Baby BMW Forum banner

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!
 
#3 ·
so for anyone thinking of doing this, it is very easy as i found out.

as above but my pins were not very proud so couldnt use mole grips so i drilled mine out & as marco said mine were hollow to, but once drilled i use a wheel brace to push on the rubber & then righten up the other nuts & repeat & its as easy as that.

Before









After positon of the bolt



i took it out for a test drive, not 100% sure if its just me think its better in corners, but i think it felt smoother & easyer to steer & i felt more confident but maybe its in my head i will keep testing it as i drive about.
 
#4 ·
Good man.

It's not a massive step change in performance, but certainly a subtle move in the right direction.

Might just be the camera angle, but the last shot doesn't look like it's fully over??

When I have the time (and can be bothered) I'm going to get the dremel out, and extend my slots a little bit more. I've only got about -1 degree, after fitting the M3 LCA's.
 
#9 ·
Another method to move the strut more inwards, less forciful:

- Leave the nuts on the strut almost completely unscrewed.
- Jack the car up untill all the cars weight is lift off the suspension strut (almost hanging in the nuts).
- Now you can just gently push the upper side of the wheel inwards and lower the jack just a little bit (so the car weight holds the strut in position)
- Fasten the nuts.
- Lower car completely.
 
#11 ·
I've just come to do this job and my pins are already removed/sheered?!

It's the same on both sides. How/why? I doubt very much previous owner willingly did it.

One of the pins is still visible but it looks like the top has been cut off.

Saves me a job, but I'm curious.
 
#12 ·
They're not structural components, just there for alignment at the factory. One of mine was pretty loose but the other needed hammering downward.

Pop them out, jack her up. Shove the strut tops right over until all three studs are hard against the ends of the slots, then nip up the nuts. Done. :)
 
#15 ·
Gonna do it tomorrow. Was gonna get wheel alignment too but probably a waste of money so I'm not going to bother until I have new tyres on.

One of the pins is missing while the other is half sawn (looks like someone in the past has taken a hacksaw to it)....so yeah I'll be careful where it goes.
 
#22 ·
It's literally a 5 minute job....and what a difference!

Maybe it's because I'm not using my bald outer edges as much, but steering feels much more accurate and less vague. At lower speeds it even feels slightly heavier (nice)....again, this may be because I'm using a fresh bit of tyre but I'm impressed nonetheless.

Car doesn't have that weird understeering characteristic, nor does it want to keep "catching an edge" with the outer front tyres.

Steering wants to straighten up much easier out of a bend than before.

Really wet at the moment so not been able to push it but already I have noticed a great difference.
 
#24 ·
Blackbmw120d said:
Im tempted to do this but does anyone know the torque settings for the fixing nuts :?: .
It's probably only worthwhile if you have msport suspension and larger than 16inch wheels.

The wear on all my tyres is even.
 
#26 ·
My fronts bolts were nearly all the way over to the wrong side! Kinda like I was running positive camber.

The outside edges of my front tyres are completely bald, nothing to do with tracking as that was done not so long ago.

I think the front wheels may toe out slightly now....but thats good for me because I want them to be more inner edge biased.

Can't give a full and frank review until it's dry outside but already I'm impressed....and for a 5 minute job!! DO IT!!

Is this OK to do with my brother's 330d coupe? 18 inch M sport setup. He's getting more outer tyre wear too, but not as bad as mine.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top