Someone please explain what's going on here

Soooo I'm digging into my front suspension now that I'm in the middle of a entire steering/cooling system refresh, why not do suspension.
Anyway I wanna change the strut top mounts when I change the dampers. I'm leaving the springs because they aren't cracked and work perfectly, and I'm broke.

The strut housings is from a 96-99 M3 from my research (and the PO's testominal), and the springs are H&R sport springs for the aforementioned housings (1.2" front drop , 1.0" rear drop). The car also has the offset CAB's. I'm gonna replace the offset CAB's with new ones becasue I want to keep the camber I have.

But I have no idea what to do about the strut tops. They are offest, but not side to side which would affect camber, they are set back. Any ideas on what these are, and what I should replace them with?

as i understood, offset lca buchings added caster, which does not affect tire wear. the strut mounts will affect camber, which affects toe, which will wear tires.

too much camber will also wear tires, even if toe is correct, but that's another thread altogether.


i also believe the arrow is supposed to point inboard, not forward. pointing forward will affect caster as well, i would believe, but i have no idea where your camber would be set.

some guys, iirc, like to swap the l&r sides to play with camber, but i am not certain if they point the arrows inboard as well or not.


looks like teh googles for you, or you could read the stickies at the top of the board as well. lotsa good stuff in there.


good luck and happy searching.





df

Im pretty sure the arrows are supposed to POINT FORWARD.

Yes, swapping the camber plates ADDs camber.
(left plate on RIGHT side, right plate on LEFT side)

Next alignment.. MINIMIZE TOE.