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      05-27-2012, 07:03 PM   #1
apecush
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WTF alignment, and what can I do now?

Took my car in for alignment since I'm doing some hpde events and I'm looking for something a little more aggressive.

Asked for max even front camber (pins pulled) with zero toe, and -1.7 rear camber with 1/16 toe in per side. Here is what I got:

Rear left toe is WAY out. Took a look under the car and found this:
Left side:


So it looks like my toe adjustment is in fact maxed out. What would cause this? Car has never hit a curb or been hit. What are my options now assuming nothing can be done to the car as is? Here is the right side for reference:


Thanks,
Adam
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      05-27-2012, 07:11 PM   #2
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Not sure why you would go to the dealer for a race alignment.
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      05-27-2012, 07:21 PM   #3
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If you need more rear toe adjustment there is a solution..I had these on my 335

http://hpashop.com/Rogue-Engineering...rms-e9x-m3.htm
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      05-27-2012, 07:40 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by THE TECH View Post
Not sure why you would go to the dealer for a race alignment.
it was cheap, and they would align to my specs. unfortunately I got what I paid for; however, what else could they have done at that corner? The toe arm is extended to the max.
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      05-27-2012, 10:35 PM   #5
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Left rear is definitely tweaked. Something's bent. I would start and replace #10 in the pic.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...16&hg=33&fg=30
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Last edited by GummyWermz; 05-27-2012 at 10:45 PM..
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      05-27-2012, 10:47 PM   #6
apecush
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I'm wondering if I should go with a new toe arm (wishbone) or adjustable set of arms. I'd prefer against the adjustable arms since this car sees winter driving.

In theory, that toe arm will probably be the first to bend, and a longer (unbent) one will immediately solve the toe problem.

Last edited by apecush; 05-27-2012 at 11:11 PM..
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      05-28-2012, 03:12 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by apecush View Post
I'm wondering if I should go with a new toe arm (wishbone) or adjustable set of arms. I'd prefer against the adjustable arms since this car sees winter driving.

In theory, that toe arm will probably be the first to bend, and a longer (unbent) one will immediately solve the toe problem.
The curveture of the arm is irrelavant..there are actually two schools of thought on this..the curveture of the stock arms is thought to carry load better thru its design.yet you have aftermarket companies like Dinan..Rogue who say the opposite and market straight designs.

Bottom line is if you need more rear toe adjustment b/c your maxed with the eccentric bolt stock setup there really is only one solution..aftermarket and Rogue is a proven race setup..so you cant go wrong
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      05-28-2012, 11:19 AM   #8
apecush
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tibra1 View Post
The curveture of the arm is irrelavant..there are actually two schools of thought on this..the curveture of the stock arms is thought to carry load better thru its design.yet you have aftermarket companies like Dinan..Rogue who say the opposite and market straight designs.

Bottom line is if you need more rear toe adjustment b/c your maxed with the eccentric bolt stock setup there really is only one solution..aftermarket and Rogue is a proven race setup..so you cant go wrong
That's the way I'm leaning, though I'm still going to measure the length of the left and right arms and compare...I'd like to know what happened back there.
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      05-29-2012, 04:35 PM   #9
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Let me know what you find, I'm having a similar problem on my left rear wheel.
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      05-29-2012, 05:44 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tibra1 View Post
The curveture of the arm is irrelavant..there are actually two schools of thought on this..the curveture of the stock arms is thought to carry load better thru its design.yet you have aftermarket companies like Dinan..Rogue who say the opposite and market straight designs.

Bottom line is if you need more rear toe adjustment b/c your maxed with the eccentric bolt stock setup there really is only one solution..aftermarket and Rogue is a proven race setup..so you cant go wrong
Straight is cheaper to make. It is also simple to put those toe links together.

The factory car actually has plenty of toe adjustment capability, even on cars that are extremely low. The toe adjuster always has more than enough toe to set the alignment.

If in fact the alignment cannot be set with the factory hardware, you might want to start looking into bent components, or the sub-frame may have shifted, something I have seen many times on E46 and E9x M3's.

To the OP, I don't see how that tech managed a 0.00 driving axis on the rear axle with the BMW system with static toe on each side being so far off from one another. The only thing I can think of is that the frame is not aligned and these settings were required to compensate for that.

Good luck!
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      05-29-2012, 07:59 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malekreza11 View Post

To the OP, I don't see how that tech managed a 0.00 driving axis on the rear axle with the BMW system with static toe on each side being so far off from one another. The only thing I can think of is that the frame is not aligned and these settings were required to compensate for that.

Good luck!
That was the target - actual is listed on the right. I think I found the culprit. Props to Dirty.M3. This seems to be the sacrificial lamb of the rear suspension - both sides are pretty tweaked. The part does seem extremely flimsy, it is thin stamped steel.

Measured the toe links, they are identical.

Left side (notice the bulge in the steel)

right side (bent at end)
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      05-29-2012, 08:01 PM   #12
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That trailing arm is actually meant to be flimsy..I remember my body shop guy saying that its designed to crush on impact..curious..since you say you havent hit anything
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      05-29-2012, 09:13 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by apecush View Post
That was the target - actual is listed on the right. I think I found the culprit. Props to Dirty.M3. This seems to be the sacrificial lamb of the rear suspension - both sides are pretty tweaked. The part does seem extremely flimsy, it is thin stamped steel.

Measured the toe links, they are identical.

Left side (notice the bulge in the steel)

right side (bent at end)
This part is intentionally meant to be weak. It is a safety design within the cars rear suspension setup.

And my apologies, I didn't read the print out correctly.
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      05-29-2012, 10:13 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malekreza11 View Post
This part is intentionally meant to be weak. It is a safety design within the cars rear suspension setup.

And my apologies, I didn't read the print out correctly.
no worries. guess $80 for both arms is easier to swallow than a new subframe, though, if this is simply from the shitty roads around town/winter driving, I'll probably be replacing these once a year. Guess I should stock up...lol.
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      02-20-2014, 10:35 PM   #15
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@tibra1- hi, I was wondering if the wear on your rear tires was inside; if so, did the Rogue Engineering Rear Toe Arms help with that problem? I feel as though I'm running out of options- you're response and feedback will be greatly appreciated!
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      02-20-2014, 10:39 PM   #16
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gummywerms - hello, was the excessive wear on your tires inside? If so, did the Trailing arm replacement fix your problem? I appreciate your feedback- thanks
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      02-23-2014, 04:34 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tibra1 View Post
If you need more rear toe adjustment there is a solution..I had these on my 335

http://hpashop.com/Rogue-Engineering...rms-e9x-m3.htm
tibra1- hi, I was wondering if the wear on your rear tires was inside; if so, did the Rogue Engineering Rear Toe Arms help with that problem? I feel as though I'm running out of options- you're response and feedback will be greatly appreciated
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      02-23-2014, 09:28 AM   #18
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Inside wear is very common for all BMW cars. This is use to the factory negative rear camber specs. If yours is more than Normal there may be an issue as mine has never been too bad but I've seen some stock 5 series cars that wore tires bad
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      02-23-2014, 10:52 AM   #19
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Inside of the rear tyre wear will "appear" to be worse if you run with 0 or positive toe at the rear (toe out)....as the standard oem setting of slight rear tow in, tends to balance out the rear tyre wear,
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