Is this OK?

[nate]

Check out the bolts, displaced off center. Is this typical when adding a large amount of negative camber? I hadn't noticed this until today, but it was not there before adjusting to -0.8deg. :dunno:

[The HACK]

NORMAL. See where the FACTORY ALIGNMENT pin is missing? When the pin is present the camber is set to factory default. I think if you remove two of those nuts you will see underneath the strut tower bolt points actually allows for a small amount of lateral movement.

[nate]

Thanks Mr. HACK, that's what I thought :hi:

[Ausgang]

Originally posted by The HACK
NORMAL. See where the FACTORY ALIGNMENT pin is missing? When the pin is present the camber is set to factory default . . .

Interesting. So, the slip-resistance of the nuts on the painted surface ALONE transfers all the shear load. Hmmm. It sures seems like some sort of pin for shear-loads would be nice.

I guess that's the way it's done, but I wouldn't allow my car to be set up that way if I tracked it. Depending on loading, I'd use one or perhaps two pins for shear loads.

Do they use a Loctite-type product when they replace those nuts?

[The HACK]

Originally posted by Ausgang
Interesting. So, the slip-resistance of the nuts on the painted surface ALONE transfers all the shear load. Hmmm. It sures seems like some sort of pin for shear-loads would be nice.

I guess that's the way it's done, but I wouldn't allow my car to be set up that way if I tracked it. Depending on loading, I'd use one or perhaps two pins for shear loads.

Do they use a Loctite-type product when they replace those nuts?

I dunno about "loctite" but those nuts are the self locking nuts that are one use only...The last "thread" on the nut converge so when you thread it on, the nut locks down on the thread and will take SIGNIFICANT more torque to remove than install.

I an a little apprehensive regarding how BMW designed this, but I don't think they have those of us who play with camber settings in mind. Camber plates would actually be a more elegant solution because the plates themselves have alignment pins that locks into the factory alignment hole, if the plates are designed right. :dunno:

[Ausgang]

Originally posted by The HACK
I dunno about "loctite" but those nuts are the self locking nuts that are one use only...The last "thread" on the nut converge so when you thread it on, the nut locks down on the thread and will take SIGNIFICANT more torque to remove than install.

I an a little apprehensive regarding how BMW designed this, but I don't think they have those of us who play with camber settings in mind. Camber plates would actually be a more elegant solution because the plates themselves have alignment pins that locks into the factory alignment hole, if the plates are designed right. :dunno:

You read my mind. Hex flange nuts for applications such as this typically have a deformable locking element, typically serrations, crown locks, or a unique thread form. (All mechanical locking as opposed to chemical locking.)

In each case, they would really be 'one-use-only', as mechanical locking systems plastically deform upon use and don't have memory like a nylon-insert nut would. Reuse would significantly increase the risk of vibration-loosening followed by possible shear/fatique failures. The camber plates solution you mention seems to be a good approach --- if designed well as you say. (Lots of stuff to design for . . . tension, shear, vibration &/or damping, cyclic loading or fatique, stress-corrosion, etc., etc.

FWIW, threads do not work well in shear. That's why when I design fastened connections, I either exclude the threads from the shear-plane, use shear pins or some type of shear-bearing fasteners, or come up with a design that deals with the shear loads in some other way.

[Kaz]

I agree that this isn't exactly the best way to transfer these forces from the strut to the unibody. However, in Macpherson strut systems, this is the industry norm.

If you look at aftermarket camber plates, most of them work on a similar principle, though, but its 4 cap screws along 2 guide slots instead.