BMW FRONT CAMBER ADJUSTMENT for better front end grip.
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- A quick DIY camber adjustment on an e46 BMW. Adding negative camber (top of tire tilted inward) will help with front end grip and offset bad tire edge wear from hard cornering. To make proper adjustments in the front you really need proper camber plates as the built in adjustment will only give you a degree or so.
Finally somebody on youtube who knows what a fucking torque wrench is.
Peter Mason and recommended an alignment.
Hey,
I did the same thing to my 330 and it changed the handling nicely. Steering seems to have a lot more "bite" now. What also helped was adding a strut tower brace. You can use one of the M3 (pricy) but there are many aftermarket ones available. Just be sure to pick a steel one (aluminum ones will flex and are for show only). One more thing regarding the strut tower bolts: These are oval shaped and are supposed to "self-lock". This is why they are supposed to be torqued that low. You should consider replacing them with new ones now that you opened them once. They are only 50 Cents or so a piece at your local BWM dealer.
Cheers,
Hardy
I did read about that. I will be doing some new shocks soon (koni sport) and I was planning on replacing a bunch of stuff anyway. I wonder if it would be a good idea to tighten them a bit tighter if you needed to reuse them.
Will be looking into this after my cooling overhaul. Solid video.
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So, it sounds like negative camber is normal for bmw's. I used to have a e39 and the inner edge of the tires always wore down well before the rest of the tread. A couple friends with BMWs always told me that was by design to allow better handling on the corners. It made sense that it would compensate for the natural positive camber forces that occur when cornering on the outer wheels. But, so many other guys told me that there was no way a car maker would intentionally cause such wear rates on just the inner edges of the tires. This question has always stuck with me, but my car sure did handle great!
Great video, simple procedure... did this to mine some time ago when I put coilovers in, the car sits just a bit nicer and handling is improved, especially for drifting ;)
more like 0,1 degree.
Hi,I installed an adjustable suspension, and my wheels are crooked, I did the convergence of the wheels ,how can i adjust it to be perfect ? Thanks
Watching this video in 2024, and seeing 3.14M Subscribers under it is comical.
Guessing this will help with being more stable at higher speeds?
nice vid. could be useful to post on the forums for some people. I have coilovers, swapped the top hats and done this alignment pin trick and have -2.3camber in the front now
How do you swap top hats? Can you remove them from the top or do you have to go underneath and remove the whole shock? Not doing coilovers yet, but I do want more camber.
If the top of the tire is pointing out, that's positive camber, right? Also--17 foot pounds? That may be right, I was just expecting these to be much larger bolts. I guess it just varies by vehicle as far as what is holding the strut in place.
Ive ran various cars with camber and castor adjustment, in the dry (depending on how far you go) its great and goes round on rails, however in the wet it can be a bit wild, although aqua plane is better on puddles as you force the water out instead of riding on top.
Alternatively if you could fit offset wishbone lollypop/bushes (polly is an easier fit) and adjust the castor (as the stock e36 m3 had). This wont help cornering, but does make the car to run true (more so at higher speeds), so its light at low speeds and heavier at high speed.
The other issue you get with camber adjustment will be tyre wear, but this small of an adjustment wont probably introduce much. The other way to improve the lightness of the steering on tbe e46 is using an under drive pulley, thus under driving the power steering pump, this way you recover a few bhp and improve the handling (by making it heavier at any speed).
That said my e46 always felt skittish, swapped the front wishbones for the solid ball joint meyle hd ones and it feels much much better, still a fraction too light tho. So im going to fit the under drive pulley at some point.
If you do this, carful when knocking the location nub out (flat), the shock top is cast, too hard and it might crack. I wonder if drilling it out might be safer. That said the bottom of the shock is just one bolt, (although you probably want to also remove one end of the torsion bar drop link to make it easier to get out, then take the entire leg (shock/spring/shock top) out, then grind the nub off/down and refit, which is probably the long winded but safest method.
Or you could just buy adjustable camber plates for under $100 and get as much or as little adjustment as you wanted.
Great info. I tend to find that my e46 already errs on the side of heavy steering anyway. New bmws with the electric steering are way too light and lack the same feel. Interestingly I have noticed some feeling of instability (very little) at track speeds. 150km/h + and I chalked this up to lack of any good aero. Wonder if the caster adjustment would help with that.
For sure, im pretty it will, made a big difference on my e36 north of 80mph, you can fit the solid m3 eccentric e30/e36 ones by pressing them in, but it made the ride pretty hard, i would do polly its so easy. Fair few places that do them in eccentric setup now.
This might also be a possible "fix" if you have camber issues. The angle might be already off and need to be centered a bit more.
make sure your toe is a-ok:
use a jack stand with some fishing wire - you can tell if its out just make sure the line touches the center of each front and rear tires on one side.
Thats a great Idea actually. Thanks for the tip!
So this pin you knock off is there for what purpose?
Does this affect the Caster and toe aswel?
Please tell me how to center those three bolts highlighted on your video on a correct factory settings.. I get a tire-wear X5on the outside on my X5 e53.. I adjusted my camber three times in two months already with two different masters and still no desired result I see so far.. you might be on the right track with this video, so please answer to my question
Your X5 M is not like this E46 BMW. You have a much different suspension setup and the adjustment shown in this video is not an option for you. Camber adjustment for your vehicle is done where the spindle attaches to the strut. Try finding a BMW specialist shop that can work on it. Ask them to give you 2-3 degrees negative camber in front and zero to .1" toe. The closer to zero your toe the less likely you will experience odd tire wear.
Work in e39?
I could only get -0.5 degrees of max front camber and -1.5 degrees in the rear max. So I kept all four wheels at -0.5 degrees of camber.
I want to get fronts to -2.0 degrees and the rears to -1.0 (which I already can get to in the rear, but I don't want the rears to have more negative camber than the front, hence why I kept them all -0.5 for now). Probably will get camber/caster plates. Any suggestions?
If you are going to do a proper camber plate make it a good one as the cheap ones make a lot of noise and die. Turner motor sports has a fixed camber plate that is way cheaper (just a disc of metal) that might be a good option.
+E46 Reviews with T.H. I'm interested in the Turner Stage 1, since I think that it should be able to give me -2.0 camber per side (and caster adjustment as well because my caster is about 1 degree different from left to right and it feels like it turns right better than left)
Umm I can’t get my pin out, the car is lifted and nuts slightly loosened, why is this happening.
should also throw in there for a more crazy camber adjustment you could switch top hats from one side to the other......this would get -2 degrees and upwards depending on your ride height. but this trick could be a e46 m3 only thing idk
I remember reading about this but I don't remember if it was m3 only. Either way that's a serious amount of camber and probably not usable for city driving.
+E46 Reviews with T.H. totally usable lol
nothing wrong with that at all lol 😂😂😂😂
Well yes usable. Not that it would effect driving. Just annoying tire wear.
I want to swap the tophats for drifty camber. Am I correct in assuming that I must remove the entire shock first?
Are the rims stock or have you used something like plasti dip on them? Nice guide btw
Dipped.
cool, and you did it by yourself? would love to see a video on that
Yep it's not too bad. Might make a video if it's something that people want to see.
Do you leave the pin out afterwards?
Yes you will have to
Why do you have to leave the pin out?
Won't fit anymore.
Where are your brakes?!
Can i do this on a e36??
I used a BFH on the pin and it did not budge. Car has no rust. WTF.
This function on a bmw e90 330i 2006?
Holding a torque wrench like that means you're not getting an accurate click. Hold it at the handle as designed.
they will just undo your camber at the alignment. and put it back to 'spec'
Unless you tell them you are right. I was suggesting an alignment because usually people need them.
+E46 Reviews with T.H. I completely agree. But ya, better make sure to let them know to keep the camber maxed
Euphorica
They will do nothing, they only give you a bill for "a alignment".
thats gotta be a tiny fraction of a degree....
these are 25 ft pound
I Cant even adjust mine, My Alley bolts are inside the Strut Tower
Quick question: how did you decide to set camber ONLY to front wheels? What’s the effect/impact if no camber to rear?
Front and rear can be adjusted independently to achieve the desired chassis balance. On a stock BMW E46 (and most BMWs) the front wheels do not have enough camber from the factory. General opinion is that this is to reduce oversteer and darty handling characteristics. For an enthusiast BMW driver, the added camber in front will be a beneficial adjustment and result in a much better handling car. I generally go for 2-3 degrees of neg camber in front and similar to slightly more in the rear.
@@recyclebmws2574 How about the wear on the fronts? Is it notable or pretty much the same?
All you're getting by doing this is a 0.1° camber change and totally fucking up your toe alignment. Don't do this.
Hiii
What's the damn point of a camber videos then right after suggest a real alignment after the practice one is done ...?😂
doesn't work...i tried to pry with a screwdriver and i snapped the bolt..now i only have 2 blots at the strut tower. thank you for a grate diy for breaking my car!
+Vlad ZSX did you take enough weight off the wheel so the strut would move? Either way. That whole strut is coming out and getting a new top hat
Took the weight off...of course. I put it on jack stands. I'm honestly sick and tired of these old e46s and naturally aspirated engines..thinking of buying 335i e92
@@gamingfever69612 Lol complain about working on a car, and then buy a 335i? Good luck mate :) Talk about reliabilty issues...
@@idk.who.am.i He's a twat isnt he...or is it a she?
You did it. Accept your responsibility and destiny pleb.