Alignment Woes - now sorted

[Jamie25]

Having replaced my shocks, springs, lollipops, rtabs and front drop links I took it for a hunter alignment yesterday.

This was on my '03 E85 3.0 SE on sports suspension. After much trawling on here I went for sachs, eibach pros, and meyle HD, so basically OEM except for 15mm lower than sports springs. Everything felt much tighter and the sloppiness in the steering was eliminated, most likely as the old lollipops were really bad.

Took in the geo settings for the M and once up on the ramp things got frustrating. Rear offside initial adjustment appeared fine. But the rear nearside was way out, even to stock settings. Couldn't get the camber lower than - 2.5 and the rear trailing arm appeared that the front couldn't move inboard enough so couldn't get much less than 0.20 toe out.

Alignment guy and I checked all the bushes on the upper and lower control arms and all seemed fine plus nothing seemed buckled or bent. After half an hour of poking around it was 5pm and he asked me to come back next week to investigate. Frustrating but to be fair he didn't try and charge me anything.

Got it home and up on my wooden ramps. I noticed that the spring on the offending corner wasn't quite seated properly so I rectified it. Thing is I can't see that making all that much difference to the geo. If anything would've just put the ride height back to something like SE and if anything reduce the camber. Maybe.

Strugglin to think what to do now. Thought I'd ask the wealth of knowledge on here incase anyone has encountered similar. Think I'll contact Lee at FCM in Bristol to book an appointment as I'm in South Gloucestershire.

[Jamie25]

Sorry for the mega post.... Thought it best to give the full story.

[Jamie25]

Booked in with FCM next Tuesday. Hopefully it might just have been down to a poor technician....
They had the wrong Z4 on the screen till I pointed it out to them (E89) and they didn't ask about the staggered wheels. Don't know if that'd make a difference and only thought of it today.
No opinions anyone?

[Archer17]

Hi,
Find someone that knows what they are doing. I had similar problems last year and posted about them. Like you I had someone who put the wrong car in his machine even when I told him it was an E85 3.0 SE on Sports suspension. He even told me the rear couldn’t be adjusted.

It’s worth getting it done properly, I couldn’t believe how it transformed the handling and steering on the car.

Good luck.

[Jamie25]

Thanks.
Mechanically they seemed to know what was what and how to adjust but in hindsight maybe they weren't too knowledgeable. FCM seem to be the page to go around here so fingers crossed.
Definately needs doing as it's all over the shop now when pushing on.

[paulc_bkk]

My experience is that many places just say “there’s not a lot of adjustment on these” for any German cars

Last weekend I took my girlfriends R50 mini (left rear camber miles out) to the shop I trust and they took much more time to check everything and explain all possibilities. Eventually the technician managed to get it within spec - just 0.09 difference between left and right.

Similar story with my Z4 when I first got it too - told the rear wishbone position couldn’t be adjusted (after new bushes installed) at a random nearby shop. When I went to my specialist they got it sorted without hesitation or drama

Just find a reputable shop - it’ll be worth it

[Jamie25]

The worrying thing is they adjusted the cam on the control arm and the three bolts for toe. Went straight to them as you'd expect. I could see figures on the machine moving and watched them going 'over the cam' as it were and still not even close.

[Jamie25]

Had the car up on the ramps for an alignment with Lee at FCM in Bristol today and it's like a new car! Not really had a proper play as it was a traffic heavy journey home but all looking good.
Seemed to really know his stuff and after a chat we went with basically a slighty conservative version of the M settings as it's my daily driver.
Give it a proper thrash tomorrow evening hopefully and I can't wait!
Know where I'll be going for alignments in the future.

[Jembo]

Previously received advice to check tyre pressures are 100% all round, fuel tank half empty & weights put in seats if you want to go all the way