I know I have made that comment. I don't know where I picked up that info but I will attempt to explain my understanding of it. Here goes . . . when the SAV turns the momentum/weight of the body (body roll) wants to go to the very outside of the tires. Much of that roll energy is transferred into the tires. In a situation with POSITIVE rear camber, after deformation of the tire there will be very little tire left on the pavement to receive that energy. The energy has to go somewhere either to a skid or rollover depending on the amount of energy. In a situation with NEGATIVE camber, the more energy transferred to the tires, the more the tire deforms and the more tread touches the pavement and the more energy is soaked up in the tire. There is limits of course in either case. Negative camber does not guarantee a non-rollover and of course there are other factors involve here as well like center of gravity.

Maybe an easy way to see it would be to look at extremes like POSITIVE and NEGATIVE 45 degrees camber. If you picture those two vehicles in your head its easy to see which one would roll first. Also, look at race vehicles which have high center of gravity and are trying to avoid rolling under race conditions like Ivan Stewart's Race Truck. No negative camber on rear because of solid rear axle but REDICULOUS negative camber on the independent fronts.

Hopefully some of this made sense.

Ok great points made here, but one thing, I did this in the past wehn I first realised more inner rear tire wear than looked 'normal', I went round parking lots this weekend and x5s are plentiful, 50% of them had inner tire wear at the rear.....the ones that didnt have it seemed to have new tires anyway, so is the rear inner wear normal?i appreciate toe is an issue but it cannot go right down to zero as it messes up my camber on one side totally....camber is reduced to -1.32 and my toe goes out of range (bad) camber is pushed to -2.17 degrees and my toe goes back to within tolerance levels so left it like that.....I have to agree with some other posts on the forum, how can BMW make these beasts with so many quirks?

80% of X5's need new control arms and bushings in the rear. Just like 80% of X5's need new CV boots, door handle carriers, etc.etc. Its just one of those things that are sure to go wrong with your X sometime in its life. All cars have them

I wouldn't say all cars have them. Well built cars without a lot of features don't have issues. My Miata which is 20 years old has no issues with suspension other than bushings that are expedted to wear over time. Hell, I didn't even need to replace wheel bearings until 200k miles. A BMW that costs 4x as much new should be able to last at least 10 years without structural issues. CV boots will tear, plastic parts will wear and break over time, that's normal. Metal door handles should not break so easily, window regulators should not break so easily (why plastic to hold back a spring under constant compression?!), and gauge clusters should not be so poorly built that they lose connectivity over time. You make a proper receptacle, not glue a cheap piece of plastic to the board. Those are poor manufacturing practices. Germans aren't known for their manufacturing, only their engineering.

That being said, you can get control arm packages on ebay that are much stronger than the weak ones BMW put on and only like $250. I believe the arms are aluminum from the factory and the ebay ones are steel. I just bought my 2000 X5 a week ago, so I haven't looked at it much, but that's what I was told. All I know is I brought it for an alignment and couldn't get all the toe out in the rear either. He also couldn't get the tie rod end to move without bending it, so the front is 0.6* off, too, so it looks like I need to spend another $300 to make it right. It is always better for tire wear to have bad camber vs. bad toe. Toe kills tires quick while camber just makes it wear unevenly which can be mitigated a bit by pulling the tires off and mounting them with the inside on the outside (Directionals swap left to right).

For what it's worth have you/do you check tyre pressures regularly?
Interesting thread here on rear camber: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ve-camber.html

Got to agree with Twins re: Camber yes, slant yes, irregular tire wear - no. I bet Weasel or Killcrap is not going to say that inner tire wear is normal for our Xs.

:iagree::iagree:No uneven tire wear on any of these,, and both the mercs had well over 100,00 miles on them

1978 audi 80
1973 mercedes 220d
1983 mercedes 190
Pegueot something
Saab 93
Honda civic

I know, I don't understand it either. My X (first BMW) is the worst vehicle I have ever owned by a large margin. It seems that BMW is overly concerned about the driving experience and looks and not concerned at all about quality and reliability. Granted they do drive very well and look nice but I'm done with that stage of my life. I now make intelligent purchases based on quality, reliability and cost of ownership. BMW, as I have learned, does not fall into these categories. I don't understand the infatuation people have for these vehicles. Based on my own experience with this vehicle and forum member's accounts of their own experiences, this will definetly be my last and only BMW. Back to the tried and true Lexus for me.

I know Repoman the drive is certainly the best for me also, but my mail inbox is riddled with subfolders called x5 parts, x5 issues/fixes etc that I am trying to collect for future reference if things go wrong….tis annoying to say the least, in a way wish I had got onto x5 world before purchasing, having said that the x3 didn’t hold any appeal for me, but I soon got over the good looks of the x5 and just wished it showed a whiff of reliability all my other cars had…..only time will tell with the X it cost me an arm and leg and still does so each year in running costs (and consider the fact that I only use it for journeys over 65km(it is very comfortable), imagine the wear and tear in stop-start town driving!

As TrickerZ mentioned earlier about his preference for aftermarket control arms because they are built better, I share his opinion on every other part I replace on the X also. When I replace a part on the X (which is often), I go out of my way to avoid OEM because of the lack of quality of the OEM parts. Why would one replace a broken part that did last as long as it should have with the same poor quality OEM part that will most likely not last as long as it should again? Conversly, my opinion is opposite on my Lexus. When I do replace a part (which is rarely), I go OEM because of the length of time the OEM part lasted (quality).

Additionally, why does BMW keep making replacement parts of the same caliber as the ones that have been proven "defective" by the lot (i.e. window actuators, pixel issues, FSR, rear control arms, etc.)? How much extra money is BMW making off loyal customers by selling the same poor quality replacements over and over again instead of redesigning these parts so that the loyal customer won't have a problem with that part ever again after buying the replacement. What a slap in the face to their customer! BMW is laughing all the way to the bank on our dime. I don't understand loyalties to a company like that.

My 05 has inside tire wear - so much so that I may have to replace the rear tires after 10k miles. I've got the winter set on there now, but I need to solve the problem before the expensive summer 20s go back on. I didn't realize I had a problem until the summers came off and I got a good look across the tread.