I did the alignment front and rear myself

This is interesting because very few people do the alignment themselves.
I researched it, and bought some of the tools, but didn't complete the task.
It would be interesting if you can update this thread with what you learned:
- The dozen alignment specs and which are adjustable (1)

See also:
- cn90's alignment DIY (2)
- How to DIY your camber & toe-in alignment (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)
- How to make your own alignment tools to adjust toe-in and camber (1)

 

The guy at the m5 forum is spot on. I aligned an E90 last week, to adjust camber, TIS instructed me to perform a similar procedure.

To add positive camber, elongate the holes towards the fender. You should also set toe again after you change camber

 

You sound like you do this for a living, so I could really use your advice. I'm looking to completely eliminate inner tire wear as my 'end game'. It's a daily driver so I know a couple things will happen if I choose this route:

1 - It will be out of spec to BMW recommended toe and camber settings, but WTF?! I'm on coilovers anyway, so BMW spec went bye bye with me a long time ago.

2 - It likely won't handle like a BMW should, but like I said, it's a DD and I doubt I would notice any difference from a 'seat of the pants perspective'. Besides, I have an M3 and that baby will always be stock and 'in spec'.

So knowing what I'm shooting for here what would you suggest should be my camber and toe settings? I assume camber should be zero, but I'm not sure about toe?

 

Personally I'd buy the plates.
I couldn't tell you the number of vehicles I've worked on where someone has tried to do something similar and cocked it up completely.
Yes, the plates can be expensive but you will have a much greater range of adjustment without compromising the integrity of the vehicle.

 

Appreciate the comments so far fellas. I'm still leaning towards the hackjob and quite frankly I am surprised to see that its even TIS recommended. I only regret that when I had the opportunity to look at coilovers to lower my car I didn't take into consideration that the more expensive coilovers actually include camber plates.

I also see that earlier bmw's like E36s (for example) sometimes use a camber bolt, but I see that this simple fix can't work with the design of the E39 front knuckles.

 

what I did.

Speaking of hack job. I got tired of the negative camber especially on the front tires. I've replaced control arms on both sides, new struts, with no luck on relieving the inner tread wear. So, I decided to inserted a 1/8" semi-circular steel plates on top of the strut mount. I drilled out two holes on the steel plates to match the outer two bolts of the strut mount, creating a more positive camber. I have been driving on it for over 3K miles with even wear on the front tires.

 

Speaking of hack job. I got tired of the negative camber especially on the front tires. I've replaced control arms on both sides, new struts, with no luck on relieving the inner tread wear. So, I decided to inserted a 1/8" semi-circular steel plates on top of the strut mount. I drilled out two holes on the steel plates to match the outer two bolts of the strut mount, creating a more positive camber. I have been driving on it for over 3K miles with even wear on the front tires.

Interesting - I'm having a hard time visualizing this, but I do like that with this method you don't have to drill into the original strut mounting holes correct? wouldn't washers placed under the strut holes (2 out of the 3) and above the mount do the same thing?

don't suppose you have a picture you could share?

how much camber correction did this provide? 1, 1.5 degrees?

I'm not sure if there's any other way to change camber unless the struts are physically moved outwards, so I'm curious how your method even changes the strut's position?

 

Hi aa240sx,
Sorry, I didn't take any pics. I attached 3 jpeg. Yes you can place a couple of washers on strut mount outer two bolts, but I was afraid of too much stress at the two bolts against the strut housing. So, by making a plate similar to the 3rd attachment, this would help distribute the stress load.
By looking at the 1st pic, I could shorten the control arm to create more positive camber, which is impossible without refab of the control arm or deflect the angle of the strut. I chose the later. I didn't take measurement to calculate camber. I was shooting for 0 to +1 to wear out the outer part of the front tires to match the inner. :rofl: I was going to replace the tires anyway and was hoping this would keep the wear away from the inner tread.
The toe alignment is dead on. I'm happy with it and the even wear on the tires.
I hope this help.

 

Awesome - thanks so much. I think I have the basics here and will see what this looks like when I tackle the project this weekend. I know machining the plate will be the most challenging task since I don't have machining tools.

And also to be clear, the plate would be sandwiched underneath the strut mount holes but above the top of the strut mount itself, correct?

Comment to Admins, but I don't believe I've seen a similar solution illustrated on this forum or others. Could this be included into the DIY/FAQS for Alignment Methods?

 

aa240sx, you are correct. It's sandwiched in there. and it can be removed without taking out the whole strut assembly.
Cutting a semi-circle was the most challenging part. I used a chop saw with metal cutting wheel and a grinder to smooth the edges.

 

cool - sorry if you feel like you're holding my hand through this one, but where might one get a metal plate such as this? I doubt Home Depot or Lowe's would even have it right?

 

No problem. This forum has help me a lot, glad I can give back.
Yes you can get metal plates or metal strips from Lowes or Home depot. If you decide to go with metal strips, you'll need to have access to a welder or someone that will do some welding for you, you could cut out 3 pieces to make a semi-circle. Chamfer the mating pieces to get good welding surfaces and it doesn't have to be a perfect semi-circle.
I had metal pieces laying around from another project and welded the pieces together.

 

sweet - i guess you could also just buy a circular metal plate, cut that in half and then do some more trimming so it fits. may I ask did you do this modification because you also lowered your car or were you getting bad inner tire wear from a stock height E39?

 

BAVAUTO sells adjustable strut mounts and they are very affordable. If they save you a few sets of tires you have more than paid for them, don't hack up your car just because you're cheap, use the correct parts and do it right!!!


Sent from BimmerApp mobile app

 

BAVAUTO sells adjustable strut mounts and they are very affordable. If they save you a few sets of tires you have more than paid for them, don't hack up your car just because you're cheap, use the correct parts and do it right!!!

Sent from BimmerApp mobile app

not completely disagreeing with this comment as I was sort of expecting haterade at some point, but sadly, it's the car that's cheap in this case....

 

aa240sx, good idea about a circular plate and cutting it in half.
I did not lower the e39 height, the only thing original in the front suspension are the springs. From reading alignment specs for our vehicle, camber are suppose to be -1 to -1.5? Mine was more negative than spec. the right side was worse than the left. I thought about getting camber plates, but decided to experiment first. if this didn't work, I didn't lose anything but time and save a few bucks to spend on something else.