Camber in e30's

[ED1RTY 2]

As you are probably all aware of natural camber when lowereing an e30 IS a hassle, it provides much un-needed tyre wear and i am beginning to think lowering my car was not such a good idea, :banghead: i saw an article in 'rev' magazine about a guy that put a black top trueno engine in an e30 and he gave some details about rose end joints being used to rectify it, it also gave his e-mail address if anyone has it could they please post it. I have also been told that cutting and re-welding the a frames to bring the wheels back in is an option, yet a very costly one. For the general info i have lowered my e30 on shortented boge sport shocks and have 70mm drop whiteline springs in the front and 90mm drop in the back. Any info would be great cheers guys. Have a good weekend :beer:

[Guest Spargo]

Modify the subframe for camber adj where the trailing arms join up.

[Gus 5]

depending how long you go, camber not too much a prob...with mine i had about the same camber front and rear (2.2-2.4 negative)

one way to do it is to weld a new piece of metal onto where the trailing arms mount to the subframe, and make it higher...this rotates the arm outwards a little, giving less camber

there a article some where on www.e30m3performance.com that has something similiar

[m325i 709]

Another option is just get your tyres rotated frequently.

Most shops will do it cheap as or free.

I have -3.0 at the back.

Camber at the front looks cool

[petone 0]

Have looked at different options and the best one is to modify the subframe. Do a search, E30-323ti posted a link to the page that shows youru how to do it.

As for actually modifying the frame, there is far more to it than you first realise. You actually need to machine up some small plates to weld on to the subframe, there isn't enough metal on the existing tabs to just slot the holes and weld on small tabs. This isn't shown on that website. The bolts also just aren't any bolt, they can be brought from the dealer for around $100, (for 4) you might as well just buy them for the trouble in making them.

Ireland Engineering also sells a kit that include the plates and the bolts/washers but you will need to buy 2 kits. You would be stupid not to do both camber and toe at the same time, changing one can affect the other and a toe out on the rear will cause as wear if not more than the camber.

I have talked to an engineer about all of this and it is not a cheap or easy option I have been planning on doing this for over a year but there has always been some other problem or delay.

Cheapest option is to rotate tyres but then that rules out aysemetricals.

[ED1RTY 2]

Well sounds like im in for some big spending but i guess it will be worth it new 17" low profiles are to expensive to be buying new ones every month...........

[topless 13]

I just did it myself on mine and it is relatively simple, but time consuming as the whole rear end has to come out. Did it by changing the rear mounting points for the swingarms. I have done this to several E30's in the past back in SA.

Mine is lowered about 60mm at the back on King springs and I easily corrected the camber. Have had it checked an an alignment centre and it is spot on. Not sure if there is enough room to correct 90mm though. Never lowered an E30 that much before.

Can provide help doing it or showing you how to do it. Unfortunately didn't take photos of the job. Only costs a few dollars for material, use the same bolts. :thumb:

[petone 0]

Got a few questions for you if you don't mind... How exactly did you do it- Just pull the subframe out and slot the holes? How well does it stay aligned? Is it easily adjustable? What about toe-did you leave it alone or modify that as well?

Cheers

[Gus 5]

topless - you arent William are you? i believe i spoke to you on the phone a while back....never did get round to doing it, didnt really need to as my drop wasnt too bad...but is a good idea if i ever need to

[topless 13]

topless - you arent William are you? i believe i spoke to you on the phone a while back....never did get round to doing it, didnt really need to as my drop wasnt too bad...but is a good idea if i ever need to

Yes, you did. Mine was pretty bad and wouldv'e ripped the tyres up so I went ahead and did it. Not difficult but time consuming involving lots of measuring on and off the car.

Got a few questions for you if you don't mind... How exactly did you do it- Just pull the subframe out and slot the holes? How well does it stay aligned? Is it easily adjustable? What about toe-did you leave it alone or modify that as well?

Yes, pull out subframe and slot holes, but this is only one part of it to get the desired camber/toe. Once the camber is right I remove the slots and replace with new bits with holes. Then it is non-adjustable and should stay aligned unless you go off-roading... :bounce:

There would probably be many ways to do it. This is mine....

I do it on a level floor. First carefully measure the car height at all 4 wheel arches from the floor and check the wheel centre height. Then remove all 4 wheels and put car on blocks/jacks to exactly the same heights.

Remove the sub-frame and strip it and slot one side making sure you keep the slots perfectly vertical. (keeps toe right). Then replace subframe in car and one swingarm. Adjust it to suit whatever camber you want and carefully measure the position. If you are careful with the slotting, you won't stuff the toe, but check this also. This bit involves lots of very careful measuring... I make jigs to bolt to the wheel hub to help measure the angles exactly.

Once you are happy with the settings, note carefullu the measurements because you will apply these to the other side mountings. I relate them to the existing "bottom" of the old holes.

Make plates with hole out of suitable flat bar, cut out the slotted bits and weld in the plates to the right measurements. Then do the other side.

So you will need some flat bar, some bits of whatever to make some jigs to assist measuring the angles, welding gear and lots of patience.... :banghead:

It involves a lot more little fiddly bits than I have described here bit I am sure anybody with good skills will suss them out. Don't tackle this job if you don't have good skills like welding, measuring and working out angles etc, you will probably end up with a disaster...

[Damo 23]

K-MAC have a camber and caster adjustment kits for front, and camber adjustment kit for the rear. Not cheap unless you know the right people :pimp: , but well worth it for ease of use and peace of mind

[petone 0]

Sounds like you did a nice job on that camber. Still for all work involved I'd rather do it once and make it all adjustable. I'd just hate to do it all over again if it wasn't right. As for those bushing from what I've been told they are a bitch to adjust and don't stay in alignment that well. Also when you change camber you end up changing toe as well.