Rear tire wear & camber question?
 

Ok so I bought the car about 5k ago and notice that the left rear camber was noticeably more than that of the right rear. If you stood in back and looked at it, it looks like it had twice the negative camber. The tire wear on the left rear was real bad on the inside almost worn all tread slick. So I checked tire pressure and it was at 30lbs in both but the door said 39 so I put them where they needed to be and took it to have it alligned. I told them my main concern was to check the negative rear camber on the left side. Well they checked it and told me I actually had some toe out on the right rear. So I say hmm. cause I took the left rear off to check the brakes and the wheel had RR in it from when tires were put on it. So I figure that they notice the wear on the right rear and moved it to the left just rotating instead of fixing cause they were selling it. So I ask them about the camber and they told me it was within specs, and gave me a print out, but its still alot more than the right side. Well now 4k miles later the left rear has some threads showing through on the inside of the tire, I've been monitoring pressure and its good always. My question is does anyone have any idea why my one side has so much more negative camber and what are the exact specs as far as the amount of negative camber it can have in the back. I have the print out and just off the top of my head they said it was like -5 to -6 degrees, I have a new tire on the way but don't want to install it till the problem is solved. I wouldn't worry about it if it way your normal wearing but this tire has rapidly progressed in 5k miles I'm very confused

If I remember correctly, the rear should have -4 degree camber. Make sure that you have the toe out problem fixed as that will kill your tires (inside edges) much quicker than the negative camber will. Also, the 39psi indicated on the door jam is for max load only. Normal loading is 32psi front and back.

I've noticed that increasing the air pressure caused the tires to wear faster. The increased pressure made the tires harder and more of the inside edge contacted the road. I also had my mechanic adjust out as much of the camber as he could.

excessive camber and incorrect toe causes uneven tire wear. don't lower air pressure drastically for the purpose of reducing tire wear. the tire needs proper pressure for different road and driving conditions. you can adversely affectly handling during hard manuvers as well.

get a proper alignment. you can reduce ALOT of inner tire wear. you'll still have some negative camber due to the nature of the suspension. BMW in general specs neg rear camber for handling.

1st question I have is did they properly weight the car down and measure ride height before performing the alignment?
If not then they did not do it correctly and that can directly effect the camber. As far as the specs I need to know whether you have a sports suspension or non and what engine you have. Also whether you have a single or dual axle air suspension.

On a sport suspension x5 camber spec is -1.5 degrees +/- .2

hope that helps

I have the 4.4i with sports package 2002. Now I know for a fact the way they did it was with just the normal vehicle weight. It has a black airbag looking thing on either side. I cannot adjust ride height though, well that I know of anyway. My tires will be here tomorrow and I need to put them on asap, cause the other are shot, and I don't feel safe with my wife and son riding with them. Also so what is the Normal rear pressure for the rear with these specs. I should also say it has the 19's on it 285/45/19 Diamaris.

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