[Micah247]

First off I have a 2004 330xi with stock Sport suspension.

My front tires keep wearing out on the insides. Before I invest in more tires I plan to install a SBC front camber kit.

I've searched the forums and found posts with similar issues. People have posted specs of how their car was aligned, but all their cars were lowered. Mine is at stock height and I Want to keep it that way.

I know I need it set at 0 tow, but how should I set the camber to avoid uneven tire wear?

Thank you

 

[Koninkaulus]

Are you getting the camber kit only to fix this issue? If everything is stock and not worn out you shouldnt have these issues. Go to a place where they do alignment stuff and they'll give you an A4 size paper which tells you your readings and what they should be.

 

[Micah247]

I've refreshed my suspension components, so nothing is worn out. You're the first person that did not recommend a camber kit to correct the uneven tire wear. I'll set the tow to 0 and see how it goes.

 

[Koninkaulus]

First person?? You think these cars come new with parts that **** up your tires? You think BMW dealerships would install camber kits to correct this kind of issues? Please go get an alignment and if stuff is too worn out or the wheel offset or anything is wrong they'll tell you exactly what parts need to be changed

edit: I may be the first person not to recommend it because just like you said, you've read posts describing symptoms of lowered cars. If you lower your car too much then you really need a camber kit, that is correct. But you having a stock height car should not get any aftermarket kits, thats just closing your eyes and not seeing the real problem.

 

[Dave1027]

I'll be the 2nd person then. +1 to everything Koninkaulus posted. Also, doesn't the xi have knockout pins on the strut mounts?

 

[Blue_Sky]

You can't go wrong with SPC (Speciality Product Company) chamber kits. Just shop around cuz you can get them for around $300 or under. Don't pay anything over $350. I seen them go as high as $600-700.

 

[Geo31]

1. How severe is the inside wear? Is it wearing out while the rest of the tire is nearly new, or is it wearing out a bit before the rest of the tire?

2. What is your toe (not tow) setting currently?

These cars do tend to wear the inside a bit earlier than the rest of the tire, but it shouldn't be dramatically so. My 328i did that. Too soon to tell with my 325iT. If you currently have toe-out, then that is the real problem. Toe-out will wear the inside edge of the tires 10x faster than even aggressive camber.

BTW, you probably don't want to set your static toe to 0. Under motion, static toe of 0 will become toe-out. It just happens that way. So, static toe of 0 will chew up your tires prematurely. You want to set your car up with ever so slight toe-in.

 

[Micah247]

I installed new tires 6 months (20k miles) ago the wear started immediately. The rest of the tires are fine the front insides are dramatically worn.

I just left the tire shop. I talked to the alignment tech directly. To my surprise he said "it's not the toe, it's the camber. Your tires are riding too much on the insides"

Looks like I need a new alignment shop. Tires are too expensive to just keep tearing through them like this.

Sad to say looks like I'm going to the stealership for a BMW alignment.

 

[Micah247]

Passenger side. A little worse
<a href="http://s780.photobucket.com/user/micah247td/media/7F8FC67D-B131-4D77-B738-5161A2BD40F2_zpsk1m9k4bc.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy89/micah247td/7F8FC67D-B131-4D77-B738-5161A2BD40F2_zpsk1m9k4bc.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 7F8FC67D-B131-4D77-B738-5161A2BD40F2_zpsk1m9k4bc.jpg"/></a>

Drivers side



Rear not bad at all
<a href="http://s780.photobucket.com/user/micah247td/media/50DFFF5A-659B-4362-9F16-B8442896CAE8_zpsrgkgcv7m.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy89/micah247td/50DFFF5A-659B-4362-9F16-B8442896CAE8_zpsrgkgcv7m.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 50DFFF5A-659B-4362-9F16-B8442896CAE8_zpsrgkgcv7m.jpg"/></a>

 

[Geo31]

Hate to say it, but that looks exactly like the wear I'd get on my 328i through 12 years of ownership. Tire rotation should mitigate a bunch of this.

I'd love to get 20k miles out of a set of tires. It's never happened for me. Ever.

I'll bet when you go for an alignment you find the car is either in spec or very nearly so.

 

[Micah247]

I have Yokohama S Drive tires. I can't cross rotate I can only switch front to rear. The edges almost look beveled at a 45° angle.

So your saying there's no such thing as even tire wear?

 

[Mango]

Make sure your alignment is within spec.

Keep in mind just because your alignment is in spec, doesn't mean you can't have abnormal wear. alignment is dynamic and can excessively change when you drive.

So you need to do some things:

Tell me what suspension you've replaced and with what brand

Replace what suspension you haven't replaced

Tell me what tires you have, what brand and what PSI

Tell me your alignment specs

unless you ran over a sidewalk or have some other serious damage to your car, you don't need a camber kit to get normal camber.

my advice to others: don't have tunnel vision when it comes to tire wear. tire wear is many times not about a single setting or part

 

[kwise1258]

I was going through rear tires in 10,000 miles. Took it to the BMW dealer and had an alignment done with 4 new tires, road force balanced and have 25,000 miles on this set. Probably the only time I would go to a dealer but for alignment I think it's worth it. But as always this only works if the alignment tech really knows what he's doing. Just because it's a dealer doesn't mean that they know what they're doing. Check around for recommendations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Geo31]

I have Yokohama S Drive tires. I can't cross rotate I can only switch front to rear. The edges almost look beveled at a 45° angle.

So your saying there's no such thing as even tire wear?

I've never experienced it with my 328i. Closest I've come is with tire rotation, but as you mention, just front to back (prior to my current set on my 325iT I've always had directional tires).

Funny thing is I don't see anything in the alignments specs that should cause this. Stock camber is actually pretty mild. IIRC the caster isn't a strange setting, and toe is fine. Weird.

 

[Geo31]

You know, the inside edge wear (again, exactly as I experienced with both new and old suspension components) looks SO much like what happens with mild toe-out. Makes me wonder if whatever inherent play is in the steering system, doesn't make it toe-out while in motion. Kinda doubt it because that much play should be easily felt as some sort of shimmy.

Unless..... Do you have stock FCABs or Poweflex? I can't remember if my tire wear changed appreciably after installing the Powerflex. My first thought is no, but I can't be sure. That is one place our cars have some slop. The OEM bushings are pretty poor IMHO. I think everyone should switch to Powerflex when it's time to change bushings.

 

[wasp9166]

not rec to rotate on the e46

 

[Micah247]

I have stock FCABs for now. I do plan to upgrade.

I do mostly highway miles that sometimes lead to back roads. 3 stops a day spread out. So imagine 137kph (85mph) on tue highway for 1 hour, then pushing it through the exit loop and any other turns. Making a 45 min stop then on to the next one. Round trip on average 175 miles.


I love my job.

:haul:

 

[Geo31]

not rec to rotate on the e46

I assume you mean required. Whatever. We could quibble about that word.

Rotating the tires will even out the wear somewhat. Typically, I would not rotate and just pretty much buy two sets of rears for every one set of fronts.

In any event, I saw the same wear patterns the OP is experiencing.

 

[sprintman]

OHow long since LCA's (ball joints) replaced? They wear very quickly doesn't matter which brand.

 

[wasp9166]

I assume you mean required. Whatever. We could quibble about that word.

Rotating the tires will even out the wear somewhat. Typically, I would not rotate and just pretty much buy two sets of rears for every one set of fronts.

In any event, I saw the same wear patterns the OP is experiencing.

recommended

i changed to meyle hd control arms and never got an align, still nothing like what you have going on


stock sus should not wear like that , there is a problem somewhere , find an alignment guy by you that knows wtf he is doing, usually a track , race shop


search porsche, corvette, forums etc etc , that's how i found mine