[WDE82]

I think your strut is bent. If the control arm was bent, the camber problem would be positive, not negative. I would replace the strut and mounts on both sides next. The knuckle is WAY stronger than the struts laterally so I wouldn't suspect damage to the knuckle. I'm not saying that couldn't be the case, but seems unlikely. Maybe the sleeve (holds the strut) in the knuckle could become oblong before bending the strut tube, but I kind of doubt it. There DOES appear to be a small gap between the sleeve and the strut in the image from the bottom.

This is inspectable. You just need to remove the strut from the car and see if it's bent and check the knuckle sleeve to see if it's pretty round (calipers would work here).

[RedlineF30]

I finally took it apart after receiving a BC Racing coil-over kit I decided to try replacing the whole suspension before even replacing the knuckle and I found out that strut was blown out at the bottom, you can definitely tell something is wrong and sort of bulging and rounded as WDE82 mentioned. Both sides now seem to have the same camber (visually) and the wheel looks much straighter. I'll take it in for a wheel alignment after my new rims arrive.

Thank you everyone that shared their suggestions and ideas. Thought I would post and share with everyone. Now to see if I can return the unused knuckle.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by RedlineF30

I finally took it apart after receiving a BC Racing coil-over kit I decided to try replacing the whole suspension before even replacing the knuckle and I found out that strut was blown out at the bottom, you can definitely tell something is wrong and sort of bulging and rounded as WDE82 mentioned. Both sides now seem to have the same camber (visually) and the wheel looks much straighter. I'll take it in for a wheel alignment after my new rims arrive.

Thank you everyone that shared their suggestions and ideas. Thought I would post and share with everyone. Now to see if I can return the unused knuckle.

That actually possible. OEM struts are pre-charged in a way that's much different than most shocks. It could certainly have an effect on height. The way it's precharged is why you have to compress the springs so much to get the strut nut to engage on the threads at the end of the shaft.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

That actually possible. OEM struts are pre-charged in a way that's much different than most shocks. It could certainly have an effect on height. The way it's precharged is why you have to compress the springs so much to get the strut nut to engage on the threads at the end of the shaft.

BMW shocks are nothing abnormal. Gas pressurized shocks are industry standard.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by WDE82

BMW shocks are nothing abnormal. Gas pressurized shocks are industry standard.

Have you ever disassembled or assembled a BMW OEM strut and compared it to a non BMW strut? Or even a Bilstein strut (for a BMW) versus a BMW OEM strut?

It's different and it's fairly noticeable by the amount of compression you need for the springs.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

Have you ever disassembled or assembled a BMW OEM strut and compared it to a non BMW strut? Or even a Bilstein strut (for a BMW) versus a BMW OEM strut?

It's different and it's fairly noticeable by the amount of compression you need for the springs.

Yes I've done suspension rebuilds on my E46, E82, and Jeep. Gas shocks all have significant resistance from the gas pressure.

[weehe126]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

That actually possible. OEM struts are pre-charged in a way that's much different than most shocks. It could certainly have an effect on height. The way it's precharged is why you have to compress the springs so much to get the strut nut to engage on the threads at the end of the shaft.

A blown shock wouldn't change the spring perch to tire distance. And as mentioned already, bmw shocks are nothing special.

Glad you got it sorted OP. How was it not visible while still on the car?

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by WDE82

Yes I've done suspension rebuilds on my E46, E82, and Jeep. Gas shocks all have significant resistance from the gas pressure.

Originally Posted by weehe126

A blown shock wouldn't change the spring perch to tire distance. And as mentioned already, bmw shocks are nothing special.

Glad you got it sorted OP. How was it not visible while still on the car?

So what I'm hearing is that neither of you has re-assembled a F30 front strut assembly with a replacement BMW shock.

If you had, you would know that not all wall mount spring compressors and other more compact tools (https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ma...=google&wv=3.1) would work.

The issue is that the way these struts are pre-charged is not common, the strut shaft actually retracts quite a bit back into the strut body at a resting state. Other shocks like Bilstein, etc. do not do this.

In fact, I had to take the front strut assembly to Tier Car Care, a very well known enthusiast shop here in the NCC region, to have the front strut assembly put together. They even remarked that they had to use another specialized tool to get the springs to compress enough for the strut nut to catch the threads at the end of the strut piston shaft. This was after attempting to assemble it at the auto shop at work which had an older Branick wall mount spring compressor.

When I first installed this into the car tens of thousands of miles ago, I did this at an Auto Skills Center on a military installation that had one of the nice Branick 7600 wall mount spring compressors. It worked then and I didn't think anything of it other than remembering I really had to compress the springs a lot further than other installs I had done before.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

So what I'm hearing is that neither of you has re-assembled a F30 front strut assembly with a replacement BMW shock.

If you had, you would know that not all wall mount spring compressors and other more compact tools (https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ma...gle&wv=3.1) would work.

The issue is that the way these struts are pre-charged is not common, the strut shaft actually retracts quite a bit back into the strut body at a resting state. Other shocks like Bilstein, etc. do not do this.

In fact, I had to take the front strut assembly to Tier Car Care, a very well known enthusiast shop here in the NCC region, to have the front strut assembly put together. They even remarked that they had to use another specialized tool to get the springs to compress enough for the strut nut to catch the threads at the end of the strut piston shaft. This was after attempting to assemble it at the auto shop at work which had an older Branick wall mount spring compressor.

When I first installed this into the car tens of thousands of miles ago, I did this at an Auto Skills Center on a military installation that had one of the nice Branick 7600 wall mount spring compressors. It worked then and I didn't think anything of it other than remembering I really had to compress the springs a lot further than other installs I had done before.

That has nothing to do with the gas fill or internal construction of the shock. It's just because the spring uncompressed length relative to the shock shaft is longer than most cars. My E46 stock struts were like that. Stick compressors couldn't compress it enough to remove all preload from the strut hat so you had to wrench it off and let it pop off.

You don't know what you're talking about. Sounds like you haven't done an F30 shock either and had to have a shop do it. Lmao

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

So what I'm hearing is that neither of you has re-assembled a F30 front strut assembly with a replacement BMW shock.

If you had, you would know that not all wall mount spring compressors and other more compact tools (https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ma...=google&wv=3.1) would work.

The issue is that the way these struts are pre-charged is not common, the strut shaft actually retracts quite a bit back into the strut body at a resting state. Other shocks like Bilstein, etc. do not do this.

In fact, I had to take the front strut assembly to Tier Car Care, a very well known enthusiast shop here in the NCC region, to have the front strut assembly put together. They even remarked that they had to use another specialized tool to get the springs to compress enough for the strut nut to catch the threads at the end of the strut piston shaft. This was after attempting to assemble it at the auto shop at work which had an older Branick wall mount spring compressor.

When I first installed this into the car tens of thousands of miles ago, I did this at an Auto Skills Center on a military installation that had one of the nice Branick 7600 wall mount spring compressors. It worked then and I didn't think anything of it other than remembering I really had to compress the springs a lot further than other installs I had done before.

Originally Posted by WDE82

That has nothing to do with the gas fill or internal construction of the shock. It's just because the spring uncompressed length relative to the shock shaft is longer than most cars. My E46 stock struts were like that. Stick compressors couldn't compress it enough to remove all preload from the strut hat so you had to wrench it off and let it pop off.

You don't know what you're talking about. Sounds like you haven't done an F30 shock either and had to have a shop do it. Lmao

Not exactly. The uncompressed length of the spring and the shock shaft are relatively normal. The issue is that the shock shaft retracts a considerable distances back into the strut body freely. The distance that it retracts is unusual and that's why you need to compress the springs so much in order to allow the threads at the end of the strut shaft catch the threads on the strut shaft nut. I don't think someone would experience this issue on a Bilstein shock/strut. The other problem is that there are not that many coils for your compressor to grab onto so you're limited in how you set up your more basic spring compressors.

I did it back in 2017 when I had more time:

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...ormance&page=4

Others experienced the similar problems during their install. Some of them are documented in the thread above.

So one thing to note about the M Performance Suspension Kit is that it provides you enough of the hardware to break up the install into two phases. You can assemble the front struts without needing to reuse original parts from your car as it comes with all new hardware.

I wasn't able to get the time to make it down to the Auto Skills Center with a Branick 7600 this time around because I needed a passing tech inspection before a track weekend. The enthusiast shop was 3 minutes away from my office.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

Not exactly. The uncompressed length of the spring and the shock shaft are relatively normal. The issue is that the shock shaft retracts a considerable distances back into the strut body freely. The distance that it retracts is unusual and that's why you need to compress the springs so much in order to allow the threads at the end of the strut shaft catch the threads on the strut shaft nut. I don't think someone would experience this issue on a Bilstein shock/strut. The other problem is that there are not that many coils for your compressor to grab onto so you're limited in how you set up your more basic spring compressors.

I did it back in 2017 when I had more time:

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...nce&page=4

Others experienced the similar problems during their install. Some of them are documented in the thread above.

So one thing to note about the M Performance Suspension Kit is that it provides you enough of the hardware to break up the install into two phases. You can assemble the front struts without needing to reuse original parts from your car as it comes with all new hardware.

I wasn't able to get the time to make it down to the Auto Skills Center with a Branick 7600 this time around because I needed a passing tech inspection before a track weekend. The enthusiast shop was 3 minutes away from my office.

The shaft of the shock is shorter extended than most. That's not unusual for BMW sport suspension as I already said.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

Not exactly. The uncompressed length of the spring and the shock shaft are relatively normal. The issue is that the shock shaft retracts a considerable distances back into the strut body freely. The distance that it retracts is unusual and that's why you need to compress the springs so much in order to allow the threads at the end of the strut shaft catch the threads on the strut shaft nut. I don't think someone would experience this issue on a Bilstein shock/strut. The other problem is that there are not that many coils for your compressor to grab onto so you're limited in how you set up your more basic spring compressors.

I did it back in 2017 when I had more time:

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...ormance&page=4

Others experienced the similar problems during their install. Some of them are documented in the thread above.

So one thing to note about the M Performance Suspension Kit is that it provides you enough of the hardware to break up the install into two phases. You can assemble the front struts without needing to reuse original parts from your car as it comes with all new hardware.

I wasn't able to get the time to make it down to the Auto Skills Center with a Branick 7600 this time around because I needed a passing tech inspection before a track weekend. The enthusiast shop was 3 minutes away from my office.

Originally Posted by WDE82

The shaft of the shock is shorter extended than most. That's not unusual for BMW sport suspension as I already said.

Maybe it's not unusual for BMWs as a whole, however, the amount that the shaft of the shock retracts for the F30 is unusual compared to other BMW chassis codes. It was consistent with what Tier Car Care said as they service a lot of E36, E46, and E90 platforms.

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

The issue is that the way these struts are pre-charged is not common, the strut shaft actually retracts quite a bit back into the strut body at a resting state. Other shocks like Bilstein, etc. do not do this.

Originally Posted by Polo08816

Not exactly. The uncompressed length of the spring and the shock shaft are relatively normal. The issue is that the shock shaft retracts a considerable distances back into the strut body freely. The distance that it retracts is unusual and that's why you need to compress the springs so much in order to allow the threads at the end of the strut shaft catch the threads on the strut shaft nut. I don't think someone would experience this issue on a Bilstein shock/strut.

Yes, some of the F3x (not all) dampers have rebound springs internally to try and pull the shaft in, and thus the car down. I've seen this on some RWD M-Sport dampers, but not on others (like adaptive-M and xdrive base dampers didn't have them).

You're right that Bilstein dampers don't have the rebound spring for this platform.

Originally Posted by WDE82

My E46 stock struts were like that. Stick compressors couldn't compress it enough to remove all preload from the strut hat so you had to wrench it off and let it pop off.

Yup, some E46 dampers also had rebound springs which held the damper piston shaft in.