E46 M3 Strut Brace

M

MKZ4000

Active member
I've read several posts now but still have some questions.

Is the M3 strut brace the same as the Z4 one other than the ends not being chamfered off ?

I have read something about removing camber pins or if you don't wish to you can put spacers (washers on top). Can someone explain what that means please ? i.e is it as simple as placing the strut over the existing pins with washers and screwing the nuts down ?

Is the M3 strut bar still available brand new and does anyone know the part no for the chrome version ?
 
I have no direct experience but, yes, the E46 and E85 camber alignment pin holes in the top of the strut tower are in different places. This would mean that the strut top, tower and brace wouldn't be able to sandwich nicely because of the pin poking up.

Putting washers is a ridiculous idea from an engineering point of view as it transfers the lateral brace loads into the bolts which aren't sized for shear loads. The brace needs to be clamped flat to work properly.

However that is easily solved by drilling a couple of small holes in the strut brace to accommodate the top mount pins.
 
The camber pins are really only there to allow an approximate alignment when everything is first bolted together. 9 times out of 10, to get the alignment spot on they will need to be removed anyway.
The only issue you will have is that to fit the strut brace you need to remove all three top mount nuts at the same time, so you are likely to need an alignment done again anyway if you want to be sure it is correct.
 
Thanks for the replies. In the pic above where the hole is drilled for the camber pins, does it leave sufficient metal. The pics could be deceiving, but it looks like it is close to the edge ?
 
MKZ4000 said:
Thanks for the replies. In the pic above where the hole is drilled for the camber pins, does it leave sufficient metal. The pics could be deceiving, but it looks like it is close to the edge ?
Click to expand...
As I said before, the camber pins are only really there for initial build.
Every zed I've taken for Hunter alignment has had the camber pins removed to get the correct settings.
If it were me I'd simply take them out.
 
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