New Rear Suspension Parts, Camber Maxed Out

[mtuohy]

2004 E53 3.0 with 155K miles. Rear suspension parts replaced: Shocks, springs (incl upper/lower pads), guiding suspension links, wishbones, integral links, ball joints, trailing arm bushings and carrier rubber mounts. In other words, everything.

Last step, had the car "four wheel" aligned by a reputable shop. Bentley spec for rear camber is -1.5 to -2.2 degrees. Best they could adjust on my passenger rear is -2.9. They were able to set toe within spec.

Shop can only conclude that the wheel carrier (knuckle) is bent and needs to be replaced. I find it hard to believe that. The carrier is by far the most robust component and there's no history of an incident where this would be a possibility.

Are there other thoughts why I could replace most every component and still be so far out of spec on camber?

[4.8isX5]

Did you replace the rear lower control arm bushings? (The ones torward the differential side)

[mtuohy]

Yes. Trailing arm ( lower control arm... swing arm). These bushings were in good shape and really didn't need replacement. Ball joints and upper wishbones bushings were the worst.

I could replace the lower control arm bushings with eccentric bushings but only as a last resort. I would rather just understand why my camber ended up so extremely negative given all of the remedies that should have put the geometry back within spec.

[upallnight]

Perhaps something got bent and you can't just eyeball it. The new laser wheel alignment tool is pretty accurate.