e36 front wheel camber

Post Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:05 pm

my girlfriends e36 318is has scrubbed the front tyres of in 6 months, it is just the inner edge of the tyre the rest has 90% tread left, the car is lowered 35mm on avo springs so am i looking at changing the springs back to standard height?

Post Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:20 pm

where the king pin bolts to the shocker with bolts no3, could the back of the king pin be skimmed off to change the camber of the wheel back to standard camber?

[img][img]http://bmwfans.info/original/images/3550_p.png[/img] [/img]

Post Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:05 am

Lowering alone with a 35mm drop doesn't usually cause that kind of extreme wear. Sure the tracking isn't out ?

Parallel to +0.5 is a permissible maximum. 6 months to do that to a set of new tyres, theres no way in the world thats down to just camber. I'd almost put money down she's toe out.

Post Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:01 am

Surely if you wanted to change the angle that the wheels comes into contact wiht the road you would need to have adjustable strut tops, no?

I have recently this weekened removed & replaced all of my front suspension & i didnt see anywhere available to change the camber on my e36 318iS.

Regards,
Pete.

Post Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:05 am

http://www.electrodyne.cc/Merchant2/mer ... .02.36.100

Something like this?

Regards,
Pete.

Post Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:46 am

Lets get to the bottom of a problem before we start bandying links to expensive and probably unescessary parts around. The car has been lowered 35mm on the front as reported, there is apparently excessive wear to the inner edges of the front tyres that makes scrap out of new tyres in six months. Camber dialled in by lowering alone doesn't cause this on e36's ever.

It is therefore NOT a camber deal alone causing this kind of wear. Something is worn out in the geometry, ie: a bush, a link, tca pin, whatever. The front suspension and it's movement needs to be examined. Visually it will be clear if the fronts are toe out or visually, or by feel there is something wrong, although it is likely to be a worn component. Shake the front wheels violently, feel for any play, listen for any noises (clicking, grinding, creaking, chattering etc, anything odd). If you have access to a ramp, get her up there and look around with a pry bar.

If you need help on what to look for, you now have it in the above recommendations. Anything else will be just guesswork.

Post Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:19 pm

will have the tracking double checked, the car had new wishbones last year,wishbone rear bush and drop links so they should be fine, the steering rack seems to have a small amount of play in it, is this normal or should it be really tight/solid, the car is driven by my missus and gets a fair amount of abuse with banging up curbs/pot holes so could this be the rack?,are they as easy to change as an e30 one

Post Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:31 pm

The bottom part of the steering colum is a common part that develops wear quite often.
You should be able to diagnose this with the help of an assistant.
Get someone to jiggle the steering wheel left & right & look down the wide of the engine where the colum connects to the rack.
If there is wear you will see this & quite possibly it might make a little clunk when jiggled.
It's also not uncommon for the e36 to eat bottom balljoints/wishones.

The reason i know all of this is mine has the same issues that i have managed to diagnose.

Incidentally, the links i posted up were just for interest, im not saying that is the answer for you

Regards,
Pete.

Post Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:51 am

Ok. the steering rack can have play in it and possibly need a fresh union, but that doesn't explain this apparent tyre wear issue as whatever the state of the column play won't affect track (although it can give the wobbles etc when excessively worn). If the tca's and arb links are relatively fresh we should be able to rule those out. That leaves us basically with the track rod ends and steering rack itself. It isn't uncommon at all for e36 steering racks to develop excessive play one side or the other (sometimes both). This rack isn't so cheap to replace as a unit although track rod ends are normally available seperately, not sure on pricing but ends aren't too bad.

Lets wait on the tracking report

PS: Pete, it's all good.