Phantom Mark

Dropping the pressure is allowing the footprint of the tyre to spread more, making the inside edge less focussed / pinpointed

ktlocklear

Ahh, makes perfect sense

DrLev99

When I used to have my xi aligned due to my "issues" they always set the rears at -2.00. That was spec for the car, but I always thought it seemed a bit aggressive looking to the eye. The rears always looked so slanted in. I'd follow that chart Gene put up....sounds like a good alternative.

salaki

As for alignment, to make sure your "toe" is set correctly.
While the camber eats tires, improper toe eats tires WAY FASTER than camber.
I'd say don't go any lower than -1.5 on rear camber and use OE toe measurement should be a good compromise.

IceyTys

Well it is a good alternative, and it seems the only alternative! I just got back from the alignment shop, and it seems the car is still pretty close to specs (-2.1 left and -1.8 right) from when it was aligned a year ago. However the only problem is he tells me he cant adjust the camber out w/o a camber kit! He said it was not adjustable Which is gonna cost me $500 between the kit and install. So aside from popping another $600 on some tires I need to fork out an additional $500 for the labor of getting the car fixed. WTF...

I dont think my guy is lying to me, as he's not trying to sell me a kit or tires, he told me I could go purchase one on-line some where and bring the kit in and he will install it and realign the car.

Can anyone confirm whether or not you can adjust the camber out w/o a kit??? I mean I would assume you cant adjust it to zero w/o a kit, but there should be some play in the camber, no? Has anyone else used a rear camber kit, any recommendations on a brand???

Gene

here's the other member I remember that adjusted the camber himself..

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=663029

DrLev99

My mechanic had no issues getting the rears into spec, but the fronts gave him a problem. I know he removed some camber pins from the struts up front, but not sure if that can be done in the rear.

IceyTys

Thanks again GENE and Doc!

Well I just got off the phone with Will at Bav Auto and he says this is a pretty common problem and that the camber should be about -.5 to -1.0 max in order to save the tire wear. He was telling me that when our cars are dropped even lower about -2 is about as high as can be brought out w/o a camber kit, he says there's very little adjustment by BMW because they dont like the suspension to be re-tuned. Anyway I was able to buy a K-Mac camber kit (same as what my shop recommended, go figure) and Will says this should solve the issue, no problem.

So I guess I just bought the bullet and hope for the best! I just hate that I had to burn through a set of tires to learn this lesson, or I would have had the kit installed last year!!!

IceyTys

Thanks Gene...

I am going to PM him to see how he "dialed" down the camber

Roleez

I know your frustration really well. My M5 ate up its rear PS2s in just 7000 miles with camber set at -2.3 by Dinan. Unfortunately toward the end of those tires' 7-month existence, the camber sagged even more to -2.8 and the toe was out of spec. I blame the settling of the new Dinan suspension for that. Plus I don't drive aggressively (WOT, redline shifting, powersliding) 95 percent of the time. Now on its second set of PS2s, I didn't want to get another rear set in 7 months. So I hit up a Dinan recommended alignment shop that does laser-guided alignment 10 miles from Dinan HQ. Even with Dinan suspension on my car, they were able to set the rears at -1.3 without a camber kit. So now, I should be able to get (roughly) twice the mileage out of these new tires vs. the first set. Although the rears aren't in BMW spec, my M5 feels just as grippy and responsive driving through some aggressive canyon roads. When one rear PS2 costs almost $500, I'll trade within-spec for out-of-spec any day.