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

[DaveInLA]

Quick question-- if I remove the steering wheel to readjust it, how tight do I torque the bolt/nut to?

[Charlie]

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!

Unless you've got some super-duper euro hats, the OEM BMW crash mounts are good for .75 degrees. you flip it for either positive or negative. You really couldn't do more than about -3 with the stock style barrel springs.

-Charlie

[DaveInLA]

What's the PN for those crash mounts? Are you talking about these non-adjustable ones: 31 33 1 139 484 (Bavauto)? They say it's for 0.5 degree and makes it more negative. Are you sure these can be flipped over for positive camber?

[DaveInLA]

Quick question-- if I remove the steering wheel to readjust it, how tight do I torque the bolt/nut to?

Okay, I found it in Bentley.

However, I have another question.

In Bentley Chapter 13, page 40, Fig 7-5, they describe how to align the steering wheel.

"Marks on steering gear housing align as shown when the steering gear is centered and front wheels are in straight-ahead position."

I don't know what the steering gear is. Is this accesible from the driver's seat when the steering wheel is taken off, or is this done from underneath the car? I can't really tell what the picture is showing. Thanks.

[erik325i]

Get the car alligned by a competant shop (way too much toe-out for a street car).

-Charlie

So, you want him to have even more toe in? I don't see how he has "way too much toe-out for a street car" if his toe is currently almost perfectly within spec... (.13, and .14 degrees of toe IN)


Just unbolt your steering wheel, and center it. It is a 22mm bolt just so you know...

-Erik

[Hick]

Pull go's in the order: Toe Camber Caster

[DaveInLA]

Just unbolt your steering wheel, and center it. It is a 22mm bolt just so you know...

Ugh. I did this today and it's not the solution I'm looking for. I said that the steering wheel was off-center by <5 degrees, and it is. Maybe 3 degrees or so. The steering wheel spline has ~60 teeth, so that makes each notch about 6 degrees. So when I re-centered the wheel by one tooth, it was off-center in the other direction.

I'm starting to think that the shop didn't have the steering wheel completely straight when they did the alignment which is why it's off like this.

[DarkWing6]

Do it the right way and get under your car with 2 wrenches (I forget the size 17 I think) and adjust both of the tie rods in the same direction the same ammount. This will keep the car alligned but only adjust the steering wheel.

[DaveInLA]

Do it the right way and get under your car with 2 wrenches (I forget the size 17 I think) and adjust both of the tie rods in the same direction the same ammount. This will keep the car alligned but only adjust the steering wheel.

I was actually going to do this, but I'm a little worried cause I've never tampered with suspension components before. When adjusting the tie rods, should the car be on jacks/stands or can it be on a ramp? It makes sense that the wheels should be suspended and not touching the ground, but if I remember correctly, shops do alignments while a car is driven onto a platform and not on a lift.

[PeaveyBassist]

Make adjustments with the car on the ground. No jackstands. Although, if I were you, I would just move the steering wheel or take it to somewhere to get it aligned.

Will

[DaveInLA]

I tried moving the steering wheel, but like I said, there's no way I can perfectly center it due to the number and alignment of the teeth on the steering spline.

How difficult is it to adjust tie rods when the car is on the ground? Isn't there a lot of force to deal with? Also, what degree of toe change do you get with 1 turn of the tie rod? I'd like to know how much I should adjust it initially.