My Alignment Specs
09-07-2010, 12:40 PM
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88 535is, 89 318iT
My Alignment Specs
People often ask and others rarely post their results, so here's mine. My front tires were wearing badly on the outsides, so I figured massive toe-in. Sure enough, I measured across the fronts of the tires and the rear of the tires at the same spots and there was a .25 inch difference! I fixed that by my usual eyeball/tapemeasure alignment, but I was getting tired of trying to get the wheel straight, so I finally took it to someone to set the toe and get the readings for the rest of the car.
My instructions were to set front toe just to the positive side of zero and straighten the steering wheel. Also not to bother with the weights and toe spreader bar. It came out as desired and cost $47. I like what I see in the specs, though I would like about 3 degrees more caster and maybe rear toe closer to zero and closer to 1 degree neg camber in the front. My car has 91k miles, stock original suspension, other than lower ball joints.
All values are within factory specs.
Numbers are Degrees
Front Toe Left, Right
0.07, 0.04
Front Camber Left, Right
-0.45, -0.34
Front Caster Left, Right
5.01, 5.23
Rear Toe Left, Right
0.25, 0.11
Rear Camber Left, Right
-1.27, -1.21
Thrust Angle
0.07
Near future plan is to add Bistein HD shocks.
My instructions were to set front toe just to the positive side of zero and straighten the steering wheel. Also not to bother with the weights and toe spreader bar. It came out as desired and cost $47. I like what I see in the specs, though I would like about 3 degrees more caster and maybe rear toe closer to zero and closer to 1 degree neg camber in the front. My car has 91k miles, stock original suspension, other than lower ball joints.
All values are within factory specs.
Numbers are Degrees
Front Toe Left, Right
0.07, 0.04
Front Camber Left, Right
-0.45, -0.34
Front Caster Left, Right
5.01, 5.23
Rear Toe Left, Right
0.25, 0.11
Rear Camber Left, Right
-1.27, -1.21
Thrust Angle
0.07
Near future plan is to add Bistein HD shocks.
Last edited by dsmith; 09-07-2010 at 12:42 PM.
09-08-2010, 09:18 AM
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W210 E320
Slightly offtopic, but Bilstein shocks like the B362154, second option down on autohausaz.com here?
Does anyone know if this is designed to be used with lowered suspension?
What's so 'heavy duty' about them?
EDIT: Further research reveals the HD Bilsteins are designed for standard suspension, the 'sport' series is for lowered cars.
My question about what's so heavy duty about them still stands though
Does anyone know if this is designed to be used with lowered suspension?
What's so 'heavy duty' about them?
EDIT: Further research reveals the HD Bilsteins are designed for standard suspension, the 'sport' series is for lowered cars.
My question about what's so heavy duty about them still stands though
Last edited by bmroxm5; 09-08-2010 at 09:37 AM.
09-08-2010, 10:34 PM
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88 535is, 89 318iT
HD and Sports are the same except for a shorter shaft on the Sport, so it doesn't bottom out with shorter springs. They are pretty damn stiff (heavy duty!). Probably too stiff if you like the stock, supple, Buick-like ride.
09-08-2010, 11:20 PM
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W210 E320
My current shocks are aftermarket taiwanese crap... well they aren't 'crap' (for the price anyway) but they are definitely very firm and all little bumps are transmitted into the cabin (with lots of noise)
.. found Bilstein sport shocks on the net, $375 USD for a set of 4.
.. found Bilstein sport shocks on the net, $375 USD for a set of 4.
