camber

[ill_black_assassin]

i just lowered my ti about 2 1/IN. do i need a camber kit or just take it to get a wheel alignment at the shop and they can fix the camber.

[cooljess76]

The front should be fine. The rear is where you will see an issue with negative camber. Most people who autocross actually prefer a little negative camber. The only way to correct it is to buy a camber kit. They are pretty pricey ($200+)but will save your tires. This is my fourth bimmer and I have never ran camber correction kits on any of mine. I just rotate the tires every once and a while, which involves removing the tires from the wheels and mounting and balancing(PITA)! But I'm just too cheap to buy the kit and I kinda like the look and handling with the negative camber. If you do correct the camber you may run into fender rubbing issues if your tires are tucked.

[BobbyDigital]

I can tell you this...

I put H&R sport springs on in April '06. I had 17s with Pirelli P Nero Zeros. By the end of June, my fronts were worn out so bad on the insides that the belt was sticking out on both.

The rears were fine.

I put my 15s back on with brand new Falken Ziex's; those lasted a little longer, until about November.

The rears are still fine.

I have taken it to specialty alignment shops, etc. They cant fix it. The fronts are over negative 2 degrees in camber. The rears are over the factory specs, but not by a lot.

I got a good deal on my spring/shock package, but not considering the fact that I have to buy new tires every 4-6 months.

I am buying the camber plates for the front, I'm going to have to. I love the look, not too impressed with the ride, and I hate going through tires like that.

[windnsea00]

2 1/2 inches is pretty low, it's more than likely handling worse. With my suspension setup in the sig I'm running -2 camber, 1/8 toe in and +7 1/4 caster up front.

[mohaughn]

Having the toe set wrong could also cause the tires to wear unevenly. I would say after you do any major suspension upgrade you should have the car aligned.

They can't do anything with the stock setup on the rears as has already been said. But they can easily make changes to the front in camber by using washers to shim the strut, and toe is adjusted with the tie-rods.

[BobbyDigital]

The toe isnt too bad. I have had 3 different places try and all 3 told me that they cant make and camber or caster adjustments to the front, because BMW doesnt specify any.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by windnsea00

2 1/2 inches is pretty low, it's more than likely handling worse. With my suspension setup in the sig I'm running -2 camber, 1/8 toe in and +7 1/4 caster up front.

I live in Southern California and the roads are pretty nice. Lowering your car does not make your car handle worse. In fact, my car now handles significantly better. Ride quality is slightly stiffer, but it's a fair trade for the cornering capabilities. Not everyone can afford coilovers. I'm using the stock shocks/struts with H&R race springs from a Z3 despite the negative responses from people about using old shocks. I figure I'll run them until they blow if I have to. There's still plenty of life left in them and there's no reason to swap them if they're not bad. Sure, later down the road I'll probably switch to Tokico shocks/struts but for now the stockies are just fine. Seems like the forums have their favorites (Bilstein) and there's nothing wrong with that. But there are other options and it's nice to be different once and a while. If you do want to correct your camber issues, just remember to consider clearance and rubbing issues. It might not be worth it to trade one problem for another. Here's the kits needed to correctly adjust camber:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SPC-FRONT-STRUT-...em230083617912
http://cgi.ebay.com/BMW-E30-Z3-TI-Ur...em250076535010

[mohaughn]

BMW has the front strut setup to do camber adjustments. Most places are not going to want to take the two bolts out of the bottom of the strut and use washers to make the corrections. But that is how you do it. Your average alignment shop may not have the longer bolts that you may need or have washers of varying thickness to make minor adjustments. Of course you may not be able to use shims to add positive camber.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...21&hg=31&fg=10

Notice that part #5, is called a fit bolt, or camber correction bolt. You basically remove to two #3 bolts, and #5 allows the strut to stay connected to the king pin and rotate so that you can insert washers in between the strut and kingpin where the #3 bolts go.

bimmerworld sells a shim kit that is a little fancier than just using washers. I've seen some other aftermarket places that sell the longer bolts with three washers for each bolt.

http://cgi.ebay.com/REAR-CAMBER-KIT-...23008 5305226

Those are not for our cars. The only way to adjust rear camber on a Ti is to use adjustable trailing arm bushings, or the weld-in kit from bimmerworld or ireland engineering. Both of these options need to be inspected and re-aligned as they do not always hold their settings.

[L84THSKY]

The SPC kit is very nice. I installed it on my car when I lowered the car.

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Here's the kits needed to correctly adjust camber:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SPC-FRONT-STRUT-...em230083617912

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

Those are not for our cars. The only way to adjust rear camber on a Ti is to use adjustable trailing arm bushings, or the weld-in kit from bimmerworld or ireland engineering. Both of these options need to be inspected and re-aligned as they do not always hold their settings.

Whoops, you're right! Here's the ones you want:
http://cgi.ebay.com/BMW-E30-Z3-TI-Ur...em250076535010

[L84THSKY]

haha....that's my rear camber kit.

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Whoops, you're right! Here's the ones you want:
http://cgi.ebay.com/BMW-E30-Z3-TI-Ur...em250076535010

[jkilla71]

The “bavauto rear camber kit” and installation cost me $500. I would do it again without a second thought due to the handling difference and good tire wear.