BMW 520 M-sport (E60) front wheel alignment

irish bloke

Have a BMW that drives straight, brakes straight and no uneven tyre wear, but the steering wheel sits about 10 degrees towards the drivers wheel when driving straight.

When I centre the wheel when parked, the drivers wheel is dead ahead but the passengers wheel is a couple of degrees toe out.

1. Can I adjust the track rod ends on this car mechanically without fear of upsetting any geometry sensors etc.

2. My thinking is to adjust both rods the same amount towards the drivers side until I centre the wheel. This should split the difference of the passenger toe out to have both slightly toe out. Would this be the correct set up for this car?

Don't want to bring it to a wheel alignment place unless I really need to

Thanks in advance.

irish bloke

Bump?

ShanE90

I have had the exact same issue on my 330d and it turned out a nightmare to remedy! I took my car to a garage to adjust the alignment and they actually made the handling of the car scary when braking, what ever was done, they centerd the steering perfectly but the handling was terrible it was really "giddy", so I took it back and they done it again now it's spot on! The chap that aligned it used the settings for standard suspension instead of sport! €30 well spent! I took my previous BMW to the dealer for a KDS alignment (€190) a few years ago and they weren't able to get the steering centered, so a good indy...with the right settings... can do a better job!

irish bloke

Thanks ShanE90,

I reckon as the car drives and handles perfect, the only issue is the steering wheel alignment.

This has led me to believe (please correct me if I am wrong) that the front wheels should be set up ever so slightly toe out.

I suppose the question I am asking is, is it straight forward to adjust the tie rods on this car without fear of upsetting any sensory system?

Thanks

porsche boy

Impossible to get it right by doing it yourself. Just bring it to a garage for piece of mind.

ShanE90

As far as I know when the steering is off centre when driving in a straight line it's caused by either wheel on the rear axle being slightly more forward or back than the other, this would cause the car to veer either left or right, the steering, then off centered, is counteracting this...

So it may not be the front wheels that are causing the problem!

irish bloke

porsche boy wrote: »

Impossible to get it right by doing it yourself.

I wouldn't say that now. If you think about it, all im doing is shifting both sides by exactly the same amount, therefore not adjusting the current set up.

Does anyone know where I would get the alignment angles for this car online?

mickdw

Id certainly try what you suggest. If you are happy with cars behaviour and tyre wear, no reason why you cannot carefully adjust both sides by same amount until you get steering centred. After all, the worst that can happen is you need to get a garage to do it after. This is assuming that there is nothing else bent or out of line on the car and that the rear end in set up properly etc but certainly I do it.

porsche boy

Well I'm just trying to save you hassle and money. If your happy with the wheel position but you scrub tur tyres off in a few thousand miles what have you saved?? I mean I'm only going on my years of experience working in garages and tyre centres doing alignment on similar cars but whatever. I can give you manufacturers specs as to camber, caster and tow settings but how do you intend taking these readings??

irish bloke

Anyway, went under the car and adjusted the toe position on the tie rods by 120 degrees (2 nut flats) on both sides. driver side was a b#@tard as rod was seized. screwed passenger rod in and drivers rod out.
Improved the steering wheel position by half with no negative impact. Same adjustments again should sort it fully.

Don't see how I can feck alignment up when in fact I'm not actually adjusting the set up. All I'm doing centring the steering wheel.

Porsche Boy: If you could post the manufactures specs that would be great. Really just want to see is my car should be toe out at the front.

Worst case scenario, I can always check the toe alignment if I need to with a homemade laser and a bit of the aul Pythagoras theorem.

irish bloke

Just to close this one out.

Adjusted the tie rods by 180 degrees (3 nut flats) on both sides, driver rod out and passanger in. Steering wheel is 100% aligned now and drives exactly as it did before.

One bit of advice I would offer if doing this is to use tipp-ex to mark both shaft and ball joint, easy to see how far you have moved, other than that dont be afraid to give it a go yourself, the task is very easy complete:)

Happy with this overall as BMW wanted €130 for alignment.:D