-.5* Camber difference from left to right (stock suspension)

[BADE30]

The wandering/clunk issue was resolved with the rack replacement and alignment but now it seems that I have a camber issue..

There is about .5* more negative camber on the driver side vs the passenger side front and rear. Its enough to cause the car to pull to the right. Any suggestions?

Alignment posted below.


Hello r3v new E30 owner here..

Just picked up a 90 325i with 134k and having some issues with the front end wandering on me..

With the steering on or near center, if i go over a small or medium sized bump at low or high speed with the left wheel, i get a loud clunk, and the steering wanders to the left. Doesn't do this with any other wheel nor while cornering and only on or near center.

Shop is saying its the rack and told me the rack has been replaced fairly recently, looks new, and after looking at it I agree. They didn't seem very confident in suggesting the rack needs to be replaced in order to fix the issue though.

Other issues that may or may not be related:

-slight play/clunk in the steering shaft which sounds like its coming from up by the steering wheel. Shop replaced the steering guibo because they had thought it was causing this. Didn't fix the play at all, with a solid guibo, or the slight knocking when rattling the steering shaft.

-Also vibration at 50-60 which I'm assuming is an unbalanced wheel although its only felt in the steering wheel.

-Pulls a little to the right so i know it needs an alignment.

-Left front shock is leaking slightly but shop didn't say it was blown or completely bad although it looks to be original.

I've checked about everything and cant seem to find anything other then possibly the shock being toast. Right now I'm torn between upgrading the rack or complete suspension overhaul to try to resolve. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thx

[Mwishlist]

I don't know if this will help but take a look:

http://blog.garagistic.com/symptoms-of-faulty-e30-control-arm-bushings/

I would think a shop would have caught that a bad bushing or ball joint etc., but maybe not if they aren't familiar with old BMWs.

After the brakes, the next thing I did when I bought my e30 was to refresh all the suspension in my car and the difference was amazing! However, especially if you are paying a shop to do the work, you don't want to just throw parts and money at an issue. But you can look at the CABs pretty easily and see what kind of shape they are in. Possible the left one is totally shot.

[BADE30]

CABs were done 45k, 6years ago, and don't seem too worn as far as i can tell and the shop. Probably will replace them anyways though.

Shop is definitely familiar with E30s but due too some other things that happened I don't feel confident with the mechanics diagnosis unfortunately. Moving forward I wont be taking it back there for further diagnostics on the issue. Their fix was replacing the steering guibo which did absolutely nothing, handed me back the car with an SRS light on, and then couldn't get the SRS light to clear. They tried every write up and still couldn't get it to clear so now they are ordering a tool that may or may not clear the fault? Or possibly giving me a new check panel without the SRS light.

I called and spoke to the shop manager, who has (6) E30s, and he actually recommended starting with the bad strut and doesn't feel like its the rack.. So I am going to start there and order up some Bilsteins sports with H&R Race here in a few weeks. Going to still poke at the car and see if i can find anything else but for now i feel like its probably the best place to start.

[e30davie]

If the issue is is bad as you describe there is something fundamentally wrong. Something is loose or broken.

A mechanic that cannot diagnose a clunk in suspension (regardless of car type) is not worth going back to.

[BADE30]

Totally agree and I am pretty disappointed that they weren't able to diagnose it properly and paid them to swap the guibo for really no reason..

We will see if the strut fixes the issue. They all seem pretty worn out and maybe the bumpstop is bad in the front left as well? The upper strut mount is looking pretty worn so I'll be replacing them too.

[e30davie]

Replacing things hoping issues get fixed is just a waste of money i think. Find route cause of issue and fix that thing. A shock may be the culprit but at least make sure it is before signing up for ~$1000s of dollars in repair costs. Have the shop pull out the suspect shock and have them show you on the bench why it is making the noise.

A bump stop is a bit of rubber to stop the shock bottoming out. They dont clunk and cause the car to be unsettled over bumps.

e30s are a basic car. you dont need to be "familiar with e30s" to be able to diagnose things. its a McPherson strut suspension. Its as simple as suspension gets.

[ForcedFirebird]

Pry on the ball joints to see if they are loose inside.

Also check the strut insert gland nut and the strut mount top nut.

[Mwishlist]

My wife's e30 had the original front struts when we bought it, they were completely gone and it drove fine. I agree that a clunk is most likely more than just a bad strut.

I assumed the shop would have checked the tie rods and the control arm ball joint, but based on your description I wouldn't bet on it. Like FF said, check the ball joints too. There is a pic in the link I posted that shows how to do that.

[IRON-E]

Tldr; just thinking it could have been in an accident, a wheel bearing going bad or bent tie rods?
There's a ton of things to check, hope you find the cause.

[EyExR]

Be sure the nut under the driver's kick panel that holds the steering shaft to the column is nice and tight. This is a known culprit for play that appears to be coming from the steering wheel.



The "loud" clunk sounds like a ball joint on the control arm or tie rod end to the knuckle. Or perhaps the top nut on one of the struts. Can you tell where it's coming from? Left or right?

[BADE30]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Been super busy, had a chance to check everything out that was suggested.

Driver kick panel nut: Tight
Ball Joints:Pried on them and no play
Strut gland nuts: Tight

Tie rods... So the front right is slightly bent which is causing the alignment issue. I am getting slight play and clunk from both sides when grabbing the wheels at 9&3. The clunk sounds what I am hearing all the way up the steering column. Any further diagnosis I can perform to make sure the rack is bad? Outer and inners seem fine to me?

[BADE30]

Well I bit the bullet and picked up a Z3 rack today locally for $130 with 34k miles on it. I will update once installed!

[BADE30]

Got the Z3 rack in and WOW what a difference in the steering!!

The wandering/clunk issue was resolved with the rack replacement and alignment but now it seems that I have a camber issue..

There is about .5* more negative camber on the driver side vs the passenger side front and rear. Its enough to cause the car to pull to the right. Any suggestions?

[IRON-E]

Maybe your bushings are bad on that side or the previous owner curved the car before.

[BADE30]

Yah I'm thinking the previous owner ran over something other then that i don't know what would cause it. Bushings look fine and as far as i can tell nothing looks bent?