Camber control arm bolt torque spec

[matty088]

I have to replace my camber control arm. Long story.

I need to know the torque spec for the rear bolt. Circled below. I believe the front two where the camber is adjusted and the strut bolt are both 74ftlbs . Is the rear bolt the same ?
Thanks

[hC1001]

If thats a M14 bolt/nut its 120ft lbs

[Dengf80]

Did you try to lower your car on springs and mess up the eccentric tab on the outer part of the arm?

[matty088]

Originally Posted by Dengf80

Did you try to lower your car on springs and mess up the eccentric tab on the outer part of the arm?

Sure did. MP HAS though. Sounds like you speak from experience.

[Dengf80]

Originally Posted by matty088

Sure did. MP HAS though. Sounds like you speak from experience.

Had to replace both as well as the camber bolts haha. Would've been a lot cheaper if I didn't attempt to lower the car myself.

[matty088]

Originally Posted by Dengf80

Had to replace both as well as the camber bolts haha. Would've been a lot cheaper if I didn't attempt to lower the car myself.

well i learned and didnt destroy the passenger side.But yes had to order the camber arm, bolt, washer, nut. its costing me 260 to replace with oem. ITs still cheaper than getting done professionally. but i have tons of hours into this. hopefully when i put car on ground everything functions properly. i didnt like installing the strut spindle nut on top of shock. The front was fine bc i had the right socket that allowed me to hold the smaller nut. But for the rear i had to use tommy l garage method.....the impact gun.

[hC1001]

Just curious how you damaged the control arm? Was it the camber adjustment slot that got messed up and didnt hold camber adjustment anymore? and how?

I installed coilovers and everything went fine. I removed the shock and removed the bolt you asked for the torque spec to swing the arm down to install new springs. Just want to avoid damaging anything in the future.

[matty088]

The eccentric tab broke off. And I stripped the eccentric bolt. I guess in life you can learn thru mistakes. Truth is the camber bolt could have been frozen and this is what caused it.

Lots of people remove the camber bolt. If you try to spin the bolt side and not the nut side you can damage the piece of the camber arm as described above. Truth is this job should be done by rear bolt as you did. Most of the how tos are removing the camber bolt.

[Dengf80]

Originally Posted by matty088

The eccentric tab broke off. And I stripped the eccentric bolt. I guess in life you can learn thru mistakes. Truth is the camber bolt could have been frozen and this is what caused it.

Lots of people remove the camber bolt. If you try to spin the bolt side and not the nut side you can damage the piece of the camber arm as described above. Truth is this job should be done by rear bolt as you did. Most of the how tos are removing the camber bolt.

Exactly what he said, eccentric tab breaks off which causes lost of camber adjustability. I learned that you have to hold the bolt in place while taking the nut off. Once you get the camber washer off, the bolt slides effortlessly through the arm. Fronts for me were definitely easier than the rear. None of the how to diy helped me for the rears in the slightest. Tommy Ls video had him hammer out the bolt.

[matty088]

yea and there should be a specific tool to remove the top nut off the rear strut. i had to use impact which is what tommy did. I am preying when i put car on ground the struts are fine. Right now i get no codes so the sensors are fine.

[cryptz]

120ftlbs as stated above is correct. Manual says 165NM but thats basically the same number. Its super important though that you torque these under load with the weight of the car on them.

[matty088]

Originally Posted by cryptz

120ftlbs as stated above is correct. Manual says 165NM but thats basically the same number. Its super important though that you torque these under load with the weight of the car on them.

Really? That is confusing me bc you can see where the camber arm hangs naturally. When you remove the front two bolts (strut bolt and eccentric bolt) the arm drops down an inch or so below Where the suspension sits freely So I was going to torque it in this location. It doesn’t shock me thst my thinking is wrong though.

It’s nearly impossible to do this with the car on the ground. Can you advise me how to accomplish this? I could use a jack to compress the suspension a bit. But that’s guess work. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[cryptz]

Basically the bushing should not be torqued unless under load. BMW repair procedures mention this. Ista also indicates the strut and control arm bolts on the arm should be torqued under load. I used hubstands, kies motorsport did a video and he used race ramps. You could try without but honestly I'd try to get it done right. Another forum member cited noises when not done right. Worse case make them kinda tight and then ask the alignment shop to torque them if you can't.