Upgraded to 20's, alignment needed?

[h2daizzo]

Hi all,

I just upgraded from 19 inch stock 212's to 20 inch replica 215's 10 inch wide in the front and 11 in the rear on a 2009 e70 . Does anyone know if i need to get a re alignment? Also, 212's with bridgestone rft's for sale if anyone is interested.

[Repoman]

Wow, sounds nice . . . got any pics? If I had the 20's, I would definitely realign the rears for as little negative camber as possible. I have the 19's and I am already down to -1.7 in the rear. I believe the 20's will show any mis-alignment better than the smaller sizes. I would surely get it checked if anything because those 20" tires are more expensive and you don't want to be going through them often.

[nom3rcy]

No, you don't need an alignment.

I also advise you to disregard suggestions to reduce negative camber, you will sacrifice safety and handling for a marginal increase in tire life.

[Repoman]

It's a good idea to check the alignment, whatever your choice of camber may be, when you put new tires on. What you don't want to do is put new tires on an alignment that is even slightly off and wear those tires even more prematurely than the negative camber as the effects of negaitive camber are multiplied by a slightly off caster.

Regarding the negative camber, I chose to straighten up the rears to get more life out of the tires like nom3rcy said. Safety to me is a bigger picture than just less than 1 degree of camber . . . I don't drive like a maniac, I drive safely which is what I think has more to do with safety. Also, regarding the handling . . . again, a less than 1 degree camber difference is not going to make the difference between your X handling like a Ferrari or a Suburban. But there is an excellent chance that your expensive tires will last longer on the straighter setting. My camber is -1.7, minimum spec is -2.0 . . . 3/10s of a degree difference.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to straighten their camber, make your own decision. I made my decison after my 3rd set of rears in 45K miles. Also, I need to save my money on tires so I have enough to make repairs on everything else that breaks on the X . . . which is . . . everything else.

[h2daizzo]

thanks for the info guys...not sure which way to go yet. I'll post pics soon.

[nom3rcy]

I agree with Repo that it is always a good idea to check the alignment, just to make sure your new tires will wear evenly etc.

But the simple act of changing wheels won't affect the alignment.

Did your old set wear unevenly at all?

[h2daizzo]

Thanks Nom3rcy,

Thats exactly what I was wondering. Like Repo said, I dont want to wear my tires out quickly. I want to get the most for my money. My X5 is brand new, only 2000 miles on it so I'm assuming my alignment was good when I bought it. I havent driven it enough to hit enough potholes to throw the alignment off. Better safe than sorry tho i guess. Maybe ill run it to the dealer and make sure. Any others have any opinion on the matter?

[Repoman]

I was just looking in the E70 forum where I saw a newer post with a guy saying he had 1000 miles on his new E70 X5 and the dealership had to do a realignment because his toe was slightly out of adjustment . . . I couldn't believe either. I guess anything can happen and I agree with you . . . better safe than sorry.

[Repoman]

Here it is:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...d-new-e70.html

[DocMike]

I didn't get an alignment my 20's had 15k left on the middle and outside, and bald to the metal on the inside, I had no idea they were that bad... that is dangerous