[Sauer]

My last set of tires wore out way too fast on the inner 1/4. From the middle out, they look like they have maybe 7k on them, but that inner part is nearly bald (driver rear actually wore down to the belt). I want my new tires to actually last so what's the best camber to use that won't sacrifice most of the handling? Currently, the camber is within BMW specs. I think my fronts are -.47ish and rears are -1.7 according to my dealer's printout from two days ago.

[CJ421]

That kind of accelerated wear on the inside is typical (and expected) on these cars. Your camber is pretty minimal, you'd start hurting the handling of the car if you go any less (if the 335 even has the adjustment range for less than that, which I doubt). Camber is the #2 tool behind good tires that help handling.

What are your toe settings? Out-of-spec toe is usually more detrimental to wear than camber.

[cvc 22349a]

+1 Normal tread wear for street driven BMW's, especially the rears.

[CALWATERBOY]

Originally Posted by Sauer

My last set of tires wore out way too fast on the inner 1/4. From the middle out, they look like they have maybe 7k on them, but that inner part is nearly bald (driver rear actually wore down to the belt). I want my new tires to actually last so what's the best camber to use that won't sacrifice most of the handling? Currently, the camber is within BMW specs. I think my fronts are -.47ish and rears are -1.7 according to my dealer's printout from two days ago.

Dealer allows as how 17k mi not unusual for rear tires. Wow.

Your specs above typical; watch rear camber as suspension bushings wear.

In fact, check it w/your iPhone monthly if you like - just run a level app & place against ~19" length of L angle aluminum extrusion, placed against tire rim 'plumb bob' vertically. Wheels straight ahead, relaxed, on a level surface, please. Read camber to 0.1 degree resolution.

Think you have a level surface? Very unlikely! Try this shadetree tech - leveling starts at 2:07

Bushing-wise, M parts shine - delrin - good stuff.

N54 & N52 suspension bushings, well, a bit diff.
.

[Sauer]

I saw that uneven tire wear is common on these cars when I was searching this topic. Will handling really degrade that much if I cut the front camber to -.25 or -.3 and the rears to just -1? When I look at pics of some 335s and M3s, their wheels appear to be nice and vertical, not angled in like mine. I think that appears much cleaner and flush than the cambered look.

Toe is within spec, but I can't remember what the figures were off the top of my head.

[subieworx]

It's not the camber that is the problem, but the toe. Toe settings that are within BMW spec are useless for good tire wear. They want so much toe in front and rear that it will very quickly wear out the inside of tires on the street. I have gotten 15k miles out of star specs on this car with medium track use and street driving with perfectly even wear.

For the street what I tend to run is -1.2* camber in the front and -1.5* in the rear with .08* total toe in front and .1* total toe in rear. These toe setting are far from what BMW recommends, but makes the car more fun to drive and promotes better tire wear.

Most of the summer when autoxing and going to the track regularly I run -3.2* camber in the front and -2* rear with .05 total toe in front and .14 total toe in rear. Again, no tire wear issues.

My car is a E92 335i. I run 255 35 18 Star Specs front and 275 35 18 Star specs rear.

[Sauer]

Thanks for the info here. I'm taking the car to the dealer this weekend to get some adjustments made. I had my numbers confused. After the shop aligned it this last week, my front camber is -1.46* and the rear is -.47 (driver) and -.59 (passenger). Toe is .09 each up front and .08 each in rear.

FYI I'm running 19s with Eibach coilovers that are raised up all the way.

[The HACK]

Toe OUT wears the inside of the tires. Toe in wears the outside.

IMO "good handling" and "good wear" are mutually exclusive on a car with MacPherson struts up front. In order to have good "handling" you need negative camber. In order to have good wear you need zero camber. What BMW supplies you from the factory is a compromise between the two. A little bit of camber in front, and a little bit of toe in SHOULD result in moderately even wear. But on a car that's driven almost exclusively in a straight line interspersed with a handful of 90 degrees left and right turns every day, that little bit of camber, even at -0.7 degrees only, leads to accelerated wear in the inside of the front tires.

Best thing to do, is to simply give up on ANY negative camber and zero it out. Sure, the car probably won't be very fun to drive on the track, but at least your tire wear should be relatively even. An if you don't plan on doing a ton of performance driving, that last 30% of handling/lateral grip given up probably won't be missed much. After all, how many people here actually care to extract that last 20-30% of lateral grip and performance EVERY TIME the car's fired up?

[cslmpwr]

Prolly zero camber. I run my m3 close to zero as they'll allow to make the three hundred dollar re960s last longer ><

[CALWATERBOY]

Originally Posted by The HACK

Toe OUT wears the inside of the tires. Toe in wears the outside.

IMO "good handling" and "good wear" are mutually exclusive on a car with MacPherson struts up front. In order to have good "handling" you need negative camber. In order to have good wear you need zero camber. What BMW supplies you from the factory is a compromise between the two. A little bit of camber in front, and a little bit of toe in SHOULD result in moderately even wear. But on a car that's driven almost exclusively in a straight line interspersed with a handful of 90 degrees left and right turns every day, that little bit of camber, even at -0.7 degrees only, leads to accelerated wear in the inside of the front tires.

Best thing to do, is to simply give up on ANY negative camber and zero it out. Sure, the car probably won't be very fun to drive on the track, but at least your tire wear should be relatively even. An if you don't plan on doing a ton of performance driving, that last 30% of handling/lateral grip given up probably won't be missed much. After all, how many people here actually care to extract that last 20-30% of lateral grip and performance EVERY TIME the car's fired up?

I want adaptive camber....user settable from iDrive.

Can see how that can be done. Adds a touch more mass, but hey.

Ride height too. Both adjusts toe.

Is this going somewhere?

[Sauer]

Originally Posted by CALWATERBOY

I want adaptive camber....user settable from iDrive.

Can see how that can be done. Adds a touch more mass, but hey.

Ride height too. Both adjusts toe.

Is this going somewhere?

Hell, they should be able to make something like that. The new jeeps have electronic height adjustments to lower the vehicle at highway speeds for better mpgs/handling.