[NoSole]

I have an '08 E90 335xi with KW v3 coilovers on it and love what they've done to both the look and handling (since OEM xi's ride pretty high). What I don't love is that I'm chewing through tires because the camber is all off due to the ride height being so low. Logic fails me on this one because the obvious approach would be to increase the distance between collar and perch, but I've maxed this out in the rear and still my car sits super low as if nothing has changed.

Rather than relying on someone else to know what they're doing, I'd like your help in understanding how to adjust suspension. That way I can stop wasting money every time I take my car in to the shop to fix the problem only to find nothing has changed. I lack the tools to do it myself, so I want to be able to point out to the technician what they are supposed to do.

As an added bonus, if you know of a reliable shop near Studio City (meaning San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, CA) who can handle this, I'm all ears!!

[jwzimm]

I hope have had a proper alignment done to adjust your settings, correct? Our rear camber is fully adjustable so there should be no reason you cannot get the rear camber and toe into alignment with factory specs. The front has some camber adjustment capability as well if you pull the alignment pins in the strut hats (search on here for how).

The bottom line is that you should be fully able to get the car aligned to factory specs (or even better) even if you are lowered. I have mine on KW V1's with the rear fully maxed out high and the front set to match wheel gap. I just had mine aligned again and dialed in 1 degree of negative camber in the front with zero toe. The rear is a 1.7 degree negative camber with near zero toe as well. The car is perfectly neutral in the corners with this setup.

By the way, camber has less to do with tire wear than toe. Toe will EAT tires.

Are you sure your rear coils are installed correctly? The adjuster should be installed on the top of the spring and your old rubber pad should have been installed between the KW spring and the lower swing arm.

[NoSole]

Originally Posted by jwzimm

I hope have had a proper alignment done to adjust your settings, correct? Our rear camber is fully adjustable so there should be no reason you cannot get the rear camber and toe into alignment with factory specs. The front has some camber adjustment capability as well if you pull the alignment pins in the strut hats (search on here for how).

The bottom line is that you should be fully able to get the car aligned to factory specs (or even better) even if you are lowered. I have mine on KW V1's with the rear fully maxed out high and the front set to match wheel gap. I just had mine aligned again and dialed in 1 degree of negative camber in the front with zero toe. The rear is a 1.7 degree negative camber with near zero toe as well. The car is perfectly neutral in the corners with this setup.

By the way, camber has less to do with tire wear than toe. Toe will EAT tires.

Are you sure your rear coils are installed correctly? The adjuster should be installed on the top of the spring and your old rubber pad should have been installed between the KW spring and the lower swing arm.

Thanks, I'll definitely address that. That said, what I've been told when last I had everything aligned is that they couldn't put any more positive camber back in because it's maxed out and the only solution was to lift it back up, which I'm fine with because it sits too low IMO (the rears sit IN the wheel arch about 1/2"). I will certainly address the toe with them as well, but what I will say is that the negative camber is significant enough that I can actually see it just by looking at it from the rear, which means it's too much. Certainly well beyond the 1 or 1.7 you've described, which should be imperceptible to the naked eye.

While toe may also be contributing to tire wear, it doesn't explain why my ride remains soo low despite having been adjusted for maximum height. There has to be something else I'm (or more accurately, they're) missing.

[NoSole]

Still no definitive answer.

bump

[ThatRWD]

Same here mate, waiting for an answer from a friend. I'll let you know if I get my answers.