BMW E90 Wheel Alignment Funny

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killkom

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Hey Guys

I installed 2 new back tyres on my BMW e90 and had the wheel alignment checked at Autoquip the place I installed the tyres

All was fine but there wheel alignment machine said that the Camber was out on my right front wheel

The Guy there told me I had to take it to BMW to get that fixed he cannot do it

So I booked it in and BMW and they did the wheel alignement there which takes 4 hours so I had to book it in the whole day but thats not the point

When I got the car back I looked at the report and it said the Front Camber was fine the thing that was off is the right rear camber
Could the Autoquip machine be confusing the back and front tyre giving the faulse reading for the front right tyre. Is the a common error with those machiens or is it an operator error.
 
I have used the guys at Autoquip quite a few time and I look at the display and it does show the front camber as off not the back. I mean I see what he seas is he not doing something right should he only install the back sensors first not sure how that machie works
 
Can you take it to another tyre dealer? I'd be inclined to believe the BMW agents on this, but it all hinges on whether the actual techie on the machine is any good...

I've always wanted to know how those machines work, but never actually found out, so I can't help you there, sorry.
 
Depends on the dealer, some do, some don't. I know most Merc dealers do, but most Opel dealers don't.
 
It actually takes 4 hours for them to do a full wheel Allignment on the car as well a bit inafficient if you ask me.
 
I think the 4 hours includes all admin, qeueing, setup, test, adjust, test drive, further adjustment etc.

30-45 mins of actual setup and alignment. qeueing is the problem usually. thats my experience at TWT and others.
 
Often adjusting the camber will involve bending the suspension straight again. This is quite a time consuming job, as they need to take off the wheels, fit braces and brackets and hydraulic rams to do the straightening. Once they've done it, they need to put everything back on and check again, and repeat until it's right. If it was a case of adjusting a couple of bolts, the Autoquip guy would have been able to do it himself.
 
Lol...most newer Alfa's come with factory set negative camber...lol, when I fitted my H&R springs I came just in time to find these fools struggling with the camber...I said HEY! Put it back to factory specs...they didn't have it for Alfa as an Alfa is a one in a million car...and then you find some young guy always in the know and wana tell me about these cars and that it cannot be set etc...I took out my laptop...and researched the camber factory settings for the front...yep...I made them enter it and voila!

Most people think that with the lowering of the susp you should tamper with these settings...na ah!

I don't know who to trust anymore when it comes to who SHOULD know what they're doing...maybe you're beemer was totally fine...the thing I always do is drive the car and when something feels off as opposed to how it felt before...then somethings' wrong...did you actualy feel a difference in the turn in or out of the steering? I.e was the turn in quicker or sharper?
 
KSINGH said:
I think the 4 hours includes all admin, qeueing, setup, test, adjust, test drive, further adjustment etc.

30-45 mins of actual setup and alignment. qeueing is the problem usually. thats my experience at TWT and others.
Click to expand...

I spoke to a few techs for BMW and they tell me that it takes that long because they have thise whole elaborate way of doing wheel allignment they actually put waits on the suspension and bring it down to the hight the suspension will be in different situations and then see how the adjustments are in those suituation the computer then takes all the info and spits out numbers and tells you want to adjust its a little more entaled than a TWT wheel alignement thats why is cost R900
 
ALFAHOLIC said:
Lol...most newer Alfa's come with factory set negative camber...lol, when I fitted my H&R springs I came just in time to find these fools struggling with the camber...I said HEY! Put it back to factory specs...they didn't have it for Alfa as an Alfa is a one in a million car...and then you find some young guy always in the know and wana tell me about these cars and that it cannot be set etc...I took out my laptop...and researched the camber factory settings for the front...yep...I made them enter it and voila!

Most people think that with the lowering of the susp you should tamper with these settings...na ah!

I
I don't know who to trust anymore when it comes to who SHOULD know what they're doing...maybe you're beemer was totally fine...the thing I always do is drive the car and when something feels off as opposed to how it felt before...then somethings' wrong...did you actualy feel a difference in the turn in or out of the steering? I.e was the turn in quicker or sharper?
Click to expand...

go by tyre ware myself
But the car does feel better after the BMW wheel alignment it feels sharper in corners than before and lighter
 
Colin62 said:
Often adjusting the camber will involve bending the suspension straight again. This is quite a time consuming job, as they need to take off the wheels, fit braces and brackets and hydraulic rams to do the straightening. Once they've done it, they need to put everything back on and check again, and repeat until it's right. If it was a case of adjusting a couple of bolts, the Autoquip guy would have been able to do it himself.
Click to expand...

Had that done once. that process does take a while now that you jogged my memory.
 
killkom said:
I spoke to a few techs for BMW and they tell me that it takes that long because they have thise whole elaborate way of doing wheel allignment they actually put waits on the suspension and bring it down to the hight the suspension will be in different situations and then see how the adjustments are in those suituation the computer then takes all the info and spits out numbers and tells you want to adjust its a little more entaled than a TWT wheel alignement thats why is cost R900
Click to expand...

sounds like a race setup :-) but ja the good guys will use weights, sand bags to simulate driver etc.
 
Colin62 said:
Often adjusting the camber will involve bending the suspension straight again. This is quite a time consuming job, as they need to take off the wheels, fit braces and brackets and hydraulic rams to do the straightening. Once they've done it, they need to put everything back on and check again, and repeat until it's right. If it was a case of adjusting a couple of bolts, the Autoquip guy would have been able to do it himself.
Click to expand...

A lot of people don't like doing that adjustment because it puts a huge strain on the wheelbearing which will more than lily need to be replaced not long after the bending has been done
I have done a bit of research and the Camber on the back wheels on a E90 is adjustable but not the front camber someone spoke of removing a pin from the top of the suspension will make it adjustable for racing on tracks but that is not done for normal road driving. The funny thing is that the front camber is quirte difficult to get out you have to hit a pavement or something something I enver do
 
killkom said:
A lot of people don't like doing that adjustment because it puts a huge strain on the wheelbearing which will more than lily need to be replaced not long after the bending has been done
Click to expand...

Many places will refuse to do it that way - the risk of doing damage is often not worth it, and they recommend replacing the suspension parts that are out of alignment. The one car I have had that done on burnt out a while later, so I'll never know how long the wheel bearings were going to last...
 
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