2001 BMW 330i - Replacing suspension parts & alignment

[garmcqui]

Hi guys, great forum here. Noobie with a few questions about my 2001 e46 330i Sport:

 

Between 27th-29th of December I will be replacing:

 

- Rear trailing arm bushes

- Complete track rods

- Front drop links

- Front ARB bushes

 

This is in addition to the Lemforder front wishbones (and bushes) that were fitted a 2 weeks ago.

 

Now I completely realise that the car will badly need a full 4 wheel alignment/geometry done after this work. However, the work is being done in N.Ireland (in my parents warm garage), and I can not find anywhere equipped with a Hunter alignment machine, nor any that even offer 4 wheel alignment (all they seem to offer is "Tracking").

 

I'll be driving back to Newcastle on 30th December, where I have the car booked into Revolution Motorsports for 2 new front tyres (Nankangs NS2's to match the rear) and for a full 4 wheel (Hunter) alignment.

 

Do you think I'd be ok to drive the ~180 miles without the car being aligned? I realise I may cause increased wear to the tyres, but the two fronts ar ebeing replaced anyway. Hopefully the rears shouldn't move too much when the RTAB's are being done, if we're careful.

 

I could get the tracking done before I set off, but I don't see the point in paying a garage here to do tracking, then paying another to do an alignment a day or 2 later.

 

What ya think? Do you know/recommend anywhere in NI?

 

Cheers,

 

Gareth

 

PS: here are my last Hunter Alignment printouts, from before anything was replaced:

 

Before:

 

After:

 

The guy doing the alignment said the offside camber was the best he could get it.

[Tony]

Hello Gareth

 

First up the last geo report is concerning, i assume this is why you have replaced all the parts?

 

Safety depends on how well the steering arms where fitted. If done blind ( no geo after fitment ) i would hope the new arms length was matched to the old arms, proof of the pud is the steering wheels position, if this is wildly off-line then i would say no to the journey without at least tracking. All other parts replaced will not dramatically change the geometry.

[garmcqui]

Hi Tony, thanks for replying. Why do you say it is concerning? Because of the camber? What do you think could cause this? (Sorry for all the questions!)

 

But yes, the last geometry report is one of the reasons I'm replacing parts. I can only assume something is bent or worn out that isn't allowing the camber to be adjusted properly? What do you think? Other reasons are poor tyre wear (wearing inside edge of O/S/F) and quite bad tramlining, and the fact that it has done 120k and most of these bits will be a bit "tired".

 

I'm hoping the parts I've replaced/am replacing will allow the alignment to be done properly (although I realise front camber is done at the top mount on E46's), we'll see.

 

As for the steering arms, yes I will be making sure I fit the new arms as close to the length of the old ones, and hopefully minimise any problems until I get it aligned.

 

Thanks again,

 

Gareth

[Tony]

Steering arms set to the OEM length and a level steering wheel would suggest your safe..... Concern is that OSF camber, it's position invites tyre wear and a push left, it looks like the OS has had an incident?

[garmcqui]

Not sure on that one, certainly not since I've had it (the last 20k).

 

In your opinion, what parts are likely to need to be replaced in order to try to correct the camber problem? I'm thinking probably the shocks, springs and top mounts?

 

Also, do you know where I could find the correct toe/camber/castor specs for this model (330i Sport on staggered 18's)? I've found three different sets online so far! I just want to check that the ones shown on that sheet are correct.

 

Thanks for the help so far!