Suspension Gurus-What's wrong with my car?!

[JohnnyGraphic]

I saw a post on e46fanatics about it. Looked pretty involved.

They did the alignment yesterday when I had the wheels mounted & balanced. Once I get my suspension sorted out, they said that they will do another alignment complimentary. They have a 12 month/12k mile alignment deal. (Wheel Works).

Q: Aside from hitting pot holes etc, what would cause the toe to go out that much? Is that indicative of worn bushings on my tie rods?

I'm just trying to gauge what else I need to look into as far as suspension work.

Johnny

[danewilson77]

If you need new tie rods....they should identify that during the alignement, and tell you.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Yep. You may want to reach out to JVR826 on Bimmerfest. He has a track prepped ZHP that he does his own alignments for, he can tell you how to do it properly.

Jeff is also a member at zhpmafia.com as well. Same user name.


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[JohnnyGraphic]

Hoping to get under the car this weekend and check things out. Still up in the air if I want to go full-bore and refresh the rest of the suspension/control arms/tie-rod etc or just keep it cheap and simple with the control arm bushings only.

Either way, Wheel Works will re-align the car afterwards.

Johnny

[LivesNearCostco]

If you made the camber a lot more negative without adjusting toe, that makes the front wheels toe out (not sure if more negative camber in rear also makes rear toe out). So I suppose if you just lower the car without adjusting anything else, that makes camber more negative and makes front toe out.

But what Dane said is more likely.

[danewilson77]

+1. I think a rough thumbrule is 1" lower = -1* camber.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[JohnnyGraphic]

Thanks everybody! This helped me tremendously with my car!

The FAMILY RULES!!!

Johnny

[LivesNearCostco]

Thanks, Dane. I didn't know what the rule of thumb was, but now I do! Which is important now that I will soon have the ability to lower my car. I wasn't planning to lower it but since I wanted to get more negative front camber than my plates will currently allow, the gears are turning in my mind. With stock springs, my front wheels only get to about -3° if I push the camber plates all the way in. If I lower the fronts a half inch, will I be able to get to -3.5°? Hmmmm...