Very odd front camber

[Adnan]

Hi,

My car has been pulling slightly to the right and this became even more pronounced when the thrust arms were replaced. I took it in for alignment, expecting to find that the toe setting was off but it wasn't.

The front right has positive camber at 0.9 degrees, out of spec. The front left has negative 0.2 degrees, in spec. Since there are really no adjustments, the shop is at a bit of a loss. As far as the shop goes, it is one of the best in Northern CA (Custom Alignment, Mountain View).

Their suggestion is to replace the other pair of control arms although they can find no signs of wear in the ball joints. They were also pragmatic enough to suggest that I live with it since it's so slight.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what may be going on? I will add that one control arm is steel and one is aluminum (PO) but I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Car is a '91 535i, 5-speed.

Thanks,
Adnan

[liquidtiger720]

is it lowered?

[Rustam]

Hi,

My car has been pulling slightly to the right and this became even more pronounced when the thrust arms were replaced. I took it in for alignment, expecting to find that the toe setting was off but it wasn't.

The front right has positive camber at 0.9 degrees, out of spec. The front left has negative 0.2 degrees, in spec. Since there are really no adjustments, the shop is at a bit of a loss. As far as the shop goes, it is one of the best in Northern CA (Custom Alignment, Mountain View).

Their suggestion is to replace the other pair of control arms although they can find no signs of wear in the ball joints. They were also pragmatic enough to suggest that I live with it since it's so slight.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what may be going on? I will add that one control arm is steel and one is aluminum (PO) but I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Car is a '91 535i, 5-speed.

Thanks,
Adnan

How were the bushings placed into the thrust arms? The problem is very likely to be with them - if the bushing is shifted to a side from the centerline in the thrust arm ear the camber alignment gets to change. Also, are the bushings eccentric? Take the thrust arms off compare the placement of the bushings, probably you will find that they are pushed to different extents.
Incidentally this means that front control arms can provide same effect - effective length of the arm is what makes the wheel incline one way or the other. Put new set of lower control arms as well identical type!

[BillionPa]

After replacing the control arms so they are the same, and the camber is still off, BMW makes special strut mounts for camber adjustment that can do + or - 30 minutes of angle adjustment. They are expensive.

[Adnan]

Hi,

The car is not lowered and is stock in all respects. As for the new bushings, I ordered a set of arms from BMA, with the 750 bushings pressed in. My visual inspection of the two arms prior to installation showed that both were pressed in equally. No noticeable differences there.

The lower arms are the most likely culprits but I'd like to make sure I'm not overlooking anything else.

Thanks for the thoughts,
Adnan

[genphreak]

Hi,

The car is not lowered and is stock in all respects. As for the new bushings, I ordered a set of arms from BMA, with the 750 bushings pressed in. My visual inspection of the two arms prior to installation showed that both were pressed in equally. No noticeable differences there.

The lower arms are the most likely culprits but I'd like to make sure I'm not overlooking anything else.

Thanks for the thoughts, Adnan

If you live in the US (your profile is not filled out) then your car should pull to the right a small amount, this is to prevent head on collisions when people get distracted and take their hands off the wheel to wave them at something (or whatever it is they do when they feel this need)... are you sure its not just a slight right pull?

[Chris'91'525i]

If you live in the US (your profile is not filled out) then your car should pull to the right a small amount, this is to prevent head on collisions when people get distracted and take their hands off the wheel to wave them at something (or whatever it is they do when they feel this need)... are you sure its not just a slight right pull?

Thats news to me. Was not aware cars were designed to pull right or left.
(edit:Except to compensate for the crown in the road, so car will track straight ahead.)
So if you get distracted in the USA, it's OK to side swipe things to your right side ?
Not trying to be a smart ass. This just sounds strange to me.

BTW: The poster is in Mountain View ,California (USA), per the original post.......

[Adnan]

If you live in the US (your profile is not filled out) then your car should pull to the right a small amount, this is to prevent head on collisions when people get distracted and take their hands off the wheel to wave them at something (or whatever it is they do when they feel this need)... are you sure its not just a slight right pull?

Hi,

I doubt that the car will be adjusted to pull to the right. If anything, to compensate for road crown, it should be designed to pull to the left on a flat road.

It is a slight pull but the camber measurements are pointing to a problem of some kind.

Regards,
Adnan

[joshua43214]

I have never heard of BMW's having a designed pull to the right, but there is alot I have never heard of.

I am not sure what parts you have replaced since you kind of toss the descriptions around a bit.

The thrust arms are the ones that point rearward, they will primarily affect caster.

The control arms are the ones that point inward and will affect camber.

It is important that both sides be matched, since your PO replaced a steel control arm with an aluminum one, this is the first place I would start.

Ride hight has a direct affect on camber, if your springs are weak, your negative camber will increase.

Toe alignment out of spec will not cause pull, in extreme cases it will cause the car to be almost impossible to handle, but never pull. steering wheel off center is not to be confused with pulling.

Caster will have the greatest effect on pull.

Camber directly affects toe and will cause tracking problems if not matched. It is best if camber on both wheels be pos. or neg. 1.1 degree of difference is enough to cause pull.

it is possible one of your control arms is bent, or the shock itself. Very small bends in control arms can have suprisingly large affects on camber. I had a car once that everything appeared to be in good order, but it still had a camber issue. I finaly ordered new control arms, then removed the old ones and laid them side by side on the bench. One of them turned out to be bowed and showed none of the usual flaking that bent parts do. I have also seen bent strut bodies on e34's.

One last thing after all that, swap the front tires right to left and see if the pull switchs. This should have been the first thing the alignment shop did, but sometime folks skip the basics. Rolling resistance is a very common cause of pull.