E36 control arms on an E30???

[91Saleen#15]

I know that there has been some discussion here about using e36 control arms for a 5 lug conversion, but it appears that a car that I recently bought in Las Vegas is using them with 4 lug spindles to get more negative camber. Is this a commonplace technique?

I bought the car about 9 months ago as a basket case since the timing belt had destroyed the head. I finally got around to replacing the head this week and started looking the car over. As near as I can tell, it has an H&R Premium Coil Over kit, an Eibach Pro adjustable sway bar kit with 20/16 mm bars. And, it has some 16 inch Borbet rims. There seems to be considerable negative camber in the rear, but there are no modifications there to adjust camber and toe in, so I assume the negative camber results from lowering the rear end. On the front end, however, there is considerable negative camber which comes from a longer control arm. The arm is about a half an inch longer than any other e30 that I have measured.

Any comments on this setup would be appreciated.

[xLibelle]

it sounds like the car only has e36 control arms and nothing else special. I would like to hear from e36 people, as to what kind of geometric changes this single part swap would induce on the front end's camber and caster.

[Rocla]

Non M e36 have flexible mounting for balljoint, which IMO suck bad.

[Hellabad]

Regarding the original poster, I don't think there is any combination of e30/e36 control arms that can gain more camber OR more caster. In fact, it is usually the opposite. (e36 arms and bushings less)

All e30 are the same, except for the aluminum e30M3 arms (not all years) that have the same geometry, but supposedly have a better ball joint. Geometry changes on e30s are done with the offset bushing which is teeny more caster and longer wheelbase, but the same camber.

Regular e36, all the 325 and 328 for all years, are WORSE than e30 arms because of the lame ball joint.

There are two e36 M3 arms. 1995 ONLY, and 1996-1999. The 1995 is exactly like the e30 in geometry etc., but also might have a better quality ball joint.

The 1996 -99 M3 is the unusual one out of the whole bunch, and is offset forward exactly the same as an e30 or 1995 e36 arm that is used with an e30 M3 (same as 1995 ONLY M3) so that BMW could put a soft bushing in there but retain the M3 geometry. there are other geometry change in 1996, but these are the ones that apply to e30.

and thats about it.

If you have offset 1996 M3 control arms with offset e30 M3 bushings, but with 325 struts, that might give you more camber.


Jay Morris