Angle of my Dangle

[Dolly_Gti]

Fitted 40mm lowering springs and completly wrecked my camber angles sooo... i went to a garage with the kit to sort it.. after along time of struggling they said they couldnt get the camber in, so just did the track and i said id have to see how it went... now my steering wheel is to the left big time.

tonight after work i sent it up in the air, the one tie rod has 6 threads and the other 11... cocks!... blatently they have not set it to either the rack or the steering wheel lol. now im going to do it the old fashioned way with these rods and gauges... Is there any reason for not being able to get the camber in at a 40mm drop? and im rite in assuming the only adjustment are the 2 bolts that go through the strut and hub?

anyone with any experiance of doing their own wheel alignment is appreciated

P.S currently running more negative camber than a F1 car

 

[m0rk]

and im rite in assuming the only adjustment are the 2 bolts that go through the strut and hub?

yes - that's how you adjust it

take it somehere who's got a clue, not someone that's going to try & work it out

it won't be cheap for a good job though

 

[Dolly_Gti]

im doing it, well with a guy who i work with who just to do this kind of thing at rallys, also once a drive in these rallys.. he set the Boss mans racecar with this camber gauge... im a mechanic but not of the old skool so ill be learning as he teaches me and we go along.

 

[m0rk]

so... you're a mechanic, but took it somewhere to do the camber?

owning a camber guage is half the plan, just need to a)know how to use it properly b) not **** the car up

 

[Dolly_Gti]

i work for BMW the only equipment we have only does BMWs. we dont have anything universal and being bought up with BMWs its all i know if you get me?

i cant mess it up anymore than the cocks at the garage have lol.. i just cant understand why there couldnt get the camber in, its mega negative.. you can see its nowhere near wot it should be by eye let alone fancy computer ****

 

[m0rk]

I can't work out how a BMW kit wouldn't be universal - but anyway you're probably right you can't get it more wrong

set the camber to -0.5, then sort the tracking out

 

[Dolly_Gti]

the clamps only attach to BMW alloys, inbetween the holes for wheel bolts there are smaller holes where the clamp sits.. they will not fit anything else. its callled KDS (german for some ****) ..

 

[Mckellar]

how much are we talking camber and laser alignment? ive been told around £50/70?

 

[jamiepyrite]

Woah.. Didn't realise it was so much! I had it done for free on mine by my friend's Dad. I'd kerbed the car and the camber was so far off that the laser was pointing in the middle of my back wheel.. as opposed to the chart thing.

 

[AlpineWhite]

I was quoted 47 quid the other day for 4 wheel alignment.

 

[m0rk]

you have to consider the quality of the person doing it - quality costs money.

If they only charge £47, they're not looking at doing an hours work on it

 

[AlpineWhite]

You're right.

But, I'm a poor student who needs to buy tyres too, and I haven't really driven the car hard enough to get near the limits of handling. They should be able to put it back to near-standard alignment. So long as the tyres don't wear out in 500 miles and the handling isn't way out, I'll be happy for the time being.

When I know what I want in terms of handling, i'll pay more and get a real pro to do it.

 

[f1nn]

I put a set of Bilstein pss9 coilovers on mine at the weekend, and was worried about knocking the camber and trackin out, even more so when I drove it and the steering felt light and vague.

I took it to a local place to me, who put it on a very fancy looking machine which had a large screen in the waiting room where I could see all the measurements come up. It turns out that the although I'd f!@^*d about with it, it was all within tollerance, apart from the tracking which was a mile out, 23 quid later and its all sorted and the steering feels good again.

Pic of its new stance below:

I'm still playing with the ride height and damping at the moment, as I'd like to have the back a little more mobile. The eibach rear spacers have worked a treat.

Turn in is much improved, though I've still got a 23mm anti roll bar to go on the front.

 

[soamer]

yeah i found that out a combe loose right tight left left tyre worn on theinner edge of the side wall

 

[Dolly_Gti]

i drive my car hard , obviously when no ones around, and yes i know ill probably come undone one day soon, but i love it.. and because of the way i throw it into corners and what not i need it sorting ASAP, doing 80ish round a sweeping bend earlier and it felt skitish almost.. too much negative camber looks ultra cool but we all need to turn round corners occasionaly lol

 

[Krishen]

you have to consider the quality of the person doing it - quality costs money.

If they only charge £47, they're not looking at doing an hours work on it

I got quoted £50 for a 4 wheel alignment but they couldn't do it that day as the person who does it was off. So i went to another place down the road and they quoted £90. Almost double!!! But then they asked me why i wanted to waste my money? lol so didn't get it done in th end.
How do you know if you need your camber set?

 

[AlpineWhite]

uneven tyre wear (comparing the inside to outside) is a good indicator.

 

[MarkJ]

Will a 4 wheel allignment sort the camber out too??

 

[AlpineWhite]

yep it should do camber and toe, where adjustment is possible.