Alignment

[RedlineRacer]

My friend and I put on some 1 and 1/4 inch lowering spring on his BMW. After we put them on we went to have his car aligned and the guy that came out said that we messed up his alignment with the springs that he can't fix. He said when we put the springs on his car it offset his camber and there is no way to adjust them. And the springs that he bought were strait from a BMW parts maker. And he also said that he could try, but he didn't even think he could get his heads of his lasers to see each other with his front spoiler (which is stock).
We thought he might be trying to see how much money he could get out of my friend because it was a BMW. Is this all true of what he said. Or, is this just a special thing with BMW's and every other car with align after you lower it?

[Jeff240sx]

Every time you drop your car, the wheels will get serious negative camber.  
I don't, and doubt anyone but "onebadm5" has experience with BMWs.  But there may or may not be an adjustable camber correction on his car.  If not, he'll have to buy an aftermarket camber kit (usually a control arm / tension rod thing.. forgive me, I'm not a suspension nut) that is adjustable.  Then the aligners can move the tire to the correct camber.
I know that my camber adjustment is maxed out right now, and my car isn't even lowered.  So if I drop my car, I'll need a camber correction kit, too.  It's not just a company trying to screw you.
-Jeff

[RedlineRacer]

ok, thanks. So how much on the average does a kit like that cost? and how many negative degress does it have to get until you have to start worrying about wearing tires up bad?

[Jeff240sx]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (RedlineRacer @ Oct. 26 2002,3:48)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">ok, thanks. So how much on the average does a kit like that cost? and how many negative degress does it have to get until you have to start worrying about wearing tires up bad?</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Like I said, I know nothing about BMWs, especially prices. &nbsp;For the 240sx, stillen sells them for like $250 last I checked (while ago). &nbsp;And I ate a set of tires up in 4k miles, and my camber was -3.1 degrees. &nbsp;Don't ask... someone F'd up my alignment and bought me new tires.
But stock 240sx camber specs are -1.9* to -2.4*
Dunno about the bmw though... I just know, don't go past 2.5* or he will chew through tires.
-Jeff

[GamblerZ]

Meanwhile, I think the query would have been better suited for www.BimmerForums.com or Bimmer.Roadfly.org

[S14lover]

i was told that as long as you didnt drop your ride 2" or lower you dont need a camber corrections kit?... <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/satisfied.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':satisfied:'>

[Jeff240sx]

Nope. &nbsp;My camber correction is maxed. &nbsp;If I dropped it half an inch I would need a correction kit. &nbsp;And my camber now is like -2.3*, so I need to rotate my tires quite often.
There is no such thing as a rule of thumb on cars.
-Jeff

[adey]

Jeff, what year 240 do you have and where did you get the specs? my 1993 FSM says front camber should be between 0 deg. and -1 deg. 30', while suggestion for rear camber is -1 deg 36' to -0 deg 36'

(i.e. front- between zero degrees and negative one degrees thirty minutes)

[Jeff240sx]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (adey @ Oct. 26 2002,11:13)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Jeff, what year 240 do you have and where did you get the specs? my 1993 FSM says front camber should be between 0 deg. and -1 deg. 30', while suggestion for rear camber is -1 deg 36' to -0 deg 36'

(i.e. front- between zero degrees and negative one degrees thirty minutes)</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
'96, rear camber specs, and they are according to both Tire Kingdom and Tires Plus.
-Jeff

[Apparition]

try dtmpower.net They really know their stuff over there.

[RedlineRacer]

When I talked about the BMW, I didn't mean to ask in depth about the BMW. I was just using it as an example. I just didn't know that when you lower a car it messes up the camber like that.

[S14lover]

how often do you have to rotate and "ballpark" how long will your tires last if you dont get the camber adjusted? <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'>

[adey]

I went to Pep Boys today to get my alignment done (don't laugh, there isn't another auto shop I know of within reasonable distance that'll do alignments to my specs! ), and gave them my numbers for front/rear toe/camber/caster. However, they said that their mechanics refused to/could not adjust the rear camber, as it required removal of the rear hubs (!?) to adjust.
I've seen the little "dial" or "knob" that is supposdly the camber adjustment knob, and it didn't seem too complicated... but I wouldn't know about actually dialling it in.
How true is this, and have any of you adjusted rear camber on our 240sxs?