Camber after lowering

[cdsmith_2002]

How bad is the camber after installing lowering springs, like Eibach Pro-kit? Are adjustable C/C plates absolutely required to get good tire life?

Yes, I looked in the FAQ and searched until I gave up.........

[StereoInstaller1]

Bad, real bad.

[xwill112x]

camber is nothing to worry about for tire wear unless its retarded excessive. and if you drive an e30, you shouldnt mind the slight wear differences. toe is what really eats the tires up.

[StereoInstaller1]

Toe is the bitch. I went through tires in 7,000 miles until I went to Urethane trailing arm bushings. Now I have 10K on a set, still have plenty of life and the wear pattern isn't all that bad.

[AndrewBird]

What do trailing arm bushing have to do with toe? How your tie rods are adjusted affect toe.

[george graves]

Luke are you saying your urethane bushing have less rear toe than OEM? Have you measured it on an alignment rack, or is that just a guess?

...and don't' yell at me like you did the other guy - it's just a question ;)

[browntown]

f it, I have vorshlag plates on maximum

[87e30]

My guess is luke is saying that his other one was wore out so the toe was out of rear spec - since it's not adjustable it's just held in place by the bushings.

[jlevie]

The increase in camber from lowering the car is going to increase the rate of wear of the tires. As stated above, the amount of toe has a big effect. For the front wheels setting 1/16" or zero will help. All you can do on the rear is to make sure that the trailing arm bushings aren't worn.

[shiboujin]

Excessive rear tire wear are fixed in 3 possible ways in E30s:
1) shorter subframe bushings
2) Weld in toe/camber kit
3) eccentric bushings.

1 AND 2 in conjunction should be able to fix all your problems. I don't recommend eccentric bushings.

In the front, camber can be fixed with camber plates. Although it really shouldn't have changed much.
Toe/bump steer/bad geometry should really be your concerns with the front. Sway bars need to be perpendicular when the car is at rest. Lowering will make them point up. Also, the control arms are the same way. They will now be pointing slightly up. Camber curve starts with a grading curve (lulz). On top of that, what it does to your steering is horrible.

Realistically, someone needs to make RCAs for E30s. It would fix all of these problems. The quick answer is to convert to an E30 M3 front and get their adjusters.

[KenC]

Toe out in the rear is going to be your biggest concern when you lower it. There are weld-in kits to fix it though.

[AbeSonic]

I'm planning on lowering my Eta real soon. I'm buying Bavarian Auto Sport springs. Drop is about 1.25 inches. Do I need to worry about toe?

[StereoInstaller1]

Toe out in the rear is going to be your biggest concern when you lower it. There are weld-in kits to fix it though.

As it was explained to me, toe gets worse when bushings deflect under acceleration, thus the REAR trailing arm bushings causing tire wear.

Agreed though that doing the weld in kit is the way to fly. I have a spare subframe just for that reason.

[KenC]

The BavAuto springs are going to sag lower than that. It depends on how much you want to save tire wear. 14s are so cheap that I never bothered.

[KenC]

As it was explained to me, toe gets worse when bushings deflect under acceleration, thus the REAR trailing arm bushings causing tire wear.

Agreed though that doing the weld in kit is the way to fly. I have a spare subframe just for that reason.

It's the actual geometry of the trailing arm that causes the rear tires to toe out when lowered. Even with my urethane bushings that don't really flex, I have toe out in the rear. My 14" tires are so cheap that I don't really care.