As you may recall, I set the toe to 0 after installing the Club Sport suspension on my 97 Active. Now, I switched back to the stock all-season tires and wanted to put the alignment back to normal for Winter. I perform the work at the auto hobby shop on Ft. Meade; they have a Hunter alignment rack. You have to be a military member to use it, otherwise I'd invite everyone down for suspension swaps, alignments etc. There's a little twist to the story here... When I first did the swap, there was a young guy who had a lowered Ford Probe and let me set the toe only on the car for free. This time, there was an older guy working. He informed me that they don't let people do their own alignments, but charge only $40 for a 2-wheel alignment. I was able to lend a hand and observe. I guess the young guy was a performance enthusiast and just gave me a break (I'll have to thank him)!

First, the specs. The specs from BMW come in degrees and minutes. Most domestic shops and equipment in the US measures it in degrees and fractions of degrees. Well, no problem, simple math converts minutes (60 per degree) to fractions. So, the specs for the ti are as follows in BMW format. Simply divide the minutes by 60 to convert to fractions. [note: these are for the 96 and up Sport. The 95 Sport settings may differ]

Front: Total toe: 0 degrees 18' +/- 8' (.30 degrees +/- .13) Camber -51' +/- 30' (.85 degrees +/- .50) (a) Caster with +/- 10 degree wheel lock 3 degrees 50' +/-30' with +/- 20 degree wheel lock 3 degrees 57' +/-30' (3.83 degrees)

Rear: Total toe 0 degrees 36' +/- 13' (.6 degrees +/- .22) (a) Camber -2 degrees 30' +/- 30' (2.5 degrees +/- .5) (a) deviation between left / right: max. 30' (.5 degrees)

Full Fuel Tank 2 x 68kg on the front seats centered (seats centered) 1 x 68kg on back seat centered 1 x 21kg in luggage compartment centered

For the Active, the front camber is -30 minutes (-.5 degree), caster 3 degrees 44 minutes (3.73 degrees), and total toe is the same. For the rear, camber is 2 degrees even, the rear toe is the same.

So, as you can see, the Sport has .35 degrees more negative camber and .1 degree more caster than the Active in the front. In the rear it's .5 degrees more negative camber. This is interesting since there's no adjustment for for anything except front toe! So, how does the Sport get it's extra camber and caster. I suspect (although I've haven't researched the part numbers) that the strut and shock bearings are different between the models. The M3 also has a unique strut bearing that gives some extra camber and will fit the ti. These bearings cost about $97 per, so it would be cheaper to buy a set of Dinan camber plates with the added bonus of adjustability. I plan on doing this.

My car was dead on for the Active settings in everything but toe (of course), but it was even within the rather large tolerances for the Sport. This means that swapping the suspension between the Sport and Active leaves one thing incomplete before you have the full effect. With a set of camber plates, you have the advantage of adjustability above and beyond the stock Sport settings, so this seems the way to go rather than trying to find the parts that make a Sport fall into proper alignment.

Next topic: Thrust Angle. David Tay posted the price of alignments some time ago (http://info.connect.com.au/staff.connect.com.au/ianh/318ti/1996-12/msg00005.html in the searchable archive - 5 Dec 96) and indicated that a thrust angle alignment was included in the price of some of them. FYI, thrust angle is the alignment of the rear axles (the car's thrust) in relation to the car's longitudinal axis. IOWs, it's how the differential and axles are aligned with the car's body length wise. If the thrust angle is off, the car will drive with a slight "crab" to one side, like a car with a bent frame. On the ti, thrust angle is non-adjustable. This means that only a 2 wheel alignment is needed, and you should never have to pay for a 4 wheel alignment, right? Well, not exactly. By placing sensors on the rear wheels during a front alignment, you'll see if your rear suspension is worn and needs replacement bushings etc. Also, even to adjust front toe, having the thrust angle measured provides a relative relationship between the front wheels and the rear. You can adjust front toe by simply centering the steering wheel, then making the adjustments, but you only know if that's also aligned properly relative to the rest of the car if you measure at the rear to give the alignment equipment an extra reference point. So, while we should not be paying for complete 4-wheel alignments, a proper alignment should include a thrust angle check, and will cost a bit more than simply a front end only alignment.

Yes, BMW recommends all that ballast in the car for the alignment. Yes, it does make a difference. I did mine with a full tank and me (~185lb) in the driver's seat. When I got out of the car, the alignment changed.

That's about it! -- Ron Katona 97 318ti Active