I heard lowering my E46 will cause uneven tire wear.

[BMW-FW26]

IS this true? Tires are expensive.

 

[Chesty Bonds]

I guess if the people who lower your car don't balance and camber your wheels properly then you'll get uneven tyre wear. That's the same with any car though so I don't see why you can't do it in an E46, so long as it's done by a reputable suspension organisation.

Having said that, I reckon keeping the car standard is the way to go. Those BMW engineers didn't come up with the standard settings for no reason.

 

[jrt67ss350]

You will need to install caster/camber plates on the front strut mounts if lowering the car or you will get excessive front tire wear. Lowering the rear suspension will increase camber and cause more wear on the inside of the tire. As far as I know, there is no way around that. Personally, I'd keep it stock ride height.

 

[BMW-FW26]

Alright. Because I am buying a lower E30 and he said that the front tires wear really uneven. And I wanted to see if it also happens on E46's because those coil-overs look really enticing. So it's probably because the camber plate where never installed/adjusted?

 

[jrt67ss350]

Yeah, if the car has been lowered more than an inch or so and caster/camber plates weren't installed (often omitted when the job is half-assed because someone either doesn't know they need them or is too cheap to buy them) then there will definitely be excessive front tire wear.

On an E30, lowering the rear will definitely cause excessive camber and result in excessive inner tire wear (the rear camber increases with suspension compression in the E30s). There is no way to adjust the rear camber in an E30. As I understand it, the E46 has adjustable rear suspension camber, so you might be able to adjust out some of the increased camber in the rear suspension if lowering an E46.