E30 Zone

i have a touring that decided to make love to a kerb but the kerb got better of him!
basically i bent the rear right hand sidewish bone and broke that drive shaft.. it was a hard hit... so i got sumone to change the wishbone and shaft... also shocker... but i've got problems... when driving along and turning left especially, it feels as if the back wants to swingout like its got rear steering... everything looks straight.. could the rear axel be bent or sumthing... my brother told me to get lazer alingment done.... please help as i dont want my tourer going to the grave yard!!!!
also the guy who did work on it is a cow boy.... big mistake there! so please take that into account!!!

Making love and swinging issues in the same post......you sure you are in the right forum

You've probably bent the rear beam that the trailing arm bolts to. There not expensive to buy so put an advert up in the wanted section.

I think the only way to check is to remove the rear beam,. but also to check the actual mounting point on the chassis has not been distorted.

I have a spare rear beam here in York (it is painted in shocking red though) which you are welcome to if you want it. The bushes in it even don't look too bad

thanks for the quick response.... i have a spare 4 door 320i would that rear beam be ok??? and also is it a big job????? will doing alingment tell me if its bent??? thanks again!!!

alignment will tell if it is bent. Could be anything though, if the guy who has done the work for you has put in a used trailing arm which has foiked bushes then this would give wierd sensations.

The top mount for the shock could be fubar. Without trusting the bloke who has already had a fiddle, he may not have even replaced what he claims to have done.

The beam on your 320 is the same. It is an unpleasant job requiring the whole rear end to be taken off and stripped, often requiring other worn out parts to be replaced (be daft not to in most situations)

As Beemerlad said get a 4 wheel track done.

Have a quick look underneath and see if there is evidence of the arm being changed (clean threads on the bolts etc)

Was the replacement arm from a straight car?

In my original 2.8 car I fitted 3 replacement arms that were all bent and was giving up hope until the 4th I fitted was straight. Did make it easy to drift round right hand bends & roundabouts though

Andy

well iam confused now what to do now.... i will get alingment done... if it's ok... then check shock mounts...if fine .... shal i change the rear beam???? arm is off a straight car!!
thanks again for your help.... i will keep you guys updated..

get it on a ramp and look. Not a trolly jack. Anyone you know who is a bit savvy with cars should be able to see if something is obviously wrong or bent.

Or some very clear pictures of it on the ramp for us homos to look at might help!

did have it on a ramp and we could not see anything obviously bent or lose i will try and get sum pics up.... could the rear sub frame bushes given in???
can any one suggest what i should do first as replacing the rear beam does look like a mission!!

String around the car, half way up the wheels will show up any toe issues, and a simple spirit level, 500mm of batten and a couple of screws will show up camber problems.
No need for any of this hi-tec laser stuff!

will this tell me if rear beam is bent??? sounds more technical to me but i think i know what you me... will try this... i've also descovered i got a petrol leak from the tank... pretty bad, so i think i will replace tank and rear beam.. what you guys think???

Sell it or break it for spares.......

too good to break... i wont get whats its worth with these issues!!!!

do the two jobs together (once confirmed it is or isn't bent) Job done

Andy325i wrote:do the two jobs together (once confirmed it is or isn't bent) Job done

And the rear brake lines, if needed.