[Lancelot]

M3/M4 front control arms

So far the best value for money change I made on the car (after expensive M performance brakes and akrapovic exhaust), no more understeer, it's going exactly where I want it

I suspect that the contact patch is reduced from the camber due to the runflat tyres and their thick walls, so i'm still pondering whether to change to non-runflat, but this is also a family car and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with 3 young kids in the back and no spare tyre, so for now i'm leaning towards keeping the runflats, but interested in what you have to say about this with this particular setup of control arms and their impact on the contact surface.

[E30toF30]

Do you do both front and rear sets?

I wonder what this mod would do to change the handling of an xdrive

[ahero4eternity]

Part numbers?

[Lancelot]

In the US you can check here
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-2...4-control-arms

In France I got it (parts and install) from this BMW specialist shop near Paris:
http://www.europebmshop.com/serie-1/...-avant-m4.html

Part numbers you can check realoem.com for M3/M4 control arms or "wishbones"

[Lancelot]

Originally Posted by E30toF30

Do you do both front and rear sets?

I wonder what this mod would do to change the handling of an xdrive

No it's only the front wheels, the camber makes your wheel lean towards the inside of the bend, thus reducing understeer.

I had this on my former M135i and was really missing it on the AH3, now it feels like the car is flying around corners

[Bee Pee]

Originally Posted by E30toF30

Do you do both front and rear sets?

I wonder what this mod would do to change the handling of an xdrive

These aren't recommended for x drive as they are longer than stock arms so would put greater stress on FWD components.

[berk]

Originally Posted by Lancelot

M3/M4 front control arms

So far the best value for money change I made on the car (after expensive M performance brakes and akrapovic exhaust), no more understeer, it's going exactly where I want it

I suspect that the contact patch is reduced from the camber due to the runflat tyres and their thick walls, so i'm still pondering whether to change to non-runflat, but this is also a family car and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with 3 young kids in the back and no spare tyre, so for now i'm leaning towards keeping the runflats, but interested in what you have to say about this with this particular setup of control arms and their impact on the contact surface.

Im thinking to buy of these as well. Could you please take some picture which shows the camber clearly? Thanks

[Lancelot]

Will do when i get a chance. Very similar to the M135i i had before.

[motorwerkeman]

So... much... want.

Looks like an affordable and effective handling upgrade. Did you get an alignment afterwords? How did it affect specs, and are you running negative camber outside of factory range in the front now?

Any info you can offer is appreciated.

[theEZV]

Any info on how much additional negative camber you can get with these?

[Lancelot]

Pictures:
These are at the end of the steering course, so maximum camber; i don't know if that's obvious in picture, it is in real life.

[Lancelot]

Originally Posted by motorwerkeman

So... much... want.

Looks like an affordable and effective handling upgrade. Did you get an alignment afterwords? How did it affect specs, and are you running negative camber outside of factory range in the front now?

Any info you can offer is appreciated.

You definitely must do alignment after fitting, my wheels were pointing like an inverted V after fitment, we had to manually adjust to make the wheels roughly parallel just to go to the other place where they do the alignment.

I don't know about factory range, it's in specs of the M3 basically since these are M3 arms and they are a simple exchange.
The only point to check is the contact patch of the tyre, since I think there is zero camber on the 335i *because* it's designed for runflats that cannot easily adapt to a cambered wheel, now in the pictures I just took you cannot see it but on perfectly flat surface I could see the tyre wasn't entirely in contact with the ground, and I believe that runflats cause this to be stronger.

So pondering whether to move to non-runflats or not... need to push it a bit in wet/flat surface to see if there's any loss of adherence to fear.

[Lancelot]

Originally Posted by theEZV

Any info on how much additional negative camber you can get with these?

AFAIK this is fixed, I can't see any adjustment that would control the camber.

[PappyVR4]

Lancelot, thanks for sharing your experience with these. I've been thinking about getting them. On my E36, I was able to swap my front upper strut mounts for an additional 1.5 degrees of negative camber if I remember correctly. The small amount of additional negative camber really improved turn-in feel. As a disclosure, I also then moved from slight toe-in to 0 toe and that helped turn-in even more.

Would you be able to take any photos with your wheels straight?

Originally Posted by theEZV

Any info on how much additional negative camber you can get with these?

Per the Turner Motorsport link given in this thread, these control arms add about 1 degree of negative camber.

[PappyVR4]

Originally Posted by Lancelot

... so i'm still pondering whether to change to non-runflat, but this is also a family car and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with 3 young kids in the back and no spare tyre, so for now i'm leaning towards keeping the runflats,....

If you move to non-runflats and keep a small air pump and tire plug in your trunk, then you don't need to worry about getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. The only thing that would get you stuck would be a sidewall puncture, and then even runflats won't help you.

[Lancelot]

Originally Posted by PappyVR4

Would you be able to take any photos with your wheels straight?

Sure, they're basically straight when steering is straight, attached pic is not perfectly straight but shows well enough

[whoisthis]

So this gives more negative camber. Nothing to do with wider turning radius?

[duckJAI]

from what I've read elsewhere (HP Auto), these may change your caster settings (moving the wheel forward towards the wheel well and potentially causing rubbing).

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...t=trailing+arm

[Lancelot]

Originally Posted by duckJAI

from what I've read elsewhere (HP Auto), these may change your caster settings (moving the wheel forward towards the wheel well and potentially causing rubbing).

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...t=trailing+arm

Perhaps you can see from the picture, we're not even close to that. Nothing to report in that area

[Bee Pee]

Folks,

I have these fitted to my m135i with lowered springs and higher offset wheels - no issues for the last 1.5 years

View from the side - wheel moved fwd by ~10mm


Camber change went from -1 to -2

Before - LHS - Front


After - LHS - Front


Before - LHS - Front


After - LHS - Front


Before - RHS - Front


After - RHS - Front


BP

[Lancelot]

Thanks for the pictures, interesting to see as well; the caster is more obvious in your case, but the camber is also stronger.

I'm satisfied with mine, good balance, I believe close to the M135i in its factory state.

[Chris93]

It is such a shame these don't work on xdrive, i did this mod on my old e90 and it made a huge difference. Would these definitely not work on an xdrive car?