[westphone]

Dear Friends,

My right front fell into a pothole on the highway traveling at 100 km/h avoiding a merging bus. The tire is gone, and worse yet the factory cannot bring the camber back.

I had a glimpse at the print out of the alignment parameters, and only the camber is beyond tolerance. The factory said the front alignment cannot be adjusted, and not being within the tolerance means anything in the suspension assembly can be the culprit (probably damaged by the force of me in the pothole). They said they are going to exchange parts one by one to figure it out.

Is it true that the camber on F20 front wheel cannot be changed? Will this exercise of the factory trouble shooting help at all (replacing parts and testing it out?) I do not have confidence in their methods somehow.

Your opinion? Thanks.

[ovekvam]

Most BMWs have McPherson front struts, where only toe angles are adjustable. It is however possible to replace the top strut bearings with different part numbers that will change the camber by half a degree. This is a typical thing to do when bringing the alignment back after small crashes. The root cause of you camber problem is that something is bent. Maybe the strut itself, or the wishbone. Replacing the bent part with a straight one should fix the issue.

You can also install aftermarket camber plates to make the camber adjustable. This is quite common among people who participate in trackdays (and wannabe racers).

[westphone]

@ovekvam

Thanks a bunch

[donaldt]

I was gonna say,
you have now got an excuse to get some suspension with camber plates!