Rear suspension bushes & w/align advice please.

[ss2115]

Hi.

Replaced two rear tyres on the 1993 E34 525i Touring today - both inside edges very worn over about 25,000klms that I have owned it.

Advised to have a full four wheel alignment which I agreed with, but after they set it all up and raised it in the air they couldn't find any adjusters for the rear suspension. They contacted another aligner who assured them that there should be a ecentric adjuster on each trailing arm.

The rears are out and do need adjustment but they couldn't do it. I told them I'd come back with the Bently w/shop manual.

However, have since looked at the B-manual to find that ecentric adjusters are not standard fitment but available from BMW dealers for vehicles that "may require correction".

So - I've booked back in to another place to have all the bushes and such thoroughly checked in case they are worn and replaced if neccessary. They specialise in suspension work including mods but they don't have an adjuster for my E34. (Pedders if anyone from Australia is reading this).

Then I thought I'd check with all you guys first.
-Barring the car being in an accident in its past, is it normal or likely that replacing the worn bushes etc will being it back into near perfect alignment?
-I'd happily have them fit an ecentric - does anyone know if there is a good quality aftermarket kit I should consider instead of OEM BMW?
-If the bushes and such need replacing, I know that Pedders push for the Neoprene red bushes but I've never tried them. I've heard they make the ride harsher. Any comments?
and most importantly,
-If I'm going to all this trouble, are there any other worthwhile modifications or kits or improvements that I should do at the same time?
Not shock or spring changes as I'm happy with all that. And I have the auto-levelling system as well.
I am an enthusiastic driver, but I like the comfort also. Most of the time its just me in the car, with family on weekends etc. I like the self levelling suspension because for work I sometimes carry small machines up to 110kg in the back - sometimes locally and sometimes a few days away long distance to see customers.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

only the M5 and a few cars with sport packages came with adjustable rear trailing arm bushings, but there is a kit to replace your stock bushings with an eccentic set up.

My cars are both lowered and the rears do wear a bit on the inside, but I just rotate them to the front that tend to wear on the outside.

[BigKriss]

like bob says only the m5 are rear adjustable. yeah i can see your in sydney.

on most e34's the rear is not adjutable and a rear wheel alignement is worthless becasue of this.

what bushes do you think need replacing? just the trailing arm bushes?

there are k-mac (rockdale) eccentric bushes for the trailing arms that you can get. this reduces the negative camber, which is associated with your problem, or you can get taller springs for the rear.

I think pedders is a scam with their 28 point safety check. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:T3zCtpPvbr0J:www.fordforums.com.au/printthread.php%3Ft%3D11241128+pedders+scam&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au - but as they are a franchise I guess it would change from business to business.

or you can get a kit like this and have it installed. - http://store.bimmerworld.com/rear-cambertoe-adjustment-kit---e30-z3-318ti-p889.aspx

[ss2115]

like bob says only the m5 are rear adjustable. yeah i can see your in sydney.

on most e34's the rear is not adjutable and a rear wheel alignement is worthless becasue of this.

what bushes do you think need replacing? just the trailing arm bushes?

there are k-mac (rockdale) eccentric bushes for the trailing arms that you can get. this reduces the negative camber, which is associated with your problem, or you can get taller springs for the rear.

I think pedders is a scam with their 28 point safety check. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:T3zCtpPvbr0J:www.fordforums.com.au/printthread.php%3Ft%3D11241128+pedders+scam&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au - but as they are a franchise I guess it would change from business to business.

or you can get a kit like this and have it installed. - http://store.bimmerworld.com/rear-cambertoe-adjustment-kit---e30-z3-318ti-p889.aspx

Hi BigKriss.

Thanks for the reply. I got the tyres at Bob Janes and they tried to wheel align. They referred me to Pedders simply because they knew the guy. I wasn't going for the 28 point check - I just asked them to check and report on the rear bushes to see if they were responsible for the rear suspension being out.
Thats when I thought to see if there are kits around I could ask them to put in. They don't have anything and would use the original BMW kit from the dealer. I'm assuming its a straight swap - offset bush/ecentric cam etc.

The BimmerWorld kit looks great but I'm not up for taking out and welding up the subframe assembly.

I thought maybe K-mac or White Lightening or one of those might have something and the forum could advise me what was good/bad etc.
Or maybe a trick someone had come across.

Also - if there was anything else that should be done at the rear suspension while any work is being carried out. If its a worthwhile mod, then may as well get it all done at the same time.

[BigKriss]

to swap the k-mac eccentric bushes is a lot of work - I think you have to remove the trailing arms and then press them out and the new ones in. thats why I said its easier to put new rear springs in.

there some more info from m5 board here - http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e34-m5-discussion/48892-how-do-you-fix-rear-alignment.html

Greg has some - you can ask him about them - http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38646&highlight=k-mac

have you checked or reaplced the rear dogbones?

[Tiger]

Is suspension original? Has any parts been repaired or replaced?

Most abnormal tire wear is because of something worn down and puts everything out of alignment. It came from factory perfect with no abnormal wear... so you must fix it to return it to normal.

Lowered car by sport suspension does not create abnormal wear either... I have two cars lowered by Eibach and no abnormal wear whatsoever.

[ss2115]

Well I've had my Pedder's checkover. Not too bad actually apart from suggesting replacing shocks all around. All bump stops need replacing, front sway bar bushes are noisy and the rear dog bone links need replacing. He will use Boge if I go ahead with the job.
The rear trailing arm bushes are okay, but he'll put in a KMAC camber kit if I want it.

He also found some slight wear in the pitman arm end and a weeping hose at the power steering pump.
About Au$3,055 for everything excluding shocks replacement and including the KMAC kit fitted and a full w/align.
I didn't think that was a terrible price (rip off) but isn't a good price either.

I consulted Bromspec - a BMW specialist and he was more inclined to think it was a saggy suspension because that both rear tyes had worn so identically. Some of you have mentioned that as well. Then the penny dropped - I have the self-adjusting rear suspension and I wonder if the sway bar and its switch just need adjustment to lift the back end a little higher?
So the cars with Bromspec for today to be measured against the BMW specs for ride height and he'll double check the stuff that Pedders found as well.

I'm quite happy to have the dog bone links and bump stops done. The pitman arm was optional as the wear was very slight and I cannot feel any slack in the steering - in fact my steering is great for a car with a s/box rather than rack n pinion.
And of course the weeping hydraulic hose needs to be repaired or replaced and its no big deal to replace the sway bar bushes either.

If the ride height fixes the rear w/align, then no need for the camber kit.

Is everyone happy with Boge for the dog bone links, sway bar bushes and bump stops?

[BigKriss]

I wouldn't reaplace the bump stops untill you change the shocks or springs becasue they have to come out also but if they must need doing then change them.

boge is fine.