camber alignment

[F83M4]

Recently had Eibach springs installed and went to get an alignment today and shop couldn't adjust camber settings on the driver side because of a broken "tab" on the camber bolt washer. Anyone here seen anything like that before? Dealer says wont be covered under warranty and most likely was caused by hitting a bump very hard causing the control arm to move and break that piece.

I'm a very careful driver and would noticed if I hit something that hard

[Miko M]

Sorry to hear, that piece will cost you a lot.
That's casted aluminum.
If I would be you I would take that piece out and mill it square at the end. Add a piece aluminum and put 2 dowel pins and screw to hold it.

[Donger Kim]

It’s hard to see from this angle but is the tab totally gone? If not maybe just try a set of camber shims as an adjustment. I believe the essentric bolt is torque down to 165nm which is quite tight so maybe that’ll do it.

[jww///95]

I'd be sniffing around whoever installed the springs as that bolt would have been removed to drop the control arm. If they didn't cause the damage (and honestly not sure how they could be let's presume anything is possible) they would have seen the damage.

I don't see how hitting something in the road would damage the nub short of lateral hit to the wheel on a curb and you would have destroyed a whole host of other parts in that process.

[F83M4]

Installer said he didn't see anything odd (claims he didnt touch that bolt and instead loosened the bolt closer to where it attaches towards the middle of the car). I'm wondering if i could just buy a replacement camber bolt/washer piece (~$10) or if I have to replace the entire control arm (~$300)

[jww///95]

Originally Posted by F83M4

Installer said he didn't see anything odd (claims he didnt touch that bolt and instead loosened the bolt closer to where it attaches towards the middle of the car). I'm wondering if i could just buy a replacement camber bolt/washer piece (~$10) or if I have to replace the entire control arm (~$300)

Replacing the bolt won't change anything as that isn't your problem. It's the missing aluminum "nub" that's the issue. If it were me I'd be leaning on the dealer to warranty the issue as a manufacturing defect so long as there are no other signs of damage (e.g. No bent wheel, damaged tire, other bent or tweaked suspension components).

[x.shell]

OP, sorry that you are having this issue. Unfortunately, you may end up eating the cost of the control arm. There is plausible deniability by every party.

The installer can definitely install the Eibachs without touching that eccentric bolt. They could have removed the bolt on the other end of the control arm to install the spring.

There is also plausible enough reason for BMW to deny warranty, as they can claim the shop had to loosen the control arm to install the spring. So the fact that they actually did swap the springs and loosen the control arm may be reason enough for them to deny warranty.

Also what BMW said... could have indeed happened if that the eccentric bolt wasn't torqued down enough. Whether it was the shop or BMW or a home mechanic that forgot to torque it down, hitting a bump with a loose bolt could jolt it enough to knock that tab right off. I would say it doesn't even need to be a hard hit. You could have easily lost that tab without noticing anything out of the ordinary.

What Donger said is also true. You don't "technically" need that tab to keep your car aligned properly. If it's torqued down to spec, it shouldn't move. A shim kit can help you visually keep the camber set, but they still rely on both tabs to keep it set. But again, if torqued down to spec, it should hold without the outside tab.

Another option would be to have a shop weld a new tab on there. I should be really easy to do.

Good luck.

[jww///95]

Whilst still contending that bmw might pay for the replacement and that it's not easy to break off without notice (either by impact or the resulting now slipped bolt and gross camber gain), exo-shell is spot on the tab is not required. Align the car, torque to spec, and get a paint marker or punch to mark the location for a quick visual inspection in the future for any movement.

As a person who could do the welded repair option, I can say that will be more expensive at the end of the day than just replacing the arm. You're going to have to remove the arm, prep, weld, remachine, reinstall, etc. Not to mention the downtime... The labor alone is more than that arm costs new.

[F83M4]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll most likely end up paying for the OEM part but I can't help but think the spring installer is somewhat responsible. I'll speak to the owner and see if we can work out an agreement. I may consider looking around for another shop ...

[dzxy]

Reviving old thread but hopefully this will help someone in the future as this was the only thread I could find when I had the same issue.

If you are comfortable with running max neg. camber, you don't need the tab to either align the car or drive it after. My experience was I set both sides to max neg. camber by eyeballing it, marked it and did an autocross event. Got it aligned, the pre-alignment check put me at -2.6deg camber on the broken tab side and -2.5deg camber on the good side. Just note to achieve your target toe you will need adjustable toe arms unless you want to run a lot of toe out. And note I'm moderately lowered on Eibach springs, dropping the rear by around .4" so if you're running stock springs you won't get as much as -2.5deg camber on both sides.

[M 4 FUN]

Just weld and grind on a new nub.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by dzxy

Reviving old thread but hopefully this will help someone in the future as this was the only thread I could find when I had the same issue.

If you are comfortable with running max neg. camber, you don't need the tab to either align the car or drive it after. My experience was I set both sides to max neg. camber by eyeballing it, marked it and did an autocross event. Got it aligned, the pre-alignment check put me at -2.6deg camber on the broken tab side and -2.5deg camber on the good side. Just note to achieve your target toe you will need adjustable toe arms unless you want to run a lot of toe out. And note I'm moderately lowered on Eibach springs, dropping the rear by around .4" so if you're running stock springs you won't get as much as -2.5deg camber on both sides.

Toe is altered when you alter camber so increasing camber, increases toe out. You need a method to adjust from street to track/autox to account for toe changes.