apols, this is not an M specific post really but can't think of a better forum to post it on. Just adding to the general forum knowledge with my experience on this topic.
My rears were shot pretty much when I got the car in January - inner rear wear. I had a new Cat fitted in March and when it was up on the ramp you could see that the canvas was starting to show. My mileage is pretty low so it was just something I knew needed doing in the not-too-distant future. My indy cannot do the Hunter alignment and recommended another local (to him) tyre centre - North East Tyres in York. The best price for Goodyear Eagle F1 Asym 2s seems to change daily but I wanted to use Tyreleader.co.uk - it is a German company by the looks of things but their price was best. You have to pay your cash by card online and they send the tyres from Germany either to your home - I was initially considering having a mobile tyre fitter do the job - or to a garage they know. Lucky for me, NE Tyres was on their list. At first I was a little concerned because the chap on the phone that I spoke to was warning me - when he found I could get the tyres considerably cheaper than he could - that if they were dodgy, his garage wouldn't fit them, so I had to take the risk in essence. He also said he'd never heard of Tyreleader. After a few phone calls, the overall manager had told him that they HAD had a couple of deliveries from Tyreleader and that these had gone fine. I got the now ubiquitous emails giving me details of the tyres being located, shipped, leaving Germany, arriving in England and arriving at the garage. Great service - I took what I thought was a risk but now I know better and I'd definitely use them again if they were cheapest.
NE Tyres did a fantastic job - I really would recommend them. They did the fitting, balancing and adjusted the alignment on the Hunter machine according to specs I gave them there and then. The put their best man on the job - obviously, I have no independent way of verifying that he was/is the best fitter but he sure did a proper job - checked for damage first so the garage couldn't be blamed if an alloy was damaged, took care over fitting the new rubber, talked me through the "before" alignment and what my changes would do "after" - it took him about 90 mins I'd say and he consulted me four or five times, allowing me to see the readings at the machine and even have apoke around under the car.
I have the before and after and might get around to posting up but basically I've taken a lot of the toe off front and back - not all - but most of it and have camber settings I'm happy with at the mo.
Front camber is not perfect but I am informed by the knowledgable fitter that it'd probably take a full custom install - so coilovers etc - to get this perfect. Possibly one for the future but just too expensive for me at the moment plus I like having the car almost perfectly OEM.
Just thought I'd share. Oh, and thanks to, among others, Exdos for assitance at short notice on the settings.
Stevo
My rears were shot pretty much when I got the car in January - inner rear wear. I had a new Cat fitted in March and when it was up on the ramp you could see that the canvas was starting to show. My mileage is pretty low so it was just something I knew needed doing in the not-too-distant future. My indy cannot do the Hunter alignment and recommended another local (to him) tyre centre - North East Tyres in York. The best price for Goodyear Eagle F1 Asym 2s seems to change daily but I wanted to use Tyreleader.co.uk - it is a German company by the looks of things but their price was best. You have to pay your cash by card online and they send the tyres from Germany either to your home - I was initially considering having a mobile tyre fitter do the job - or to a garage they know. Lucky for me, NE Tyres was on their list. At first I was a little concerned because the chap on the phone that I spoke to was warning me - when he found I could get the tyres considerably cheaper than he could - that if they were dodgy, his garage wouldn't fit them, so I had to take the risk in essence. He also said he'd never heard of Tyreleader. After a few phone calls, the overall manager had told him that they HAD had a couple of deliveries from Tyreleader and that these had gone fine. I got the now ubiquitous emails giving me details of the tyres being located, shipped, leaving Germany, arriving in England and arriving at the garage. Great service - I took what I thought was a risk but now I know better and I'd definitely use them again if they were cheapest.
NE Tyres did a fantastic job - I really would recommend them. They did the fitting, balancing and adjusted the alignment on the Hunter machine according to specs I gave them there and then. The put their best man on the job - obviously, I have no independent way of verifying that he was/is the best fitter but he sure did a proper job - checked for damage first so the garage couldn't be blamed if an alloy was damaged, took care over fitting the new rubber, talked me through the "before" alignment and what my changes would do "after" - it took him about 90 mins I'd say and he consulted me four or five times, allowing me to see the readings at the machine and even have apoke around under the car.
I have the before and after and might get around to posting up but basically I've taken a lot of the toe off front and back - not all - but most of it and have camber settings I'm happy with at the mo.
Front camber is not perfect but I am informed by the knowledgable fitter that it'd probably take a full custom install - so coilovers etc - to get this perfect. Possibly one for the future but just too expensive for me at the moment plus I like having the car almost perfectly OEM.
Just thought I'd share. Oh, and thanks to, among others, Exdos for assitance at short notice on the settings.
Stevo