4 Wheel Alignment.......How often?

[RichardG]

After noticing yesterday that my offside front tyre was showing signs of wear on the inside edge and it being almost 2 years and 15K miles since my last alignment I took the Zed to my local tyre centre to get the tracking checked, they were unsure if their equipment would work properly on my 19's and suggested taking it to another garage in the town which had the facility to carry out a 4 wheel alignment (they don't come up on alignmycar) unfortunately they couldn't get the Zed on the ramp to carry out the check.
So I ended up in Gateshead a 200 mile round trip to try get an alignment done, they managed to do the rears but could only get the camber towards the end of the tolerances, however when they tried to align the front they were unable to adjust the toe as the adjusters had siezed and they were unable to free them off. They told me it was a common problem on BMWs because of the design so it has to go back when I have time to have new adjusters fitted and a realignment carried out, so it's back on with 17's tomorrow to save any further wear on the 19's.

So....
How often would you expect to carry out a 4 wheel alignment,
has anyone got any experience of the front toe adjusters siezing

does anyone know of anyone in SW Scotland who can do a 4 wheel alignment?

Thanks

 

[a11y]

Is Larbert too far for SW Scotland?

I usually get mine done annually after the worst of the winter's out the way, i.e. when the worst of the potholes have been filled in :roll:. Haven't personally heard that issue about front toe adjusters seizing though...

 

[peddy]

2 years is way over due. I would say rebalanced every 6 months and aligned every 12.

Usually BMW wear the other way (outside instead of inside) so your alignment is way off.

Camber is hardly adjustable, which is probably why they couldn't do much.

Where is it seized exactly? You might be able to free it with some heat, but you don't want to damage the dampers.

 

[Blue]

Which garage did you go to in Gateshead? For a change that is actually quite close to me and I think it's about time I had mine done!

 

[ksher]

Both my previous E85 and current E89 have slightly higher wear on the outside of the rear tyres. The front tyres have 6mm across the tread, but rear tyres have 4mm near the outsider and 5mm from the central to inside, after the car has done 7,000 miles. I probably always take the corner at speed .

 

[RichardG]

2 years is way over due. I would say rebalanced every 6 months and aligned every 12.

I actually thought it was only a year, I'm away so much I lose track of time, but do rack the miles up in the few months a year I get to drive.
That said until I put the Eibachs in and lowered the car I'd never had an alignment done or noticed any unusual tyre wear and that was through at least 2 sets of tyres and 45K.

Usually BMW wear the other way (outside instead of inside) so your alignment is way off.

Strange you say that just about every picture I've seen of people questioning their set up appears to show a set up that would wear the inner edge first IMO, but that could just be the rears.

Where is it seized exactly? You might be able to free it with some heat, but you don't want to damage the dampers.

Just told me the toe adjuster was seized and that they had tried to heat it up with no success.

Which garage did you go to in Gateshead? For a change that is actually quite close to me and I think it's about time I had mine done!

Revolution Motorsport.

Is Larbert too far for SW Scotland?

I usually get mine done annually after the worst of the winter's out the way, i.e. when the worst of the potholes have been filled in :roll:. Haven't personally heard that issue about front toe adjusters seizing though...

Ok A11y you got me where the feck is Larbet, there's got to be somewhere else either in Dumfries or Carlisle but they just don't come on the searches I've carried out so far, I might even give your a guy in Bonnybridge a try when I get home in April.

 

[Craig74]

The Guy in Bonnybridge is now the guy in Larbert . He done mine 2 weeks ago. I have the same problem as you my 19's wearing on the inside. The back on mine was out a fair bit so hope to get better wear out them going forward.

Cheers
C

PS Larbert is 5 mins from Falkirk.

 

[tomTVR]

I had mine done at BMW last week, my fronts were also wearing badly on the inside edges. Good question about how often, i suppose it depends - you could hit a big pot hole on the way home from the alignment place and knock it straight back out! The technician told me that different springs can affect the wear pattern so its possible the eibach's are related. My track rod ends were also seized, as i have experienced on my previous BMW's so i wouldn't worry about that.

 

[wheelie]

Had mine done in Telford the other day after shelling out for 4 new run flats (don't ask). Based on the state of the roads I come up against on almost a daily basis (some feel as if they've been bloody ploughed :x ) I aim to have the alignment done every 3 months. This is based on me doing about 20k miles per year and in part due to the truly shocking state of Britains roads.

It's about £20 to have them done locally which is worth it to me to keep the alignment in check.

Pete

 

[playalistic]

Had mine done in Telford the other day after shelling out for 4 new run flats (don't ask). Based on the state of the roads I come up against on almost a daily basis (some feel as if they've been bloody ploughed :x ) I aim to have the alignment done every 3 months. This is based on me doing about 20k miles per year and in part due to the truly shocking state of Britains roads.

It's about £20 to have them done locally which is worth it to me to keep the alignment in check.

Pete

£20 sounds highly suspect. Is that full geometry using a KDS machine? :?

 

[RichardG]

Had mine done in Telford the other day after shelling out for 4 new run flats (don't ask). Based on the state of the roads I come up against on almost a daily basis (some feel as if they've been bloody ploughed :x ) I aim to have the alignment done every 3 months. This is based on me doing about 20k miles per year and in part due to the truly shocking state of Britains roads.

It's about £20 to have them done locally which is worth it to me to keep the alignment in check.

Pete

£20 sounds highly suspect. Is that full geometry using a KDS machine? :?

My thoughts exactly, sounds more like just the front tracking rather a full geometry check.

Good news is I might have found somewhere in Dumfries that has just had a machine installed, find out for definate tomorrow.

 

[wheelie]

Not sure of the kit but it was laser sighted front and back and he amended the nearside front alignment back to BMW specifications as it was slightly out after a jolt in a pot hole in Bury.

The site mentions: "Our 4 wheel laser alignment using highly accurate Supertracker equipment will prolong your new tyres life and improve handling."

It's a small local firm that keep the prices really keen hence the shear volume of people that use it. It's Ability Tyres and Motorcare in Telford. http://www.abilitytyres.co.uk/

Good set of chaps actually and asked me to pop in after a few hundered miles just to double check the alignment was still true.

Pete

 

[mikedav]

Hunter Alignment around here is more like £13-£20 per corner, I had mine done last week.

BMW quoted £150+

 

[ksher]

BMW quoted £150+

It is cheap.

 

[a11y]

The Guy in Bonnybridge is now the guy in Larbert

Yep, John @ ProGrip is the one! Cracking new garage unit, not that there was anything wrong with the location in Bonnybridge.

And £150 isn't cheap IMO - the guy mentioned above is around £60-70 (was last time I was there) for full 4-wheel alignment on Hunter DSP equipment.

 

[RichardG]

Just noticed on my printout from yesterdays set up that all the tolerances have changed from my previous set up.
The only difference being that the Zed is now on 19"s and not the 17"s as per the previous set up.
Would this cause a change in tolerances as a quick look at the TIS only seems to give one set of tolerances and does not appear to make any changes due to wheel diameter.