Alignment gurus.... If you could change your castor/camber and toe....

[BMWdriverwanted]

First of all, yes, I know it is not settable (is that a word?), but, if you could, what would you change to for general street driving? If applicable to the following, this would entail less wear on tires, less wandering, less rolling resistance etc. This is NOT for hard cornering, racing or any type of rally driving.

Why am I asking this you say? I am just curious what people have found with their tweaking, and, to just pick some brains. I also heard these cars were setup for high speed driving. Well, me no go over 55 as of now, so, me no drive fast. I just want good handling, low tire wear and whatever else I can get out of the deal.

Now you people that are gonna tell me all about screwing up the cars feel, BMW didnt design it like that for the road and all that, please save it and go take a drive in YOUR car, thanks.

[ChuckDizzle]

Front
Camber: -2.5 deg (per side)
Toe: 0 (or 0.10 to 0.20 deg total toe in for mostly highway driving)

Rear
Camber: -1.5 to -2 deg (per side)
Toe: 0.20 total toe in (IIRC this is 1/8" total toe in)

taken from the definitive alignment guide thread. The factory alignment settings aren't total garbage but not the most effective in my opinion.

[stume]

Here in my country our roads are very worn out and it gives some issues with wandering.
I'm running 225/40 on 9x18 rims, lowered with coilovers.

Front:
Caster: 4.10 deg
Camber: 0 deg
Toe: 0 deg

Rear:
Camber: -1 deg
Toe: Total toe to 0.20 deg

This setup does pretty well eliminate the wandering issue in my case and with my current tyres.

[BMWdriverwanted]

Front
Camber: -2.5 deg (per side)
Toe: 0 (or 0.10 to 0.20 deg total toe in for mostly highway driving)

Rear
Camber: -1.5 to -2 deg (per side)
Toe: 0.20 total toe in (IIRC this is 1/8" total toe in)

taken from the definitive alignment guide thread. The factory alignment settings aren't total garbage but not the most effective in my opinion.

Cool, thanks Chuck. Do you have these measurements/setup on your ride or are you running something else?






Here in my country our roads are very worn out and it gives some issues with wandering.
I'm running 225/40 on 9x18 rims, lowered with coilovers.

Front:
Caster: 4.10 deg
Camber: 0 deg
Toe: 0 deg

Rear:
Camber: -1 deg
Toe: Total toe to 0.20 deg

This setup does pretty well eliminate the wandering issue in my case and with my current tyres.

Thats good to know as I may put my coilovers on this car.

How are your tires wearing with this setup?

[ChuckDizzle]

Cool, thanks Chuck. Do you have these measurements/setup on your ride or are you running something else?


close to it. The rear is set to that spec but the front camber is a bit off. I forget the exact angle but I used a shim kit from Bimmerworld that adds washers to the brake spindle and extended bolts to add camber since I don't have camber plates.

[BMWdriverwanted]

Yea, I have been hearing of horror storys where peoples tires only last 10k miles. Cant remember if they were just out of whack, or???

Never the less, I need a good basic highway driving long term tire wear set up. No wandering is nice too, lol.

Thanks again :)

[NLu]

Front
Camber: -2.5 deg (per side)
Toe: 0 (or 0.10 to 0.20 deg total toe in for mostly highway driving)

Rear
Camber: -1.5 to -2 deg (per side)
Toe: 0.20 total toe in (IIRC this is 1/8" total toe in)

taken from the definitive alignment guide thread. The factory alignment settings aren't total garbage but not the most effective in my opinion.

That's a good spec, biased a bit more towards performance, but still not going to chew up your tires too quick.

In addition, I've found that caster is almost as important, if not more, than static camber. The reason is that as you turn the wheel, you gain dynamic camber due to the caster angle. So the higher your caster angle, the more dynamic camber you gain.
Given the strut front suspension, the static camber is just your starting point. At any significant wheel travel, it'll be losing camber, so it's important for strut vehicles to have a good dose of caster for the dynamic camber gain.

This was useful for me back in by WRX days, when I could "clock" a camber plate so that I gain more caster than static camber.

[BMWdriverwanted]

I want NO performance and NO tire chewing, lol.

Mental notes taken, thank you sir. :buttrock

[Moron95M3]

Lowest tires wear:
As little camber as possible. Well maybe a little negative so you don't wear the outsides. (this will suck for performance)
0 toe, front and rear. (this will make it want to wander and feel unstable though).

Most Stable (no wandering)
slight toe in (F&R) (however will cause tire wear)
more castor (will be harder to turn at lower speeds...M3 has 7* vs. nonM at 4* for 'high speed stability)

Rolling resistance:
inflate tires to max pressure.



That's what I know in a nutshell. Read the alignment guide in the M3 section and then make your decisions on what you want.

[BMWdriverwanted]

Yea, definitely gonna check some threads and did also want to get some real world opinions on those driving with "x" settings.

Thanks for dropping in with the notes :alright




Editors note: I am in an emoticon mood today, which is surprising for the torrid event this weekend lol.

[Moron95M3]

np.

I run the autoX setup from the alignment guide on my 325i/M3. Feels good. I do get inner tire wear though but put up with it (and flip tires if I can).
Camber though isn't adjustable upfront without camber plates. My M3 has around -2*. I did put a factory alignment on my 325iC (gave to my parents) and it did seem less willing to turn in.

Front
Camber: -3.5 deg per side
Toe: 0 (0.10-0.20 total toe out for autox)

Rear
Camber: -2.0 to -2.5 deg per side
Toe: 0.20 total toe in (IIRC this is 1/8" total toe in)


http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=995556&highlight=alignment+guide

[Joshh]

The major thing that eats tires is toe then camber. I always ask for 0 toe and try to go for 1.5* or less camber for a strictly dd car.

[28Chillin]

... This is NOT for hard cornering, racing or any type of rally driving.

I want more caster for my DD 328iS. About 6* should do it.
When I get around to it, I'll probably set it at -1* camber and .1 toe in, and decide from there.

Good question. I hope it gets some meaningful results.

[Moron95M3]

I want more caster for my DD 328iS. About 6* should do it.
When I get around to it, I'll probably set it at -1* camber and .1 toe in, and decide from there.

Good question. I hope it gets some meaningful results.


jw how you are planning on changing caster and camber? (up front).

shims and different M bits to get the caster?

[28Chillin]

It appears I'll have to buy fully adjustable plates; U.S. M3 has 9* caster (ref.) which I think might be too much for me.
I might procrastinate; there are other priorities & fully adjustable plates are expensive. :(