E86 Suspension Alignment - Help Needed!

[z4pilot]

Well, it was MOT day today and the car passed with flying colours.... almost....

Failed on a snapped rear suspension spring - shocker! :roll:

All is not lost however, as sat in the garage I have a set of Eibach springs bought from Rorybeanbutler last week - beautiful synchronicity eh?

So they're going on the car tomorrow, but what alignment settings to go for? My indy has 4 wheel alignment (although not Hunter as I understand it), so what should I ask for - seen references to asking for Z4M settings, but does anyone have any advice as to what will work with the following;

2008 E86 Coupe
M suspension from factory, but going onto a set of Eibach sport springs
Spacers - 12mm front, 15mm rear
Currently running 18" 108's with standard size tyres

I want to avoid any rubbing if possible, so if anyone can point me towards a print out of settings etc that would be great! Really looking forward to getting it on the springs - pictures to follow

 

[Rorybeanbutler]

Spot of luck there with the springs! I did see a thread on the alignment but I can't find it now.

 

[z4pilot]

Almost fate... Quick search suggests Z4m settings will work as these will reduce the rear camber increase caused by the suspension drop, but would be interested in anybody's real world experience. Does the Z4M Coupe have different settings to the Z4M roadster?

 

[z4pilot]

ok - well just to round this topic off in case anyone else searching ends up on this thread...

Lots of folk have posted about alignment, mostly asking questions about their particular setup/handling issues, but precious few have posted alignment settings and discussed whether or not they actually work or not, making it difficult to make a judgement as to which settings to ask for.

To compound the problem, I was short on time (the springs were going on the very next morning) so had limited opportunity to search.

In the end, it looked like there were 2 or perhaps 3 options

1) Replicate, as far as possible, stock alignment settings, irrespective of the lower ride height (eibachs will lower approx. 15mm beyond Msport). I eventually decided against this as I was concerned that, as I was also adding spacers (12mm/15mm), that I might experience rubbing.
2) Ask for M settings. In the limited time I had to search, I couldn't actually find a definitive post that discussed the M settings and their effect on a non-M, so decided against this approach also.
3) Something else - which was the option I went with. I bought the spacers off nfbr, who had them fitted for a time to his coupe, which was also running on eibachs. In his mod thread, http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=72036&start=150 (halfway down the page) he publishes his settings and seemed pretty happy with the outcome, so I decided to go with the same settings as a first attempt.

Initial impressions? Well the car undeniably looks so much better a little lower and better spaced. The settings haven't had a noticeable detrimental effect on the handling - the car tracks straight with no additional tramlining or wandering. The only possible issue is that there is quite a bit of negative camber, which may affect tyre wear, so I might elect to have some of it wound off if the tyre wear is very uneven.

Before the springs (made to look a little worse by the effect of the flash)





And after





And in terms of the spacers....

Before



And after



Just the OEM+ look I was after 8)