BMW dealer alignment

legomanx51v · 25-05-2018 2:48pm #1

Have a 1 series that has been pulling to the left slightly. Could just be alignment, but at 98k km and 5 years old could be worn suspension parts too IMO. Anyway the car is under an extended BMW warranty that covers wear and tear of suspension parts till 160k km so even though BMW dealer alignment is expensive I thought I'd let them align it and replace any suspension parts if necessary.

They told me they definitely identified a pull to the left but it didn't need any parts replaced and when they aligned it and it was all good. I drove it away and straight away noticed the pull to the left was still there. Exactly the same. Drove straight back and they said to come the next day and one of the techs would sit in and go for test drive with me. On the drive he agreed it was pulling the left and he would try and realign it "to my steering wheel" and still keep it in tolerances. So its booked in after the weekend for that.

I'm anal with tyre pressures so its not that, I know what road camber is and it still does it on a flat road. Pulls more on rough roads and also at speeds above 80kph.
They tried to explain to me that BMWs have a characteristic electric steering and are designed to be driven with the hand on the wheel and road camber etc etc.

For what it's worth here's the KDS printout from BMW, I cant figure out why there are no "Final" measurements, didn't notice until after I left the dealer.

Thoughts folks? I told them from the very beginning I think its a worn suspension part but what do I know :rolleyes:

listermint · 25-05-2018 2:51pm

never had a good experience with BMW doing allignments tbh. I had my M3 alligned twice by DannMcCanns in Blanch and the job was spot on.

Why twice you ask ? had the subframe out of it for rebuild.

mickdw · 25-05-2018 3:07pm

Just for clarity, when you say pulling to the left, would it actually drive off to the left if left to its own devices while sitting on a flat road surface or do you simply mean the steering if off centre when driving along.

That looks like an alignment where no adjustments were made.
Rear toe is all on one side and front isn't great either.

VeVeX · 25-05-2018 3:56pm

The readings on that alignment report while within tolerance are far from perfect.

legomanx51v · 25-05-2018 4:44pm

It goes left out of lane within 2-3 seconds on the m50 when going 100kph. I think the wheel is centred but it starts to turn left a bit too as the car veers left.

Im confused why there is no after measurement on the report. Am I reading it right? Initial is how it came in, target is what is specified by machine, final is what they sent it out at?

I wouldn’t normally think of going to BMW and paying 160 for alignment but the idea was if a worn bush needed replacing they do it under warranty straight away instead of me getting it aligned elsewhere then bringing it to them and trying to explain what needed done.

F34 · 25-05-2018 5:19pm

They didn’t adjust anything as there’s no other reading on it.

650Ginge · 25-05-2018 5:37pm

Try on a normal road that's traffic free putting the white line down the centre of the car for a few secs. Just to rule our road camber.

legomanx51v · 25-05-2018 8:51pm

F34 wrote: »

They didn’t adjust anything as there’s no other reading on it.

So they do nothing, tell me its better, and take 160euro? Surely not

Toyotafanboi · 25-05-2018 9:14pm

legomanx51v wrote: »

So they do nothing, tell me its better, and take 160euro? Surely not

Definitely not, but that doesn't make for a good story.

The quality of what they did do though is debatable. €160 is savage money for a four wheel alignment, even at a dealer.

I remember a BMW dealer doing an alignment before and before doing it they put weights on all the seats because the correct way to align them is loaded (not empty as the car would usually be on a lift) but if that was necessary I'm sure a dealer would know that.

You'll never get perfect readings on a 5 year old 100k car anyway, that's why there is a specified tolerance. If the rradings are within tolerance and there is still a pull It's most likely down to a worn component but it could be difficult to identify which without replacing half the car and that's not really sensible. If the readings are within tolerance and the tyres are wearing evenly I'd probably leave well enough alone.

legomanx51v · 25-05-2018 9:16pm

650Ginge wrote: »

Try on a normal road that's traffic free putting the white line down the centre of the car for a few secs. Just to rule our road camber.

I did one better this evening.. drove on the opposite side of the normal camber and it managed to pull upwards against the camber. Took it nearly 6-8 seconds but it definitely overcame it. Youtube video:
https://youtu.be/B2t4C4D_yFQ

For reference this is what happens in normal driving. I let go of the wheel just between the yellow box and green traffic lights.
https://youtu.be/Na3vsluYhuY

listermint · 25-05-2018 9:17pm

legomanx51v wrote: »

So they do nothing, tell me its better, and take 160euro? Surely not

160 euro.

Don't ever bring your car back to a dealer for a wheel alignment.

Ever .

Ever.

legomanx51v · 25-05-2018 9:23pm

All my previous cars have been older than 5 years and odometer ranging between 80k-130k KM and none of them pulled in any noticeable way. This is a pretty drastic pull, I've just attached some videos so its easier to see it rather than just my written rantings which I could easily exaggerate.

Again the reason for paying 160 euro is because I suspected that there might be a worn part that I wanted them to see and fix if necessary, if not then yes I've paid 100 euro over, but it was also in for service and wanted to keep warranty and full BMW SH intact., Rather than me running around to a different place and potentially finding something wrong and then taking it back BMW to try convince them that they should fix something that another garage suggested.

Bmw123d · 25-05-2018 9:27pm

By any chance does that car have electronic steering. There’s a chance it could be a front arm rubber bushing but I’ve not seen it on any bmw in a long time. Especially if there genuine arms. To be honest I’d bring it to advance pit stop and get the 4 wheel alignment done again. We use them all the time for ours. Any other bm questions just ask.

Gumbo · 26-05-2018 9:12am

listermint wrote: »

160 euro.

Don't ever bring your car back to a dealer for a wheel alignment.

Ever .

Ever.

But isint there a difference between the standard wheel alignment and BMW's KDS system?

*Ive used Dave Mc Cann too on my old BMW's and I recommend anybody that asks to use him too btw

Elessar · 26-05-2018 10:14am

Had a similar issue with my 3 series last year, took it to a BMW dealer who did an alignment but there was still a pull. Took it to an independent garage who straight away identified a defect on the inside rim of one of the front tyres. Blatantly obvious when he pointed it out - yet I got charged a fortune from BMW who didn't even take a look at the wheels. Check the rubber is my advice. I got two new front tyres and it was sorted.

HappyAsLarE · 26-05-2018 3:37pm

I’ve had about 5 or 6 alignments and only once was it done correctly. You don’t need a qualification to use the alignment machine. Just saying.

F34 · 26-05-2018 3:40pm

legomanx51v wrote: »

So they do nothing, tell me its better, and take 160euro? Surely not

Any time I’ve had it done in a BMW dealership I’ve always had before and after readings listed on the sheet you pictured. The fact that there is no readings there to me means they didn’t do anything or else messed up.

Toyotafanboi · 26-05-2018 5:16pm

F34 wrote: »

Any time I’ve had it done in a BMW dealership I’ve always had before and after readings listed on the sheet you pictured. The fact that there is no readings there to me means they didn’t do anything or else messed up.

What it most likely means is that they put the gauges on the car and done the alignment adjustments while reading the data live on screen and just done a single printout which would place the after measurements in the before column.

That or the whole alignment was done without saving and printing the readings then someone realised they needed a printout so they put the gauges back on the car and printed immediately, which again would put the after readings into the before column.

It's highly unlikely that they charged the OP €160 to drive the car onto the workshop, do a before printout, make no adjustments and drive it back out again. I understand what they did for the price was ****e but I would say there's no chance that they actually did nothing to the car.

legomanx51v · 26-05-2018 8:31pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

What it most likely means is that they put the gauges on the car and done the alignment adjustments while reading the data live on screen and just done a single printout which would place the after measurements in the before column.

This is what I initially assumed but the numbers don't look great. Thanks for spelling dealer correctly for me in the thread title!

BMW dealer alignment

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