Alignment Question

[EKS PYB]

I bought new 20" staggered rims and had them balanced at Firestone and they suggested that I do alignment as well.

Now, how important is alignment when the rims are new. I'm sure you guys will tell me about uneven tire wear. Is that all the benefits of alignment i'm going to get?

They are also offering $69 for one time and $140+ for the life of the tires. Is unlimited alignment worth it? How often does one need to align wheels anyway?

Please advice...

[braves]

PM Driver 8 he has vast amount of knowledge on this subject.

[EKS PYB]

thanks for the heads up...

[hangten808]

EKS, did you get an aswer to your alignment question as I am going to be putting 20" on mine as well and the local BMW here is trying to sell me a "Laser" alignment for $250. Sounds a bit fishy.

[BlackE32_SilverE53]

Trust me when I say the alignment is very important!!! Especially when you go up to a larger rim, you need to get the alignment done with the new rims and tires installed on the car. I found this out the hard way with my 740iL. With buying the new 19" tire/wheel combo and paying over $300 per tire it was an expensive lesson to learn. I did not get a new alignment and after 3000 miles my tires looked brand new but one day I happened to drop something and it rolled under the car. As I went under the car to get the item I noticed the first inside inch of the tires were down to the wire, about ready to blow out on me. My first thought was that the tires were rubbing on my springs but upon further inspection after removing the wheels and tires I found that the outside edge of the tires still almost brand new and only the inside three inches had signs of wear.... with the inner most edge being worn all the way to the wire being exposed.... So please get it aligned. I had to let a friend of mine here know the same after I happened to be riding behind him and noticed his X5 was toed inwards pretty badly with the installation of his 20" rims and tires. He went with a 315 on the rear and it was noticable that he was riding only on the inside edge of his rear tires.

Robert

[franc x5]

Originally Posted by BlackE32_SilverE53

Trust me when I say the alignment is very important!!! ........
Robert

[CharlieHustleX5]

Alignment is extremely important. Do you really want to shell out the money for prematurely worn out rear tires? And when the tires wear out differently the ride progressively becomes bad. You'll feel like your x5 rides like a 1985 toyota 4 runner in no time.

I went from oem 17" to 22" wheels and tires. My tires in the rear wore out on the inner edges real quick. There was extreme toe in and negative camber when I did the swap.

The dealer charges an arm and a leg for BMW alignment and the worst part is, they dont do much IMO. I went 2 times to the BMW dealer and still had wear issues. Went to an alignment shop who specializes in alignment only.... did a great job and I couldn't be happier.

[X Foomph]

Definately do an alignment

The shop where I recently bought my new tyres from (Bob Jane Tmarts) have a v good mechanic. Apparently our local BMW dealer sends all 2nd hand cars to him for wheel alignments, so I figure this guy is good & knows his stuff. Tyres are Yoko 255 / 50 R19 Fr & 285 / 45 R19 Rr.

After researching here and realising potential probs I asked if the rear camber could be set slightly outside of factory specs, to preserve tyre life. They said fine, they were aware of premature inside wear issues on X5's.
Attached is print out data sheet after alignment, note rear camber has been set to -01deg 40min each side not 50min. I was told to come back any time and they would check & adjust (if need be) the rears free of charge. Good to know that my local tyre guy wants me to get plenty of k's out of my new tyres.

I realise you have 20" rims and am not sure if these specs will suit, maybe Driver 8 or weasel can advise. Hope this helps.

Foomph

[hangten808]

Thanks a ton for the input! One more question...what should i request to have the alignment set at for max tire life for 20" 275/40/20 and 315/35/20. Previous specs provided in above reply were for 19". Mahalo!

[hangten808]

Just put on the new shoes, replaced the 17"s with 168 20" staggered with new alignment. Rear Camber set at -1.5 degrees. Was previously set at -2.4 by factory. Hopefully this gives my tires some added life.