rear shock absorbers

[~R~]

Hi guys, I own a 1990 535i automatic US model BMW. recently the car seems to be sitting very low on the rear end. I first thought it had to do with alignment since the rear wheels seem to be sitting at an angle. I took it to get the alignment done but I was told that this car cannot be adjusted from the rear.
some mechanics say that it is the shock absorbers and coil springs.
I was told that the car has self leveling shocks?.
can someone advise what it is that I should look for to get that fixed?
the car is wearing out my rear tires from the inside and I want to get that fixed as soon as posible.
thanks, I appreciate your advises.
~R~

 

[Big Daddy]

All BMW's have some negative camber that is built into them, makes for better handling! If you have a self-leveling system you may have a leak, bad pump or you may have bad shocks.

 

[~R~]

thanks for your reply Big Daddy.
do you know if the model BMW that I have has self leveling system?
if it does is that part of the shocks or is the self leveling system totally a separte mechanical part?
some mechanics that looked under the car say that everything looks normal with the exception of the shocks that may be worn out.
any advise will be greatly appreciated.
thanks.

 

[epj3]

No your car does not have self leveling suspension (and you are lucky for that - 99% of people who upgrade the suspension get rid of it anyways).

Here's my 1989 535i (10/89 production so it's the same as yours all around) with a very beat stock suspension...does yours sit about the same height?

 

[epj3]

BTW it seems the 5 series has a very aggressive negative camber as compared to the 3 or 7 series.

 

[~R~]

Thanks for your reply.
my car does sit about the same height as yours with the exception that the rear wheels are slanted kind of forming this shape "/ \" if you were to look at both wheels from the rear end. which in turn wear out my tires from the inside.
thanks for your reply once againg. your car looks nice.

 

[epj3]

Thanks for your reply.
my car does sit about the same height as yours with the exception that the rear wheels are slanted kind of forming this shape "/ \" if you were to look at both wheels from the rear end. which in turn wear out my tires from the inside.
thanks for your reply once againg. your car looks nice.

Yup that / \ is camber as big daddy explained. BMW's all have this negative camber (positive camber would make the wheels look like \ / )

The reason being, when you go around a turn, your suspension will cause weird things to happen to the suspension... if your wheels had 0 camber (like this | | ) and you went around a turnthe wheels would lean too (as the suspension compresses/decompresses), and you would have less tread surface of the tire actually touching the road. With NEGATIVE camber, at least one wheel should be relatively flat to the road all the time, AND the wheels SHOULD flatten out under accelerating (when the rear squats) creating more tire grip.

If you were to look at the back of a race car, it would have some SERIOUS negative camber.

 

[~R~]

thanks, I like that explanation
so how does someone fix this problem?
what parts do I need to buy and how much am I looking to spend?

thanks epj3 you've been helpful.

 

[~R~]

does someone know how to adjust camber?

doesn anyone know how to adjust negative camber on 535i
is driving me nuts and wearing out my rear tires.

 

[epj3]

woah woah.....my explaination was that it's normal. It's SUPPOSED to be like that. If it's not you will more than likely run off the road in the rain or something. It's absolutely required and is NOT adjustable. The only adjustment anyone would want to do is add MORE negative camber but without replacing the trailing arm bushings with adjustable ones, you'll be wasting your money.

It's VERY normal for your tires to wear out unevenly on the back. For how much you gain with having a good bit of negative camber, makes up for the $200 of tires it wears away quicker.

 

[~R~]

interesting... I just saw a 535i just like mine parked next to mine and it seemed that the tires are sitting normal on that car. as oppose to mine if you are standing behind the car, you can clearly notice the negative camber
my question why is that?

 

[epj3]

interesting... I just saw a 535i just like mine parked next to mine and it seemed that the tires are sitting normal on that car. as oppose to mine if you are standing behind the car, you can clearly notice the negative camber
my question why is that?

You can on mine too, you can on ANY 5 series. Try looking at the back of a newer 5 series, you'll crap your pants and be glad your camber isn't like theirs.

Only thing i can say to do is to replace the springs and shocks...they just might be sagging a bit.

 

[carl94bmw525]

Thanks for all your posts Eric. I'm a new owner of a 94 525i and fairly new in this forum. For a 19 yr old you seem very knowledgeable about bimmers!! Definitely need you in this forum. I learned so much reading all the postings on this site. Appreciate it very much to all bimmer enthusiasts. i've been driving the car for a few weeks now and it's a real joy to drive it. I've owned all kinds of American cars, no comparison esp hiway driving and this is an 11 yr old car.!!
What do you recommend for engine oil for summer driving. Previuos owner used Mobil 10w30 synthetic. Thanks

 

[epj3]

Thanks for all your posts Eric. I'm a new owner of a 94 525i and fairly new in this forum. For a 19 yr old you seem very knowledgeable about bimmers!! Definitely need you in this forum. I learned so much reading all the postings on this site. Appreciate it very much to all bimmer enthusiasts. i've been driving the car for a few weeks now and it's a real joy to drive it. I've owned all kinds of American cars, no comparison esp hiway driving and this is an 11 yr old car.!!
What do you recommend for engine oil for summer driving. Previuos owner used Mobil 10w30 synthetic. Thanks

Hmmm, I'm not sure what people reccomend for the M50 - My friend with a 1994 325i uses 10w50 mobile 1 synthetic (or castrol syntec). And thanks! But I just do it for fun, plus I've learned most of what I know thanks to forums! I just spend too much time on them