Rear Suspension Damage?

[MattsBMWs]

Hey everyone,

I lost control of my 84 325e in the last thunderstorm here. Lost rear grip in a corner and smacked the right rear tyre into the curb. The rim was dented badly and now the car doesn't track straight. If I remember from my other E30s, there aren't any adjustments for the rear. I inspected the area and there are no visiable signs of damage. Looking at the wheel it appears to have some toe-in and positive camber. With the car off the ground, there isn't any side to side flex, so I'm assuming something is bent rather than loose. I also have a groaning coming from the rear of the car above 25 MPH (40 KPH) that doesn't change with power on / off or cornering. Wheel bearing? I do have an old spare tyre and rim on there so the sound may be from that, I dunno. I do have a 85 318i for parts, so I can swap things if they are compatible. I read that the 325e had suspension from the euro 323i. Thanks in advance for your help getting my baby back driving straight.

Cheers,
Matt

[xLibelle]

unfortunately, the rear trailing arms are not compatable. ...unless you want drum brakes

Typically, the trailing arms are the first to bend. So youll want to get those off and at least compare. You'll see pretty easily if they arent straight.

The hum would more than likely be the wheel bearing.

[MattsBMWs]

Thanks for the info, that is a good point about the brakes. How difficult is it to pull a trailing arm? I have another Bentley on order, I lost my original copy. If it's bent, anyone here willing to part with a trailing arm?

[Jean]

Not difficult. Would be a perfect time to go ahead and buy a pair of disc brake trailing arms, put new bushings in both (not expensive at all) and swap them in.

[2002maniac]

Check to make sure the subframe's not bent as well.

[MattsBMWs]

Thanks again for the info! I'll be taking it apart tomorrow, I do have disc brakes on the rear of my 325e. I was just hoping to use the trailing arm from my 318i parts car, but I had forgotten about the drums on that model. I looked up the cost of a new trailing arm on Pelican and they wanted over $1,000! You wouldn't happen to have an extra trailing arm for my car and / or bushings, Jean? I'm only a couple hours away. I'm hoping the subframe isn't bent as well. Should I be able to spot any damage to the subframe once I have the arm off? Maybe with a straightedge? If it was bent, I could use that off of my 318i parts car, right?

Cheers,
Matt

[Jean]

Don't have any spares, sorry. Subframe you can use from your parts car, trailing arms aren't hard to find either, check the FS section someone always has a pair.