Alignment problems! Help! What do I need to do?

[nolancumings]

I just took my 1990 325ix in for an alignment because the inside of my right front tire was wearing very badly. Unfortunately, the mechanic said that the Camber and the Caster were both off, and there were no was no way to adjust it. He wasn't much help as to what I need to do to fix this. Anybody know? New struts? Control arms? Crawl to a mechanic with a credit card? Help! I want my car back....

Here are the exact computer readings:
Front Left Front Right
Camber -0.8 -1.4
Caster 1.6 1.5
Toe -0.14 -0.16

 

[echothreezero]

Camber and castor not adjustmable - your alignment guy is correct in that respect.

But negative camber of those vaues not too bad - I have a lowered e30 and I have 3 degrees of negative camber. on the rear - not sure about the front, your problem is the difference between the two readings in the most part.

Caster looks OK.

You can get eccentric camber/caster plates for the front struts and eccentric bushings for the rear trailing arms from some performance suspension places - have a look on the net. These can be used to correct your problems, but I don't think they are that bad.

Of course, these don't go to the root of the problem. Camber is affected by either a damaged strut or damaged control arm as you surmise. Which one is causing your problem is anyones guess, but neither are overly expensive, and both can be replaced yourself if you have a basic mechanical bent.

 

[Kirby]

Yup, those numbers aren't all that bad, and the upside is that the negative camber makes it handle better! Another solution is to rotate the fronts to back, to even out the wear.

 

[nolancumings]

Thanks for the quick response guys. I've been rotating the tires out for a while now, so they are all actually a little worn on the insides. I also just changed the control arm bushings.. could this have caused the caster to be the way it is?
I suppose I'll start with the struts, since it is probably the cheapest and easiest thing to start with. Should I replace the springs also?
Thanks again....

 

[echothreezero]

The thing is, every time you change something like struts, control arm bushes or control arms, you need to get another wheel alignment.

Unless it is really bad I would just put up with it.

If you want to start playing around with springs etc, go ahead - probably should upgrade the shocks too. But I wouldn't bother unless you are putting in some sports stuff that will likely make your car lower and add to your negative camber problems. Plus you shouldn't do the front without doing the back.

I've been thinking - the front right is worse than the left. If you were in NZ/Aus or the UK I'd say sagging springs (driver is on the RH side) but you are not. Another thing to think about is maybe a sagging RH rear? With it being so small it may not be worth the hassle.

It's an e30 - learn to love its faults!

 

[echothreezero]

PS - I imagine ix struts aren't cheap!

 

[echothreezero]

.....

 

[nolancumings]

Yeah, so I still have to get this all sorted out. I'm pretty sure that the struts($140 apeice) are bad, but I don't have the money to replace them right now, along with the front strut mounts($80 apeice). I'm thinking I'll take out another student loan and get them soon! Thanks again guys for the responses, it helps a lot to have some support from people who know what they are talking about.

 

[nolancumings]

Oh yeah, I'm thinking that I won't have time now that school has started to install these myself, so I was wondering if anyone knew of any good BMW shops in the Colorado Rocky Mountain/Denver area. It would be nice just to have someone look her over... thanks again.

 

[echothreezero]

You should be able to install the struts yourself in one evening if you know what you're about. A rattle gun makes tightening spring compressors a much easier proposition. Tie rod and control arm ball joints can be somewhat difficult to free, but not impossible. Make sure you follw manufacturers specified torques esp on the strut tower nuts as too loose and you'll risk them backing off and too tight and you can break the studs when you go over a bump. The nuts are single-use aswell, but I've reused mine occaisionally with no regrets.

As you can probably tell I'm a DIY advocate, but its up to you really.