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How to remove the camber alignment pin

43K views 141 replies 45 participants last post by  rafa.rafael.zampieri 
#1 ·
Was looking around for a how to on "Removing Camber Alignment pin" & found this on 1addits, so it maybe of help to some of you, im thinking of giving it a go.

Here the original
Okay, several people have mentioned removing the alignment pins in the front to gain additional negative camber (and reduce understeer). My stock runflat tires are close to bald with the outsides wearing much more than the insides, so the additional negative camber should actually help tire wear.
For those of you that don't have the means to measure the camber, I'd personally just move the strut top as far inwards (towards the engine) as the slots allow.
I started this with -.5 degrees on the front left and -.7 degrees on the front right. (-1.5 on right rear and -1.8 on left rear in case anyone wonders)

Tools needed:
13mm open end wrench
13mm deep socket or 13mm shallow socket with extension
floor jack
pair of Vise-Grips with pretty good teeth

Step 1
Jack up front side of car until tire if off the ground

Step 2
Loosen all three nuts of strut tower, I personally just loosened the one under the strut tower brace and removed the other two.

Step 3
Holding Vise-Grips vertically with jaws facing down, latch onto the alignment pin.


Step 4
I'd try to rock the pin back and forth for just a second to loosen it before you pull it out. It popped out pretty easily on both sides for me, but I'm sure some people will need to pull a little harder. Pictured here is the pin you're removing, its grooved but not threaded, so you don't need to unscrew it.




Step 5
Once the pin is removed, you'll need to pry the top of the strut over. I used the handle of my ratchet and stuck it down in the rubber lined hole in the middle of the three strut tower studs. Pry the top of the strut so that the three strut bolts move as far towards the engine as the slotted hole will allow. Once you've moved the bolts as far as they will go, tighten down one of the strut stud nuts. You can now tighten the other two strut nuts. At this point, you now have more negative camber and can lower the car back to the ground.

Step 6
Repeat on the other side of the car and make sure all strut nuts are tight.

On the left side, I now have -1.0 degrees of camber. On the right side, I did not max out my travel and ended up at -1.2 degrees.

If nothing else, this will help my tire wear being uneven and hopefully provide a little less understeer. Good luck!
 
#128 ·
Hi all, im looking at taking the car to have 4 wheel alignment as ive got a voucher to get the whole thing done for free :p . But im just wondering if there is ideal set of figures for them to aim for? Ive done the camber pin mod so im wondering what people would recommend? Keep the rear factory standard im guessing? But its the front im more concerned about :? Please forgive me if this has already been set out somewhere, i have been searching but didnt come across anything substantial. so, if any of the experts out there can point me in a good direction id be most greatful :bigsmile:
 
#129 ·
Onehp said:
Oh, I went a bit further and have widened one hole and redrilled two. This is how mine looks like now, approx -2.1 deg camber...

I cannot believe that everybody missed that reply!

I have a very tight fit on the front and cant go for M3 LCAs. But this solution will be ok for me since it wont push the tire outwards

Can you update us Onehp? r u happy so far? any problems?
 
#131 ·
marco_polo said:
HgS said:
Can you update us Onehp? r u happy so far? any problems?
That was a 6 year old post, 'Onehp' sold his car a long time ago, and hasn't been on the forum for almost a year.

I don't believe he ever had any problems though. :)
well, it was a proper resurrection then :)

will try drilling new holes to get more camber this weekend, and keep you guys posted on the result
 
#133 ·
Hi Fellas, new to the forums and been lurking since the beginning of the year. I just purchased a 11' 120d msport in le mans blue. Loving it so far!

I've had the car about 1 and a half months and everything has been great except I noticed that there is some uneven outside edge wear on both tyres. Is this a well known 'issue' with the 1 series? It's on 18's and Run Flats BTW.

I'd like to try out this camber pin removal to see if it helps at all but i'm a total novice, have no tools and not in an ideal location to carry out the job. Is anyone who has done this before living near SW London willing to help out?
 
#137 ·
I removed my camber pins and then had the car aligned properly. The tyres still wear on the outside.

So, if the car is correct on static alignment then something is happening during driving. I guess the bushes may be worn but not enough to fail an MOT. Perhaps the dynamic state is alllowing more toe in when on the move?
 
#138 ·
floydroid said:
I removed my camber pins and then had the car aligned properly. The tyres still wear on the outside.

So, if the car is correct on static alignment then something is happening during driving. I guess the bushes may be worn but not enough to fail an MOT. Perhaps the dynamic state is alllowing more toe in when on the move?
What are the alignment settings for camber and toe ? Toe setting also affects tyre wear, did you/they push topmounts in for maximum negative camber ?....the camberpin mod on its own only gives around 0.5deg negative camber at best so which is better than non like stock but if car gets driven briskly it will still wear the outer shoulders of tyres, more negative camber on front is achievable with M3 lower control arms (LCA)and even more from fitting some camber plates like the ones im working on, all depends what your doing with car really.
 
#139 ·
As above, toe wears out tyres faster than camber does.

toe makes your tyres do this /--\ going ^ way for toe in and \--/ for toe out.

When I had my car realigned I told them to put minimum toe out on the fronts.
 
#140 ·
Thanks for the reply. I moved mine to max neg camber in after pin removal (probably 0.5). I need to replace my front tyres but not until I can get even tyre wear. If I move to slight toe out then the car will get less stable or twitchy? How much toe out though to reduce or eliminate outer tyre wear?
 
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