Right from the moment I bought it, I was put off by the rear suspension, which was noticeably crooked even to the naked eye… First the wheels had a negative camber like this //-.-\, then the car would pull under braking, then it would unevenly eat through tyres… About two years ago, I went to some blokes who bend either the axle beam or the trailing arms based on measurements. All in all, they sorted the camber out, but it was still eating the tyres and the car was still pulling. Basically, I was already quite gutted and had accepted that it had probably taken a nasty hit to the rear end on one of the wheels before my time, and I'd just have to live with it… But then I read on the forums that the subframe mounts needed replacing. Just then, I was gifted some brand-new rear axle beam mounts (Dima Stiklish, a massive thank you to you, mate, for the part!) and it was game on…
After the replacement, it definitely felt smoother, and my old subframe mounts were completely knackered. Then, a crunching noise started coming from the left-side when pulling away, which worried me. I dropped into the garage and told the lads to sort it out. They had a look and said they'd need to strip it down and check the CV joints and the differential… At this point, I got down into the pit myself and started examining the layout of the axle beam and trailing arms closely, and lo and behold, I spotted the biggest issue that had been winding me up this entire time. I noticed that the beam was warped and the right arm wasn't sitting the same way as the left one. It looked as though it had taken a proper bashing and had shifted right on the beam, bending the mounting brackets. So, without thinking twice, I called up the mechanic and got hold of a new, straight axle beam.
And two complete trailing arms from one of our fellow BMW guys (Shout out to the Alpinists in the red E30!).
They fitted the whole lot for me, and the next day I went for a wheel alignment to confirm that everything was as straight as it should be. Thank goodness they confirmed it all and said everything was spot on, just the way it's supposed to be.
In terms of the drive, I noticed the difference straight away, of course… The car stopped pulling under braking, I don't have to constantly correct the steering at speed, and it has become smoother and more responsive.
All in all, I'm absolutely thrilled, and this was the one flaw that had been doing my head in ever since I bought the car.
Thank you all for reading! I hope I haven't bored you with the story. Peace to you and your home! ッ
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