Holy crap, too much camber.. disaster avoided!

[dpgx5]

Originally Posted by Doru

Lift the rear and try to move the wheel 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, then 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock. if the there is movement change the rear suspension components.
If there is no movement, let the air out in the air suspension, then try to move the wheel. If it moves, then only the ball joints are shot (usually they are the first to fail - the other components might last twice as much as the ball joints, but you will strain them with bad ball joints and fail quicker). The process of changing the ball joints is very easy provided you have the correct press for it. It took me about 30-45 min/side, and only the ball joints were toast.

GL

that will not work.... as suggested watch this video. should help you to diagnose.

Cheers!

VAC Motorsports - Correcting tire wear on a BMW X5 E53 - YouTube

[Ricky Bobby]

Awesome video, I didn't realize you could jack it up under the spring itself in avoidance of letting the air out of the spring.

I will do it when I paint my calipers and have the corner on a jack stand (although I'm confident the ball joints are worn I wouldn't like to test play)

[patrickkc]

Great video! I will definitely show the mechanics at the garage

[X5SND]

Ricky the scissor lift behind him is what's actually holding the X up...he used the other jack to just unload the rear corner. I wouldn't try jacking the entire vehicle up from that perch.

[Ricky Bobby]

Oh i know there is two jacks going on there lol!

I was going to have the X suspended on jackstands anyway when painting my calipers, then just take my jack and unload the spring by jacking it up a bit, I'm assuming you don't have to lift it off the jackstand to get enough to unload the air spring.

Regardless, after this years front end rebuild, I'm sure by the end of next year I'll be doing the parts on the rear end. After accomplishing my front bearings/CV boots myself, doing the R&R on the rear susp parts should be cake lol!

[Doru]

Originally Posted by dpgx5

that will not work.... as suggested watch this video. should help you to diagnose.

Cheers!

VAC Motorsports - Correcting tire wear on a BMW X5 E53 - YouTube

Actually it works. You didn't read my post carefully: I said" let the air out of the from the air suspension" - that's the same thing as applying the jack underneath the suspension perch. It is exactly the same thing. The difference is: in your garage usually you don't have a lift and that long jack like the vid. You either roll the car on ramps - but then, again, you have none of those high lifting jacks, or you lift your car on jack stands, then take off the air in the air springs. No more tension on the spring components.

[dpgx5]

I read your post very carefully... you need to watch the video as he explains that when you go to move the wheel 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, then 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock, there is pressure on the knuckle that you will not be able to diagnose. (read your post again - I meant it for this, not for releasing the air out btw)

With that said - patrickkc "Great video! I will definitely show the mechanics at the garage" mentions that he was going to his mechanic at the garage, not at home.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and so is this video.
Different strokes for different folks! Cheers.

[Doru]

Originally Posted by dpgx5

I read your post very carefully... you need to watch the video as he explains that when you go to move the wheel 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, then 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock, there is pressure on the knuckle that you will not be able to diagnose. (read your post again - I meant it for this, not for releasing the air out btw)

With that said - patrickkc "Great video! I will definitely show the mechanics at the garage" mentions that he was going to his mechanic at the garage, not at home.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and so is this video.
Different strokes for different folks! Cheers.

And you didn't listen carefully what the guy said - check at the 3:55 mark and on: "the knuckle is pressed down by the air suspension...and you relieve that pressure with the jack...". That's exactly what you do when you deflate the air suspension.
As you said: different strokes for different folks.

[Helihover]

Very informative video.

I have a question though, why is it that every BMW I see or have seen exhibits some negitive rear camber? I've even heard some say that a Bimmer will not handle correctly if there were 0 camber on the rear. Then there is talk about alignment. What is the correct camber for an X5 out back? If it is anything but zero, then there will be uneven wear. So is uneven tire wear on Bimmer rear tires normal?

[dpgx5]

Originally Posted by Doru

And you didn't listen carefully what the guy said - check at the 3:55 mark and on: "the knuckle is pressed down by the air suspension...and you relieve that pressure with the jack...". That's exactly what you do when you deflate the air suspension.
As you said: different strokes for different folks.

I listened very carefully... read and follow what you write and what you're saying. The awesome video from VAC (that I posed) mentions that there is a trick to diagnose without deflating the air out of the rear suspension.

im not questioning how you deflate the air system: As your other post said (read again; when you go to move the wheel 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, then 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock) - your expert advice on moving the wheel does NOT work WITHOUT releasing the air OR doing this trick... please... don't reply back and ruin the thread...