The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Strange camber reading after lowering
So here's the quandary , I ran our e30 on cut springs and had the car aligned in the past and the car drove perfectly after
Flash forward to today I swapped in some pricey lowering springs (traded for) and now the car pulls hard to the right, and the steering wheel is no longer centered. So I drove to the alignment shop and they the car pulls just as hard after the alignment. Their sheet shows the following: 
The camber readings are concerning
Sounds more like something is worn out or broken.
Hm, I'll have to look, I thought it might be where the springs end up when the car is lowered , because when its jacked up the springs are free and can move and there is a notch at the bottom of the perch for the coil end. Think this could do it? The car was also in a major collision somewhere in its past and the front is tweaked, but it tracked fine before the spring swap
I've also been told the springs need a "bed in period" I put around 50 laps in at buttonwillow before taking it to alignment shop, is this enough time?
If the ride height is even, that difference in camber indicates there is an issue somewhere.
Is the caster adjustable on e30s?
I think the caster and toe are but not csmber
Is your ride height even? How low is the drop?
I'll throw a tape on it tomorrow when I get it back on the ground. Just pinned down another issue, the diff I bought for $30 on Craigslist is making a high pitched whirring sound
The diff noise goes away if you turn up the radio : )
Is there any side to side adjustment of the front subframe? You can probably shift it to the side a bit to shift the camber over.
The rear is dogtailing a bit too. On purpose? Its setup to turn left well, kind of...
I assume you checked tire pressures?
How about checking for brake drag after a ride allowing everything to get warm?
Your diff seems to have a bad bearing, it could be causing some/all of the pull.
I'd be looking more at the left rear and why it's toed in so much.
the diff causing the pull? I've never heard of that, how does it happen?
i'm also concerned by the rear, I did just pull the whole rear end to replace completely destroyed subframe and trailing arm bushings, but i'm not sure how I could have screwed it up what should I look for?
The pull is caused by the difference in the front camber. Fix the camber and even out the toe in the rear.
I know camber and toe changes are just part of lowering a vehicle but how the hell does it get so far out of whack left to right
I know camber and toe changes are just part of lowering a vehicle but how the hell does it get so far out of whack left to right
Are your top mounting bolt holes slotted? If not, slot them.
On the shock tower? No, I guess I can, I'm assuming I've reassembled something wrong to get such radically different camber and toe settings left to right though? I don't want to modify the car to fix a problem ive created.
The rear is really perplexing, I know lowering the car changes the toe and camber, but the camber reading are the same left to right and the toe drastically different. I'm at a loss
Is it too late to throw the old parts in and see what happens?
Go back and think about every bolt you touched to change out the springs. I suspect it will be something related to one of those. Don't know spit about E30's but will take a WAG (wild assed guess). By the time they reach Lemons grade, a lot of these cars have been touched by well meaning but perhaps unenlightened individuals. So there may have been some mods along the way. Guessing that it's a mcPherson strut front and I'd guess the struts are connected to the upright by a couple of bolts. You can buy eccentric/offset bolts to change the camber for some cars. I'm wondering if that's what you are dealing with on that one side. If it does have the two bolt setup to attach strut to upright, you can loosen the nuts and then rotate the bolts one at a time to see if the hub angle changes/moves in and out as you do so. Or maybe someone slotted the holes those bolts are in and there is enough play to change the camber over there. Loosen the nuts and see if you can adjust the camber on whatever side by levering the strut/upright interface in whichever direction you want and then tightening the nuts back up. In any case, something is amiss but I'm suspicious of bushings/etc that failed at the same time as work was done..
1. I believe with a little work the top strut bearings can be rotated to change the camber angle. Take a look at that, maybe you rotated one strut bearing by accident.
2. Check your ride height. Be careful about wheel arches not being straight. It they aren't, measure the ride height from the lower/inner control arm.
3. If the ride heights are off left to right then try switching the springs. Also check the spring seats, you may be missing a rubber in one of them.
4. The rear trust angle will cause a change in the steering wheel angle but generally won't cause a vehicle pull. Sometimes called crabbing.
Rear toe is inside the acceptable window of the guy doing the alignment. He was ok with it or it was a front end only alignment.
A bad bearing in the diff = drag. Drag can try to rotate the car. If you lock 3 of 4 wheels on a rolling rack it wants to turn / pivot around the stopped / dragging wheel. Think of it like a steering brake. How bad the bearing is could be hard to say. It may not be the source of it but it's a possibility.
The camber being off a bunch side to side can cause it to pull too as mentioned.
If you shift the front subframe over you can even out the front camber (if there's room to do it..)
Rear toe is inside the acceptable window of the guy doing the alignment. He was ok with it or it was a front end only alignment.
A bad bearing in the diff = drag. Drag can try to rotate the car. If you lock 3 of 4 wheels on a rolling rack it wants to turn / pivot around the stopped / dragging wheel. Think of it like a steering brake. How bad the bearing is could be hard to say. It may not be the source of it but it's a possibility.
The camber being off a bunch side to side can cause it to pull too as mentioned.
If you shift the front subframe over you can even out the front camber (if there's room to do it..)
Being that it was red in the read out I'm guessing it wasn't acceptible to the machine, same with the camber, but it may not have been something they could fix without replacing parts or beating on the car.
jrbe wrote:Rear toe is inside the acceptable window of the guy doing the alignment. He was ok with it or it was a front end only alignment.
A bad bearing in the diff = drag. Drag can try to rotate the car. If you lock 3 of 4 wheels on a rolling rack it wants to turn / pivot around the stopped / dragging wheel. Think of it like a steering brake. How bad the bearing is could be hard to say. It may not be the source of it but it's a possibility.
The camber being off a bunch side to side can cause it to pull too as mentioned.
If you shift the front subframe over you can even out the front camber (if there's room to do it..)
Being that it was red in the read out I'm guessing it wasn't acceptible to the machine, same with the camber, but it may not have been something they could fix without replacing parts or beating on the car.
Splitting hairs with the rear toe. 0.40° is the edge between ok and out of range.
A lot of alignment places aim for getting specs in the green window. Good enough, ship it. They usually record final readings before locking things down too. Not saying they're all terrible, just stating what i've seen as average alignment settings from tire shops.
I'm sure a lot of places wont care to work with the chassis for your free - with 4 tire purchase alignment. At least in my area, alignment shops dont want to bother with anything.
I got the same height, but I did measure it after rotating the tires... And it looks like someone on the team flat spotted one front tire when they spun coming off Phil hill at buttonwillow a few weekends ago. no big deal these things happen, I suspect the pull and wheel vibrations may be attributed in part to this. also the fronts are wearing a lot faster than the rear.
Anyway I measured to the bottom of the control arm and came up with the same 4.5" height measurements for left and right sides. The rubber pad on the bottom of the spring had slipped partially out on one side so I ditched both, but I doubt a piece of rubber the thickness of a quarter would throw the camber off by a degree. I think I'm leaning towards the problem always being there. After all the car is salvaged, the hood, and front fenders are clearly not original, and the front radiator mount across the front of the car was bent when I got it. The car also clearly features a Earl Scheib respray
I got the same height, but I did measure it after rotating the tires...
We generally measure from the fender to the center of the wheel. That takes the tire out of it.
Looking at the alignment sheet it looks like it should turn left better than right. Maybe the car had a life you didn't know about before you purchased it.
Good luck, I'll see you at Buttonwillow in a few weeks.
My E28 was hit in the front quarter and that bent the strut housing to give it an additional 1.5 degrees of negative camber. Those housings are flexible.
Are the two front tires the same age? Sometimes we get a harder/older tire on one side and that makes it pull.
The extra rear toe all being on one side could make it pull as well.
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