Hoping, if possible, for bit of advice and reassurance that what I've been told by a garage is correct.
I fitted the B12 kit a few years ago to my 2003 E85 3.0i (122k) and took it to a local garage that specialises in alignment for fast road/track cars and asked for as close to M3 CSL settings as possible and this is what they achieved (rear camber some way off CSL 1.5):
I was happy with how it handled on the road but did my first track day in it last summer and struggled a bit with changes of direction and understeer, although I'm sure my driving and not being aggressive enough wouldn't of helped. Following hitting a curb it pulled to the right so this year, before doing another track day I booked it in at the same specialist to check the alignment. Before the alignment I noticed it was no longer pulling right but thought I'd still have it checked and results given today below:
The mechanic said the front was fine, however the rear offside wheel was toe'ing out significantly, he loosened and adjusted everything he could but said 'it was as far over as it could go' so could not get the toe any further in then it is, he thought the likely cause was one of 3 possible suspension bushes being worn out. I need to clarify but I THINK he indicated the rear trailing arm bush and the bush at either end of the control arm. He said he could replace one at a time and do the alignment each time but it would cost far more than replacing all of them at once and suggested fitting a reputable brand of adjustable control arm at the same time. However he estimated £500+ VAT total for labour, bushes and control arm but suggested I source the control arm (not from eBay) and indicated if not corrected the offside tyre would wear out on the inside in 6 months potentially..
I really don't know enough about suspension but are the three bushes mentioned the likely ones to effect rear toe and could wear of these cause the toe to be so far out and unable to correct? Would it not be obvious which one was responsible?
Any advice or reassurance would be appreciated! Thanks
I fitted the B12 kit a few years ago to my 2003 E85 3.0i (122k) and took it to a local garage that specialises in alignment for fast road/track cars and asked for as close to M3 CSL settings as possible and this is what they achieved (rear camber some way off CSL 1.5):
I was happy with how it handled on the road but did my first track day in it last summer and struggled a bit with changes of direction and understeer, although I'm sure my driving and not being aggressive enough wouldn't of helped. Following hitting a curb it pulled to the right so this year, before doing another track day I booked it in at the same specialist to check the alignment. Before the alignment I noticed it was no longer pulling right but thought I'd still have it checked and results given today below:
The mechanic said the front was fine, however the rear offside wheel was toe'ing out significantly, he loosened and adjusted everything he could but said 'it was as far over as it could go' so could not get the toe any further in then it is, he thought the likely cause was one of 3 possible suspension bushes being worn out. I need to clarify but I THINK he indicated the rear trailing arm bush and the bush at either end of the control arm. He said he could replace one at a time and do the alignment each time but it would cost far more than replacing all of them at once and suggested fitting a reputable brand of adjustable control arm at the same time. However he estimated £500+ VAT total for labour, bushes and control arm but suggested I source the control arm (not from eBay) and indicated if not corrected the offside tyre would wear out on the inside in 6 months potentially..
I really don't know enough about suspension but are the three bushes mentioned the likely ones to effect rear toe and could wear of these cause the toe to be so far out and unable to correct? Would it not be obvious which one was responsible?
Any advice or reassurance would be appreciated! Thanks
