Camber adjustment (with photos)
 

I know many don't suggest adjusting without going to the dealer, but it only takes a few minutes once you have access to the bolts. You just need to use 2 wrenches to adjust, 18mm and 21mm. You can spin the bolt until it is adjusted to the max. I'm sure that BMW designed this with the adjustment in mind, or you would not be able to make any changes. The tires are not completely straight, but they are close. I have not noticed any drastic changes in ride, but the Blizzaks do have soft sidewalls and don't handle very well at speed. Plus, I like the idea of my tires lasting more than a few thousand miles.

The first picture shows the tire tracks before adjustment. Even though they look even, it is because of the soft nature of the Blizzaks. After adjustment, they still looked the same.

didn't attach photos:

I noticed that my 4.6is looks very strange from the rear and though about adjusting the camber, does anyone have the specs for the camber on the 4.6?

What's the point for tinkering with camber if you don't have an alignment rack to see how much camber/toe you have?

I suppose you're just "eyeing" it? Also, why do you want the tires to have zero camber? Negative camber is better.

:iagree: You can't just adjust camber without affecting toe. Having excessive toe in/out would cause more severe tire wear than just negative camber.

Go to an alignment shop! What's the logic in trying to save $100 bucks on a proper alignment and mess up those 4 expensive tires?

I agree. My camber/toe was professionally aligned recently.

The stock camber in the rear was -2.5° it was brought to -1.5°

It could have gone to -1° but one of my bushings was worn on one side, so they had to make it an even -1.5°

I also had the front camber brought to -0.75°

http://www.giftandphoto.com/X5/x52.jpg
from NEO autos in CT.

Not to mention having the incorrect toe setting could be potentially dangerous.

Not possible to have 0 camber, the adjustments won't allow it. Yes negative camber is better if you want to take bends at high speed and have extreme stability. On a straight, it just wears your tires. With the winter tires, I am very easy on the truck, and don't tear around anyways.

You still have the issue of the toe. Toe will change if you change camber. No sense skimping on alignment just because it eats your rear tires.

True, negative camber eats tires on the straight... but if you're not going that fast anyway, it wouldn't matter as much as if you were on dry.

Excess toe will kill your tires much faster than negative camber will.

I think i may need to have an alignment done as well. Tires are not straight looking from the rear. I had the wheels balanced but not aligned. Can this effect the ride quality, i am getting some wheel noise after the balancing now? I have also noticed that the passenger seat shakes when hight speeds, noise increases with speed and can be heard even at low traffic speads. All the wheels balanced fine, no bents rims? Suggestions seeing i do not know much about adjusting the tow and so for. any advice is welcome. thanks to all.

I looked at every single brand new E70 and used E53 at a local dealership and 99% of them had negative camber on the rear.
There's gotta be a reason for it.

so should i take it to the dealer or run to Just tires and have them align everything?

No. I was making a point that I think that the reason our cars come with negative camber(specially on the rear) has to do with improvement of handling. Regardless of tire wear.
One should, on the other hand, get an alignment if the handling of the car requires so. The decision to take it to an Indy, Just Tires, or to your local BMW shop is yours. Me personally, would rather have somebody at a BMW center work on my car. But that's just me.

the point of having so much negative camber on just the rear is for safety. it increases body roll and keeps you from sliding. dealership is not going to change that. I would value any performance oriented shop that deals with german cars for an alignment over the dealership

:dunno:huh two conflicting posts..:rofl:

welcome to the internet :wavey:

aaaahh, the age old x5 issue that bmw will not address. find a happy medium. as for me i may slot the wells where the strut towers come thru, force the struts out and attempt to find zero negative camber. it worked on my e30. more than likely i'll sell it out of continued frustration. good luck what ever you do

the fact is the that those who know what is best for you were whinnig about suv rollovers some years ago. instead of designing a better system with a lower center of gravity etc... most manufactures took the easy way out and gave you negative camber and called it roll over safety. body roll is affected much more by suspension and weight than by -camber. sliding is affected by dozens of factors. and all of these things are most affected by THE DRIVER.

i ened up having the dealer complete a road force balance and alignment on all four wheels and there is some road noise but nothing like before the work was done. Plus it handles better to and the tires appear to be wearing evenly now as well.

Zsx I have the same issue too can't got lower than -1.77, mad thing is camber was at -1.32 according to display on the measuring machine before they got working and they made it -1.77 degrees and couldn't get it nearer to zero! I think they should have initially adjusted the camber washer with the weiht of the car car off the wheels and whilst it was suspended from the chassis only making this initial adjustment easier....

Hi there , did you adjust with the rear of the vehicle jacked up?