Bent rear trailing arm? Out of ideas

something is bent, just gotta find out what

here is a photo of when i did my bushings showing the bracket and arms too. although M3 still similar. you can see the bracket and the arms for reference to my above earlier post.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...&postcount=219

I'll take a look and get back to you guys asap

Took these pictures of the right RTAand RTA bracket/bushing. From comparing them left to right, the right bracket seems to be off center, and not lining up with its holes a at least 2 bolts. Could this be causing my problems?

This is the left, which sits perfectly

No that's just toe setting. looks like your bushings are tired. i forgot.. did you replace them yet?

No, those bushings are original

Any thoughts on that?

Originally Posted by bmwdav

Any thoughts on that?

Yes. Replace them.

Now that I think about it, worn RTABs may also cause camber change as well as obvious toe change. It's the single most important bushing back there. The more your trailing arm moves around, the more the rear wheel moves around. this will likely accelerate wear on the remaining 8 control arm-related mounts back there.

Elasto-kinematics. This is a term you guys will start hearing me say more and more. pretty cool term!

Ok lol thanks. What other mounts are you talking about that are being increasingly worn?

Originally Posted by bmwdav

Ok lol thanks. What other mounts are you talking about that are being increasingly worn?

See sig, suspension link. The BMW suspension has an incredible amount of mounts and rubber in the rear that need replacing at some point. It's an extremely massive job, see CPOSK's thread on it

RTABs are a b!tch and a half. Don't pay a dealer to do it, there are plenty of other fellas out there that have the right tool that can do them easily.

+1 you ABSOLUTELY NEED the MIS RTAB tool. no two ways about it. do not attempt to do this job without the proper tool. believe me... that's a day of my life i'll never get back.

Replace your Rear Trailing Arm BUSHING!

Here: http://store.bimmerworld.com/meyle-h...rtab-p572.aspx

or

You could do a oem RTAB with "limiters" which limit the movement, increasing performance and the life of the bushing: http://store.bimmerworld.com/e36e46z...age-p1429.aspx

Are you sure you did both rear control arms? I think you're mixing them up with camber arms. There are 'upper control arms' which act as spring perches, and there are the 'lower control arms' that we know as camber arms. I have a bent one now and it really threw off my camber and toe.

Originally Posted by hummer

RTAB carrier is the toe adjustment, lower control arm excentric is the camber adjustment. The shocks don't have any influence on either of these adjustments. Is the ride height the same both sides? Is the upper control arm damaged or spring broken?

This. The RTAB has jack squat to do with camber. One of the three control arms is bent and/or control arm bushings are shot (other than the RTAB). The rear subframe could be tweaked as well.