Left rear trailing arm replaced. Wheel replaced

Impact to curb was on left rear (obv.)

Now left rear wheel is at a -1.5 degree camber
Strangely right rear wheel is at -2.0 degree camber....

I'm baffled, subframe or frame must be screwed.

Gonna try some adjustable bushings (the shop is anyway) to see if they can get enough adjustment out of those to fix it.

The drivetrain is also shifted some to the right (passenger side)

Shit shit shit..

9/25/2007 8:55:08 PM

What do you mean the drivetrain is shifted? It's entirely possible you bent the chasis, but to conclude that because you have .5 degrees of cross camber is... well, not logical.
Ahmet

9/25/2007 8:59:15 PM

^^did the shop not align the car? can it be aligned?

9/25/2007 9:24:52 PM

I can't remember if the rear subframe is steel or aluminum in those cars. I've seen plenty of both materials get bent from a direct collision with the rear......so it won't be anything out of the ordinary if that is the case.

So you are out of spec on the alignment, and question the alignment of your actual running drivetrain. What makes you think the drivetrain is off center?

9/25/2007 9:25:18 PM

not sure what I mean by that, thats just what I was told by European. Im borderline car noob, esp when it comes to suspension. I might be saying that wrong (referring to the drivetrain/diff being shifted)

Out of spec to the point where according to their test drive the rear end wants to go one way and the car wants to go the other, very loosey goosey if you will. That's the way it felt to me before the trailing arm was replaced. I almost wonder if it is something else, -2 and -1.5 doesn't seem like that much to me when it has fat ass rear tires 245/40-17

Aluminum.


[Edited on September 25, 2007 at 9:31 PM. Reason : .]

9/25/2007 9:25:22 PM

how fast were you going when you hit the curb (speed into the curb, not indicated speed)

9/25/2007 9:39:28 PM

I would estimate a lat slide speed of about 15-20; but I don't know for sure it could be more. I was sliding her in 2nd gear up to around 4k RPM i'd estimate before I let off and when I left off the ass came back around into the curb. Felt like an eternity to me because I just sat there like an idiot instead of saving her; all I could think was OH SHIT MY NEW CAR.

9/25/2007 9:47:30 PM

yep don't let off in rwd in those situation. i learned my lesson the hard way too.

[Edited on September 25, 2007 at 10:44 PM. Reason : f]

9/25/2007 10:43:48 PM

IMO a 15-20mph curb slide is enough to tweak the rear subframe. However a bent rear subframe shouldn't really cause a "loose" feeling. It might want to dog track, eat tires, or just cause a pull in either direction......or all of the above. Having a general "loose" and wandering feeling leads me to believe the shop you are dealing with is missing something pretty significant.

9/25/2007 11:21:03 PM

like a bushing

9/25/2007 11:22:29 PM

yeah, i don't think a .5 degree diff in camber would do that; maybe they exagerrated on the phone - i don't know. but European Performance from the BMW boards recommend it as although pricey one of the best in the area; ie pay for what you get.


Yeah my dad said bushing also. The wheels feel solid when pulling them though. Their workaround is a set of adjustable bushings for both sides (ouch another 1k) to pull the camber back in. I think the car should have a stock of around -1 to -1.5 anyway...though I'm not sure where to look that up.

[Edited on September 25, 2007 at 11:23 PM. Reason : .]

9/25/2007 11:22:36 PM

take it to a better shop, they are wasting your money

9/25/2007 11:24:56 PM

so was there a thread on what happened? did i miss it? so you hit a curb? how hard, got any pics.

like you said, subframe might be off a bit.

we had a Z3 come in, looked like it was dropped on its 4 tires from 10 stories up, talk about some camber

pretty much the whole rear susp. needed to be changed.



THEN I LIT IT ON FIRE. problem solved

9/25/2007 11:48:25 PM

yeah, a lil more info is in http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=494892&page=1#10739593

also just put 4 pics up in the gallery

9/25/2007 11:58:28 PM

those deep dish rims are fucking sweet, b

9/26/2007 8:25:43 AM

Quote :

"THEN I LIT IT ON FIRE. problem solved"

Done that before! Works great!




POUR GAS ON IT!

9/26/2007 2:40:46 PM

All I see are wrecked cars in your gallery. Maybe you should take some driving lessons when you get this one fixed.

9/26/2007 6:06:04 PM

^haha, i was about to mention the same thing...

take that thing somewhere else, you obviously have some retards working on it.

9/26/2007 6:10:45 PM

To jump on the "lots of wrecked cars in your gallery bandwagon", how many were yours? You're not related to slowback are you? Welded diff parts, hitting curbs, and the wrecked cars indicate a "takes wrecking to teach good driving" mentality... God its almost like a flashback... Will you start challenging people to street races just to complete the deja vu?

You have a sweet ass ride by the way. I always loved those cars.

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 6:36 PM. Reason : .]

9/26/2007 6:35:59 PM

Hahaha good point about the gallery. Nah, of the pics in my gallery only the curb incident was my fault. The white BMW was smacked in the rear at a stop light. The green jetta was smacked by a girl rolling through a blind stop sign at a Mcdonalds.

I do have horrible luck with cars though. I had another Jetta rear ended on Hillsborough my sophomore year and totaled. The Jetta you see wrecked - before it was wrecked blew an engine just cruising down the highway, through the damn rod through the block. The white BMW I backed into an illegally parked car once . About 6 years ago I was pissed at an ex gf and slid the grand prix I was driving off the road in a light rain and into a fence post .

Back to the problem at hand... the camber is off, but the problem - I must have misunderstood on the phone, is the toe. After I got the car back today, especially the left rear, has the toe kicked out somewhat significantly. Definitely explains the spooky feeling on the road.

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 7:01 PM. Reason : .]

9/26/2007 6:55:30 PM

Getting the frame machine specs for it right now; it's going on the machine this weekend. hopefully that'll do it to it. Might also pull the rear end "back" too. It seems shoved foward .5" to 1" from the previous wreck that occured before I bought the car. Appears to be more severe than I was told when I bought it. Makes sense however, would take a lot to mess total a car that expensive.

9/26/2007 8:27:14 PM

I remember hearing somewhere that BMW said the M coupe was the stiffest car they ever made. Nice car I still want one.

9/26/2007 9:10:22 PM

obviously not stiffer than a curb OHHHHHH

9/26/2007 9:31:20 PM

haha the penis car is a stiff one alright

9/26/2007 10:07:58 PM

Z3M coupe the most stiff chasis BMW has made? Not by a long shot (but it doesn't need to be, the darn thing is so short)... The stiffest chasis BMW claimed to have made was the Z4 (convertible) when it came out. I imagine others have already surpassed that chasis...

Anyway, that thing is one of the most fun cars I've come across to oversteer/drive in anger. I suggest some track pad sessions if you're interested in getting to the point where it's second nature to react for it. As far as I know Mazda Drivers always runs an open skid pad session during their events at Shenendoah (Summit Point Raceway). Also, closer to us, Alfa Club runs skid pad only sessions at VIR, and it should be very cheap to do so ($50?). It will not only make you a much better driver, but it's a whole lot of fun, and easy on the car (all skid pads are run wet).
Ahmet

9/26/2007 10:12:42 PM

how many years of practice to do this?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_1c8gezURYQ

he is a god to me.

9/26/2007 11:35:02 PM

^^I could have read that when Z3 M Coupe was made not the Z4.

meh google

Quote :

"Ride and handling are superb. While the M Roadster's frame was stiffened up a bit from that of its Z3 predecessor, the M Coupe-with its hardtop roof-offers the stiffest BMW platform to date, according to BMW engineers. In fact, it is a full 2.6 times stiffer than its roadster sibling and its wheelbase is half an inch longer."

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=44071

9/26/2007 11:48:35 PM

Yeah, the significant thing you're overlooking is that the car was made some time ago... The chasis code is still e36, we've passed e90 by now. The z3 M chasis is well over a half decade old.

BTW, I find it hard to believe the M coupe has a different wheelbase than the M roadster, might wanna double check your sources.
Ahmet

9/27/2007 2:00:48 AM

while i can vouch for the coupe being stiffer than the roadster i cant say as ive seen two of them side by side close enough at work to notice a half in nor have i meaaured. On the other hand i would def say that the coupe is hella stiffer than the z3 in question. still an excellent ride, but you certainly notice all the little things in the road.

9/27/2007 7:27:38 AM

sounds like somebody needs the stage 3 driver mod.

[Edited on September 27, 2007 at 8:01 AM. Reason : .]

9/27/2007 8:01:17 AM

^ lol

Damn, apparently the rear axle carrier is different between the Z3 coupe and the M Coupe as well. The measurement specs are the exact same for the frame machine; however part #s are different, the M coupe must have a more rigid design. I wonder if I could get away with the Z3 one, because I'm damn sure a used Z3 one is a heck of a lot easier to find. New OEM is *cough*ouch*cough* 900+core

9/27/2007 10:35:49 PM

I do not like the position of the shifter in the E979-797349329 M3

9/28/2007 3:08:16 AM