[Great Pretender]

Hi guys.

I've noticed of late that my N/S front wheel (RHD E39) has a fraction of positive camber and today a four wheel alignment check carried out by my specialist confirmed this.

For info, the N/S front is currently sitting at +0deg11' compared to the O/S front which is at -0deg44'.

I was slightly concerned to note that the E39 apparently doesn't have any camber adjustability as standard and therefore the only option - as far as my mechanic was concerned - is to start replacing the various N/S components to see if this rectifies the problem. Obviously this would be rather expensive and potentially fruitless.

Is anyone aware of an issue which would cause this (other than hitting kerbs at speed) and are there any other options I could try to resolve it?

Additionally I'm also getting severe steering judder under light to moderate braking, which intensifies if I drive the car hard. Could this be related?

Many thanks.

 

[jamiepeers]

I'd say the judder under light braking was the control arm bushes. Usually is, and i suppose its not beyond the realms of imagination to assume that a worn suspension bush could cause alignment issues

 

[Great Pretender]

Thanks Jamie,

Apparently the control arm bushes are OK as the car has recently been inspected.

 

[Great Pretender]

Any ideas folks...?

 

[StatusQuo]

Change to the X5 bushes,when I did mine the wheels were cambered better at the front and they improved the steering aswell.

 

[ard]

How did they determine the bushes are 'good'. You need to remove them to check. There are hundreds of posts here that essentially say "My bushes looked good but I was getting this vibration, so I replaced them and it went away".


If they are over 50k just replace them. Others will possibly have even lower mileage thresholds.... search....

A

 

[Great Pretender]

How did they determine the bushes are 'good'. You need to remove them to check. There are hundreds of posts here that essentially say "My bushes looked good but I was getting this vibration, so I replaced them and it went away".


If they are over 50k just replace them. Others will possibly have even lower mileage thresholds.... search....

A

OK thanks Ard. I hadn't considered that the bushes need to be removed to check their condition.

The car is on 71k miles, so I imagine in that case, any original front end bushes will be past their best.

Would this account for the positive camber though? I assume the lower control arm and/or thrust arm bushes would have to be totally (visibly) shot to alter the geometry.