Just thinking out loud and hoping someone else has some thoughts about this: Seems like the problem with most setups when you start putting some really wide tires on them, lower them, mess with longer ball joints or drop spindles... is that the steering arms put the tie rod end too close to the tire rims. Hypothetically, if you could position them anywhere, would you move them in towards the center of the car or shorten them or both? How much?

Seems like a very small amount in both directions, maybe 1/4" both in and shorter would make for a ton of extra space. I don't believe that either will have a major difference in bump steer either. Moving them in can be compensated for by shortening the adjustment at the tie rod sleeve and making them slightly shorter will increase steering rate without a great change in anything else.

Thoughts?

 

You don't want to move them further inboard. This will make the anti-ackerman even worse.

I have looked at this myself and have determined the best way to go is to shorten them and move them outboard as close to the brake rotor as possible. It looks like we could achieve parallel steering at least which should drastically improve front end grip on tight turns (like autox).

Just eyeballing everything I have concluded that there should be enough space to do this. You will probably have to run a threaded tube as a tie rod adjuster though or ensure the bolts don't face the control arm. They might start to get close.

A side benefit of this is that your steering ratio would quicken.

The downside is that even if you do this, you only are going to gain iirc about an inch or so before the rim starts to hit the strut body. I have some ideas for that though.

I believe E36 bmws have a similar appearing spindle as to what you would end up with. I'll have to take a look at my 318is and take picts if I am right on that.

 

How far in do you think?

I'm guessing in to make some room and increase ratio, towards the brakes to "fix" the anti ackerman? I'm not sure that I want to fix the anti-ackerman, but that's mostly because I've read enough conflicting information about it that i'm not sure what the right answer is.

Right now I'm leaning towards just moving them in about 1/4-1/2", which seams like it would fix most of the issues that people see and I don't think it will create an issue with the front of the control arms.

 

did you get a chance to look at your BMW?

 

Yes, sorry for the delayed response.
The spindle and steering knuckle look exactly as I described. I would say the bmw has parallel steering or very close to it. The whole thing fits inside of a 15" wheel. I didn't get a pic b/c I would have to jack up the car to get a good shot.

The amount of anti ackerman we have is for tall and loose tires that run a lot of slip angle. Pretty much the tires available in the late 70s when the car was designed.