Suspension or Steering prob... ideas needed...

Post Sat May 03, 2014 4:52 pm

Yes, it is possible that the rack may be worn or that the suspension has been knocked out of kilter.

Try jacking up the front of the car and shaking the wheels in and out, to feel for any play in the various joints...

Post Sun May 04, 2014 12:05 pm

You should be able to see it from above, not sure about your manifold though. (crap pic but its the only one I have to hand)
It should look something similar to this (very old rack) and you line it up with the centre line on the pinion housing (not in pic)

Post Thu May 08, 2014 11:23 am

Ok, I've popped back in to the garage with this... can't leave it with them at the mo, then I'm going away, so it'll be a couple of weeks at least before this progresses much...

They've checked that the steering rack is definitely centred.

To be fair, my pics make those arms look bad - they aren't bubbling and have been replaced. They are a cheaper black finish than the BMW items. They ordered in another arm though and these are the right size/length.

The ARB is just about touching the offside (drivers) wheel and is very close to the passenger wheel - it doesn't look to be sitting quite right/centred, so they'll be adjusting that when I take the car back - should be easy, so no real problem.

My main question here is... those nice new shiny ARB drop links... what sort of angle should they be sitting at???
Should they both fit straight up??? Slightly tipping out at the top???
Should they both sit at the same/opposite angles???
We're not sure that they look quite right, but I can't remember which was on more of an angle now!!!

Also, running an H&R Coilover Kit and H&R ARB - we're assuming that the geometry/alignment settings would be the same as the MTech suspension settings the garage has on their system?
Does anyone know if that would be correct, or if H&R would specify anything different???

Post Thu May 08, 2014 1:00 pm

Why not phone their technical department and find out?

http://www.hrsprings.com/technical/freq ... -questions

Post Thu May 08, 2014 1:46 pm

Its only a toe adjustment, and as your using it on the road then use the factory settings, 1mm toe in or thereabouts is fine

Post Fri May 09, 2014 2:59 am

Speed - thanks for the link, might give them a try just for peace of mind.

Dan - have gone for factory setting anyway so far, just wanted to double check that was the right place to start!!!

Any idea about the angle the ARB drop links should sit at??? Should they both lean out slightly at the top???