[wolftrouble]

I'll start out by saying: No WAY am I trying to start a flamewar, diss Dinan, or in any other way besmirch the name of any company out there. I'm just relaying some feedback I got and wanted to know what M3posters here have to say, because I admit ignorance on this subject.

I have the Dinan stage 1 suspension kit installed in me '08 E90 M3 (fancy name for springs & bump stops) + camber plates, and was getting my first alignment since the installation. I brought it to a local shop that came highly recommended (don't want to give the name so as to avoid sounding like I'm shilling) and when dropping off the car brought them the Dinan suggested settings.

When I came to pick up the car, the tech (and I'm guessing owner) basically said he did it how I wanted based on Dinan's specs, but they're not what he would have used. He offered me a deal if I wanted to bring it back to have them do it their way, but lest you think he's just trying to drum up business he said if I don't like the new (their) settings, he'll put it back to the Dinan recommended specs free of charge. That suggests to me he's not just blowing smoke somewhere dark and sunless but actually does believe Dinan's settings are sub-optimal.

He said he also thought Dinan's note, that all alignment settings should be done with no weight in the car and a full tank of gas, was a little odd given that the car would be driven with a person in it (one would hope) and likely with light fuel at the track.

Anyway, I'm reprinting the Dinan specs here and would like to know what folks think. I didn't get his suggested numbers but I didn't ask, I figured that'd be rude ('Hey, thanks for the suggestions, I'll just bring these along to El Cheapo Car Haus...').

Finally, I assume I'm not violating any copyrights and such by reprinting this - it has no warning not to reprint the numbers and I have to assume they're not a secret anyway.

Dinan's recommended specs for stage 1/2 suspension kits:

Front:
Camber: -1.2 +/- 0.3
Caster: 6.5 +/- 0.5
Total Toe: 0.07 +/- 0.07

Rear:
Camber: -1.5 +/- 0.2
Total Toe: 0.17 +/- 0.08