I'm going to be refreshing the suspension in my 128i - at 115k, it's time. The sway bar end links and upper control arms are the most worn, unsurprisingly. I already did the former, and while I was planning to wait until returning from a trip next week to tackle the rest, turning around in the driveway last night I heard a loud pop/crack from the left front at full lock. I'd been hearing little rattles, but this was more pronounced. I checked this morning and, while everything was seemingly still intact, I am not about to drive a thousand miles with a suspension that makes noises like that, so the timetable got pushed forward to now.
All of which would be fine except that the parts vendor doubled up on one of the arms to the exclusion of another, so I only have three of the four arms at the moment. I got the three installed this morning, and the fourth is on its way, but time's a-wastin'. I'm leaving Saturday morning.
This is all leading up to my question. Assuming I get and install the fourth arm, I will be very pressed for time. How crucial is it to get the front end aligned before I head out? The alignment was fine prior to this work, but I'm replacing the stock pieces with the M3 arms that I believe add some camber over the stock pieces. Toe shouldn't have changed, as I didn't touch the tie rods. OK to wait until I get back (and have time to do the rear) or disaster waiting to happen?
EDIT: Just checked - the M3 lower control arms add .75deg of negative camber.
A few questions: How far are you going? How much do you like your tires?
I didn't hear the pop, but I'd probably wait til I got home since you checked and everything looks okay.
The trip is about 1,000 miles in total. The noise was unnerving enough that I'm not going to chance it, not for that kind of distance. I think we're just going to have to take another car, because I'm not going to get everything done in time, which is annoying, but not as annoying as ending up in a ditch with a failed ball joint.
You'll be fine.
I installed coilovers on my BRZ with about 5k miles on the car, never had it aligned. When I finally had it put on a tack with 30k miles on it, everything was where it should be. With the exception of more camber up front because of the camber plates, and more camber in the rear since it naturally gains camber when lowered.
Everything else was in spec.
I'll await the "Well, my third party story of someone I knew crashed their car of the side of Pike's Peak and took out an entire village in a fiery crash" response from someone.
Well, we'll see what happens. The (hopefully correct this time) fourth arm is waiting for me, so now it's down to my ambition, time, and the weather to see if I can get it done. Still probably end up taking my GF's Mazda3, but I'd rather have the new parts in before I leave one way or another. Examining the diagrams of the suspension design more closely, the rear seems to have adjustment only on the toe links, which are not being replaced - that's a plus to the idea of being able to get away with it for a while.
One nice thing I discovered is that changing the arms is much easier on the E82 (and I'm assuming all the body styles on the same platform) than it was on my E39. Not only is access much easier without removing anything except the belly tray, but the ball joints are not friction fitted and thus require nothing to get them out - they just drop out of the knuckle when the nut is removed.
Adding camber will also affect toe, giving you (when going more negative) either more of it if the rack is behind the front axle line, or less if it's in front. That will affect handling and wear out your tires faster (assuming you have a good alignment right now), but nothing will blow up or fall off.
Rack is in front of the axle line, so more toe. I have no desire to burn up the tires right now, so that's another point in favor of taking the Mazda.
You didn't mention your GF had a Mazda3! That's my vote. No need to wreck yourself trying to get it done before the trip.
