Will a little excess camber on one side cause car to drift in one direction?

[DaveInLA]

The camber on the front driver side is -1.3. On the passenger side, it's -2.1. Car was involved in some sort of collision on the passenger side before I owned it, but no obvious damage to suspension components can be seen.

Anyway, I had the car taken in for an alignment a short while ago. The toe was adjusted so that it's a little positive now, but the camber was left alone (obviously). Before the alignment, the steering wheel had to be pointed about 5-10 degrees to the left for the car to go straight (ie, car drifted a little to the right if steering wheel straight). After the alignment, it's now the reverse, but much less (<5 degrees)-- straight steering wheel will make car drift very subtly to the left. The guys at the alignment shop said they've done everything they could.

My question is if the difference in camber (very high on right side) could cause the car to do this.

[erik325i]

The camber will not cause the car to wander. If the caster is not even, the car will wander.

As for your steering wheel not lining up, it is because whoever did you last allignment, did a shitty job of adjusting your front toe.
They are supposed to make sure your sure the steering wheel is perfectly straight before adjusting the toe.

-Erik

[redhatpat]

The camber will not cause the car to wander. If the caster is not even, the car will wander.

As for your steering wheel not lining up, it is because whoever did you last allignment, did a shitty job of adjusting your front toe.
They are supposed to make sure your sure the steering wheel is perfectly straight before adjusting the toe.

-Erik

I think its more likely the toe out is causing the wander rather than caster - don't forget we don't know what its set to.

For a daily driver, I'd never set the toe out to more than 0. A little toe in is okay (its the factory spec.).

[DaveInLA]

The toe is +0.14 on the R and +0.13 on the left (toe IN), so they're pretty even. Why would the toe cause the car to drift to one side? I'm also wondering how caster plays into all this. The caster is actually low in both wheels, 6.2 R and 6.4 L. Doesn't caster determine the angle of the wheel when turning? If I'm going straight, why would it matter? Thanks.

[redhatpat]

+6.2 degrees caster isn't low. It's probably right where you want it (don't know the bmw spec, though).

What does +.14 toe mean? Degrees? Inches? I'm not an alignment expert, but to me, + sounds like toe out. Did the shop actually say it was toe in? Slight toe in would make the car drive pretty straight. Toe out would cause the car to wander.

Caster and camber won't cause a car to wander or pull to one side if they're uneven.

I wondered if the pull to one side was caused by something other than the alignment (like a sticking caliper), but if the side it pulls to changes with an alignment, then its definitely something in the alignment.

Double check the alignment numbers from the shop and make sure it says toe in and not toe out.

[DaveInLA]

According to the sheet I got from the alignment place, BMW specifies around 8 degrees of caster.

+0.14 degrees of toe in on that side, meaning the wheels are pointing inward. At least that's what it should mean.

[PeaveyBassist]

The camber will not cause the car to wander. If the caster is not even, the car will wander.

Wrong. More than 1 degree of cross camber (1 degree difference between the 2 measurements) will make the car pull to the more positive side. More than 1 degree of cross caster will make the car pull to the more negative side. Individual toe of each wheel is responsible for steering wheel position and total toe is only responsible for tire wear, NOT pulling or steering wheel position.

Will

[DaveInLA]

Individual toe of each wheel is responsible for steering wheel position and total toe is only responsible for tire wear, NOT pulling or steering wheel position.

Is it possible the shop calculated the individual toe and (.14 and .13) while the steering wheel wasn't perfectly straight? The total toe would be the same, but couldn't that account for the wandering? For example, it could actually be L 0.08 and R 0.19 so total toe is the same (0.27).

[erik325i]

Is it possible the shop calculated the individual toe and (.14 and .13) while the steering wheel wasn't perfectly straight? The total toe would be the same, but couldn't that account for the wandering? For example, it could actually be L 0.08 and R 0.19 so total toe is the same (0.27).

that wouldn't make a difference for the car to want to veer to one side. That would just make your steering wheel wheel not straight while driving.

If you let go of your steering wheel, and the car wants to veer off to one side, than it is not a toe issue.

Ohh, and your toe is just about perfect. I think spec is 13 degrees of possative toe each side, so yours is good.

-Erik

[DaveInLA]

That would just make your steering wheel wheel not straight while driving.

Crap, I guess I wasn't clear before. That's exactly the problem. If I told the steering wheel in it's off-center position (about <5 degrees rotated to the right) and let it go, I don't notice any pull to one side. It's just that when I'm driving straight, the steering wheel isn't centered. I don't normally look at the steering wheel, but since I've already noticed it, I feel bad because I paid for an alignment and I want it done correctly. So it does sound like a toe issue?

Instead of adjusting the toe of the 2 individual wheels, can the mechanic just re-center the steering rack?

[mikeedler]

man, just pull the damn steering wheel off, and reput it on in the correct position. if you dont have an airbag car, it willl take all of about 10 min. if your slow. if the car isnt pulling when you let go of the wheel, your good to go.
man, way to easy to fix.

[MrK]

I got my steering calibrated, but the steering wheel ended up tilting slightly to the right. I removed the wheel (like Mikeedler described) and put it on straight. Easy fix, and problem solved.

[Charlie]

Get the car alligned by a competant shop (way too much toe-out for a street car) and pick up one of the "crash" mount hats for the passenger side. This will fix most of your problems.

-Charlie

[mikeedler]

those "crash hats" will put way to much camber on that side. they are like 5 deg. arent they. I have a set of them on my M3 and they throw some hardcore neg. camber on there. just roll it like it is, damn its a 20 years old car. pull the steering wheel, put it to where the wheel is straight, and presto-- done!

[DaveInLA]

Maybe in the future I'll get one of those adjustable camber kits that Bavauto sells. They're expensive though (>$300). I think they allow you to make the camber more POSITIVE.