[boba7523]

Hi all, I have Millway Street Plates for my M2C on OEM suspension, and when I went to my alignment shop to get more negative camber, the shop had the camber plate adjustments set at different measurements to get the same negative camber. For example, driver side would get 15mm while the passenger side would get 20mm in order to end at -2.4deg camber.

Is this normal? I thought both sides were supposed to be symmetrical in terms of adjustment.

[FaRKle!]

It's normal, no need to worry.

[D.Yooras]

That is not normal on a car that has no damaged/worn suspension components. Having the camber plates in different positions causes a difference in steering axis (SAI) which changes suspension behavior and geometry throughout the range of travel.

Generally speaking, 5mm of deviation up top is equal to approximately 0.5 degrees of difference somewhere in your front suspension. With factory strut mounts (which are the same on both sides) that would be at the edge of, or out of cross camber specification. That said there are other things that could cause that difference.

1) Improperly calibrated alignment equipment, camber angle is usually the first aspect to become incorrect as calibration's shift. Depending on what generation and how long since the system is calibrated, will tell you whether this is the issue.

2) Major ride height deviations (more than 5mm side to side on either axle) can cause this issue too. That is part of the reason why BMW requires the ride height of the vehicle to be measured prior to an alignment...which nobody does. Interestingly enough, if the shop did not measure the ride height the aligner will provide a "worse case" scenario with extra toe in front/rear and more negative camber in the rear suspension.


There are a few other factors but, aside from bent/worn/misplaced suspension components the aforementioned items above are where I would start. If you post your alignment sheet I can get a better idea of what's going on.

[boba7523]

Originally Posted by D.Yooras

That is not normal on a car that has no damaged/worn suspension components. Having the camber plates in different positions causes a difference in steering axis (SAI) which changes suspension behavior and geometry throughout the range of travel.

Generally speaking, 5mm of deviation up top is equal to approximately 0.5 degrees of difference somewhere in your front suspension. With factory strut mounts (which are the same on both sides) that would be at the edge of, or out of cross camber specification. That said there are other things that could cause that difference.

1) Improperly calibrated alignment equipment, camber angle is usually the first aspect to become incorrect as calibration's shift. Depending on what generation and how long since the system is calibrated, will tell you whether this is the issue.

2) Major ride height deviations (more than 5mm side to side on either axle) can cause this issue too. That is part of the reason why BMW requires the ride height of the vehicle to be measured prior to an alignment...which nobody does. Interestingly enough, if the shop did not measure the ride height the aligner will provide a "worse case" scenario with extra toe in front/rear and more negative camber in the rear suspension.


There are a few other factors but, aside from bent/worn/misplaced suspension components the aforementioned items above are where I would start. If you post your alignment sheet I can get a better idea of what's going on.

Here you go!

[D.Yooras]

Boba, looks like you have a bent strut. It's not bent by much (about 0.3-0.4 degrees) but that explains your difference in camber plate position to achieve even camber. That is assuming their aligner is properly calibrated and the targets aren't damaged (SAI and included angle are the first things to become inaccurate when calibration shifts).

I'll take a look at some of our records to estimate which one it is bent, but certainly one of them is (also a possibility it's a spindle/knuckle but the struts are the usually the first thing to bend).

Has the car ever been in any collisions or big pothole hits that you know of?

[boba7523]

Originally Posted by D.Yooras

Boba, looks like you have a bent strut. It's not bent by much (about 0.3-0.4 degrees) but that explains your difference in camber plate position to achieve even camber. That is assuming their aligner is properly calibrated and the targets aren't damaged (SAI and included angle are the first things to become inaccurate when calibration shifts).

I'll take a look at some of our records to estimate which one it is bent, but certainly one of them is (also a possibility it's a spindle/knuckle but the struts are the usually the first thing to bend).

Has the car ever been in any collisions or big pothole hits that you know of?

Thanks! Not that I know of (2nd owner). I did install the camber plates myself and remember taking a look at the strut and it looked fine. The car drives fine--should be a non-issue until it's time to replace the struts?

Also, I was sitting in the driver seat when the alignment was being performed, not sure if this might've impacted it since the weight between driver and passenger side are not even?