making the front wheel centered?

[Cabriolet]

Is there another control arm that would push my front wheels farther forward?



the PO put stock e30 steel control arms and discarded the aluminum ones. should the wheels be this far back or is it normal? to me it looks like they are an inch back.

[ak-]

Could he of put stock e30 centered control are bushings instead of offset?
I know the M3 has a bit of a whacky front wheel centering too iirc.

[Holland]

Treehouse Racing CAB's would fix that easily. Not the least bit practical for daily driveability.

[tonerrrr]

I thought them not being centered was considered normal.

[Cabriolet]

Could he of put stock e30 centered control are bushings instead of offset?
I know the M3 has a bit of a whacky front wheel centering too iirc.

It has Poly M3 CABs on it. that was the first thing i checked when i noticed it.

[BillBrasky]

Cabriolet, what is your build date? Early M3's had the standard steel control arms and yes, that amount of caster is perfectly normal on an M3.

[Todd Black 88]

Normal for an m3.

97+e36 m3 control arms will move it more, if that's what you want.

[Cabriolet]

Normal for an m3.

97+e36 m3 control arms will move it more, if that's what you want.

thx

if i choose to do this, are there any drawbacks?

[pilotskillse30]

e30 m3 CAB push the wheel forward...its better for high speeds, I have them on my vert and they are forward not aft. You might have an issue with those poly's


here is before the e30 CAB's

[markseven]

e30 m3 CAB push the wheel forward...its better for high speeds, I have them on my vert and they are forward not aft. You might have an issue with those poly's


here is before the e30 CAB's

This is incorrect. You may have installed your CABS 180° opposite how they should be.

[Cabriolet]

e30 m3 CAB push the wheel forward...its better for high speeds, I have them on my vert and they are forward not aft. You might have an issue with those poly's

I have M3 cabs installed and it still sits that way. it looks like it just might be something i have to live with

[reelizmpro]

Mark it's true, but they only do it by a small amount using the OEM M3 offset mounts. With the control arm as a right angle pivot, if you move the CAB mounting point OUTWARD, it will move the other end (ball joint at the strut) FORWARD. The 96+ E36 arms will add more to it due to the design of the arm itself. Of course you want to make sure the control arms aren't bent in anyway as well. Buying new arms instead of just replacing ball joints eliminates this possibility.

[LJ851]

This is incorrect. You may have installed your CABS 180° opposite how they should be.

What?

Moving the wheel forward in the arch is exactly what M3 bushings do. The purpose is to increase castor which means the strut is more laid back.

If you do it at an adjustable upper strut mount you move it rearward, If you do it at the bottom of the strut you need to move it forward.

[RCM3]

Eric, my e30's wheel position today looks identical to yours. When I did the e30 M3 5-lug swap I installed new control arms and new Ground Control M3 offset CABs. I was replacing my stock 325iS 4 lug with e30 M3 OEM CABs. I noticed a movement of the wheel back (just like in your picture above^) , which I thought was odd.

[markseven]

What?

Moving the wheel forward in the arch is exactly what M3 bushings do. The purpose is to increase castor which means the strut is more laid back.

If you do it at an adjustable upper strut mount you move it rearward, If you do it at the bottom of the strut you need to move it forward.

Not sure then why most stock M3's front wheels are set slightly behind the wheel well centerline...