[boba7523]

Hey guys,

On my passenger side front tie rod ball joint, I noticed that it was not sitting "straight" compared to the driver side front. I've use a red highlighter to draw the line.

Is this normal? I've included photos below of both driver and passenger side for comparison.

[boba7523]

One more pic. It doesn't look like the tie rod is bent...?

[HP Autosport]

All within the expected articulation of the ball joint. You can simply turn the tie-rod if you want it to be straight relative to the spindle.

[bitcore]

Originally Posted by HP Autosport

All within the expected articulation of the ball joint. You can simply turn the tie-rod if you want it to be straight relative to the spindle.

I echo this. That's pretty normal looking. They will rotate around according to suspension articulation. It's a "ball" joint, after all. The outer rod is also curved to clear the knuckle at all suspension compression and steering angles. Look up the part to see. It looks fine.


What's not normal is: if it's loose, the rubber boot is torn, you are out of alignment, your car won't hold alignment, you have any clunking, or if it's obviously bent or damaged. It's also to have damage that's not obvious to the eye - bends in the rod that are not visible or components of the ball cup that are worn and loose in ways that only present under load.

Edit: You've clearly had tool marks on your inner tie rod, so you've likely had an alignment performed at some point. I am guessing you are looking at this because you are chasing an issue? It's hard to tell what your tread depth is, but it looks towards the end of the tire life. Car feel and behavior/response to the road conditions does change as you wear the tire down. Especially if you have had alignment out of spec, or that wouldn't hold spec (EG: loose suspension components) - wear patterns on the tires will be non-uniform, and that in and of itself can cause some strange driving dynamics/feel/other issues.

[boba7523]

I appreciate you guys' replies! I was just doing an oil change and was just inspecting my suspension components to make sure they're not out of whack. I guess I was also trying to find out whether any components were bent given my alignment shop had set my camber plates at different distances to get the same front camber, and one forum member on that thread said my components were bent etc...

But my latest reply was that I sat in driver seat while they did the alignment, so I wonder if my added weight (~150lbs) might've caused this.

Here's the thread: https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2091570