Need quick help in Denver Area

[Sea Aych]

I've driven from Ottawa Canada with my freshly swapped e30 but a couple days ago I noticed some fairly significant negative camber on the front passenger side wheel, and it's already done some significant wear on my tires...what could cause this? Bad shock mount or bearings? I'm not getting any noise or jiggling from the wheel.
Does anyone in the Denver area have a second to help me diagnose and/or direct me to a shop to get it fixed (I have all my tools but if I need some specialty tools like a spring compressor I'm sol ) ?
Thanks!
Here's a pic...it's getting bad

[hyperE30]

Where in Denver? I work by i25 and 8th ave, could be a bad wheel bearing, mine was bad but didn't have a vibration either and wore the tire pretty good.

[Sea Aych]

Where in Denver? I work by i25 and 8th ave, could be a bad wheel bearing, mine was bad but didn't have a vibration either and wore the tire pretty good.

I'm staying out in Lakewood right now. I can come drive anywhere pretty much!
How did you figure it was the bearing and not anything else?

[hyperE30]

Had pretty good play, the top mount wasn't that old other than adding the e90 top hats. If you don't have acces to jack, lift, bring it by the shot after hours and we can look at it.

[Sea Aych]

Sent you a pm!

[flyboyx]

Shit!!!! I was in Littleton all day yesterday with nothing to do. I wish you would have posted earlier.

Get the jack out of your trunk and lift up both front wheels one at a time. Wiggle everything around to see if any parts are worn out.

I see the camber issue you mention. Probably attributed to sloppy ball joints on your control arms. It also Looks to me like you have some pretty significant toe out.

If this is the case, I think the only problem possible here is that the locking nuts on your tie rods are loose and your alignment has come undone.

First, set your wheels straight. Then get yourself a piece of string. Tie it to the back bumper and pull it across the middle of the back wheel to the front. You can give yourself a decent hillbilly alignment this way. Adjust your tie rods until you have about 1/16" or less toe in on each side. Move the car backward and forward about 10feet or so and check it again. Keep adjusting until you get it right.

[Sea Aych]

Need quick help in Denver Area

Shit!!!! I was in Littleton all day yesterday with nothing to do. I wish you would have posted earlier.

Get the jack out of your trunk and lift up both front wheels one at a time. Wiggle everything around to see if any parts are worn out.

I see the camber issue you mention. Probably attributed to sloppy ball joints on your control arms. It also Looks to me like you have some pretty significant toe out.

If this is the case, I think the only problem possible here is that the locking nuts on your tie rods are loose and your alignment has come undone.

First, set your wheels straight. Then get yourself a piece of string. Tie it to the back bumper and pull it across the middle of the back wheel to the front. You can give yourself a decent hillbilly alignment this way. Adjust your tie rods until you have about 1/16" or less toe in on each side. Move the car backward and forward about 10feet or so and check it again. Keep adjusting until you get it right.

I actually just got an alignment done before I left! Toe out was fixed.
It looks funny from the front because of the spacers on the wheels and them being slightly turned - it always tricks me too

I'll take a look at the cabs and the spring strut mount, and recheck the wiggle and repost. Whereabouts are you now? I'll be all around Colorado the next few days

[flyboyx]

I'll be back on the 23rd. Probably around 5 pm or so. As far as my schedule goes, I'm on call for the next 4 days afterward so who knows if I will be hanging around my apartment or out on the road somewhere. If they don't assign me anything to do, I'll send you a pm and we can meet somewhere for a beer.

[BillBrasky]

I would guess that the steering end link is worn out at the ball socket where it connects to the steering rack. They can be extremely worn out and never really make much noise. Ball joints in the control arms usually knock around over bumps and bind under load when they're worn out. Jack it up and pull back the steering boot. You should be able to wiggle the tire and look for slop.

[spdracrm3]

yea id be getting the jack out and lifting that right front to wiggle everything and look for something major loose before it drove it much farther ,thats looking really bad for camber and something might be about to catastrophically fail !

my guess is a wheel bearing

[Sea Aych]

Need quick help in Denver Area

I'll be back on the 23rd. Probably around 5 pm or so. As far as my schedule goes, I'm on call for the next 4 days afterward so who knows if I will be hanging around my apartment or out on the road somewhere. If they don't assign me anything to do, I'll send you a pm and we can meet somewhere for a beer.

Thanks flyboy!

I'm meeting with hyperE30 tomorrow so I'll update this as I go.
I'm more convinced it's wheel bearing since 1) both cabs look equally worn and 2) I get a noise when I spin the wheel when it's off the ground. Kind of like if the brake pads were slightly applied.

[Sea Aych]

Update. Turned out to be a destroyed inner ball joint on the pass side (mainly).
Adam/hypere30, you're the man. Thanks again for the after hours help in your shop installing the new one! Made it to Utah no problem.

[flyboyx]

i am sorry i missed you. i just got back to my apartment. glad to know you got it together and are on your way.

did you end up replacing your control arm? how did your shop align it with bad ball joints?

[Sea Aych]

i am sorry i missed you. i just got back to my apartment. glad to know you got it together and are on your way.

did you end up replacing your control arm? how did your shop align it with bad ball joints?

Hey no worries! Maybe next time! Heading towards California and up the coast if you're ever in that area!

We ended up just replacing he inner ball joint as the rubber was completely shot. Pressing it out, the ball came out by itself and the rubber stayed in place, if that tells you anything....

[jalopi]

how did your shop align it with bad ball joints?

+1. any reputable shop would've shaken the front end down to check for worn parts before doing an alignment. methinks you should bring your parts receipt to the place that did the alignment, have a talk with the boss and try to get another alignment (or at least a check) on the house