess it is a camber kit to correct the issue.

if your shock is bent, replace the shock. adding a camber kit is like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound

unfortunately, I cant figure out how to buy just one of the coilovers. They want a whole lot for the whole set, and it is functioning properly, it is just bent on the mounts. A camber kit will hopefully aid in my tire wear issue, as for handling, it handles better than any car I have ever owned, including my GTR, so I think i have that covered.

wait... nissan GTR?


you have a friggin GTR and you're bitching about buying new suspension for the ti?

and on top of it, you think the ti handels better?

rofl.

No, I had a 1995 nissan skyline GTR, but I sold it to buy a house for my family after my shop closed. As for handling, The TI does handle much better. As for complaining about money, I dont have what I used too, and My family expenses always come first.

The shocks are KW Clubsports, and it hasnt affected the handling, it just is causing tire wear.

I will try and contact them direct, but I cannot go a day without my car as I work basically 7 days a week.

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/b...rewamberleigh/

Pics of my car and my old GTR.