inside edge tire wear, fronts

[KIRIEIW]

Whoops sorry for the bad link didn’t realize this was the xi section on my phone. Also ya I agree with George, more then likely the original arms.


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[george graves]

At 218K and 30 years, I doubt it has the original control arms.

Having been around e30s for a long, long time, and knowing how long, and how slowly the factory bushing take to get to a point of "tire wear" is the point of failure.....It's not only possible, it's most likely probable.

[packratbimmer]

At 218K and 30 years, I doubt it has the original control arms. Pay for an alignment and let the techs know it is an exploratory expedition. I would look at the control arm bushings as well as the list above. IX parts are awfully expensive to "throw" at your car. Good luck!

[The Dark Side of Will]

Inner edge wear can be toe out or excessive camber.

Toe out can come from steering linkage and ball joints.

Check for play in the ball joints by jacking up the front of the car (use jack stands!) and pulling out/pushing in on the bottom edge of the tire. This also checks wheel bearings.

Another common failure point is the strut top mount & bearing. I doubt the car would still be driveable if that had enough play to give you excessive camber, however.

[D.Martijn]

$330 is a sweat deal for how much it will tighten up the front end. You'll spend more if you buy the joints separate and have them pressed in if you don't have a buddy or tools to do it.

But you still have to get an alignment.

And PS - if you've never worked on steering parts before, you might want a pro to do it. Or a friend that knows that he's doing. It's kinda an important part.

The link that was posted is for a rwd E30 not the ix..
That's why he said to ignore said post

[george graves]

Nope not NLA. Also some handy info, BMW uses "Lemforder" for all the suspension components. If you wanted to replace everything at once they offer a complete kit here:


https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...30-e309piece-l

$330 is a sweat deal for how much it will tighten up the front end. You'll spend more if you buy the joints separate and have them pressed in if you don't have a buddy or tools to do it.

But you still have to get an alignment.

And PS - if you've never worked on steering parts before, you might want a pro to do it. Or a friend that knows that he's doing. It's kinda an important part.

[Kershaw]

^ disregard that post, he's clearly lost.

The outer ball joints are easily available, but the inners are NLA. I don't know what you're going to do if your inners are bad besides buy brand new ones from FCP at $413.

Does anyone know the different between the inner RWD ball joints and the AWD versions? If it's OD of the ball joint it may be time to go to a machine shop and press a sleeve in.

[KIRIEIW]

And these ball joints that are NLA right? I guess I will just start checking front suspension components with a pry bar.

Nope not NLA. Also some handy info, BMW uses "Lemforder" for all the suspension components. If you wanted to replace everything at once they offer a complete kit here:


https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...30-e309piece-l

[rwtags]

And these ball joints that are NLA right? I guess I will just start checking front suspension components with a pry bar.

[george graves]

Replace control arms and lollipops, and then get an alignment after that. Ask the alignment guy if he thinks your steering rack/wheel bearings have too much play in them. Go to an independent shop, not a major chain. At 218k miles, your suspension is worn, and needs some work. That's why you're burning through tires. It will be cheaper to fix this then to keep throwing tires at it.

[rwtags]

I have just started to notice that the snow tires that i just put on about 3k miles ago and my summer tires are starting to show some inside wear. Pretty noticeable.. what items should i check, car has 218k miles or so.