Alignment confusion... rant... long...

[Turbo_Bimmer]

Guys, I start to be confused by the alignment techs I talked to.

Last summer, I put lowering springs on my wife's Cooper, since camber and toe in are increased, I bring the car to be aligned and ask to reduce the camber and bring the toe near 0 (0°01').
The tech looks at me and says NO, that will exagerate the wear on the tires, that I should keep more toe in. I tried to prove my point, but he kept on saying no, and aligned the car with some toe in (camber couldn't be adjusted without camber arms)

2 days ago, I bring my X5 for an alignment, and I choose a different place because I wanted a knowledgable tech.
Again, when I tell the tech to adjust the rear at near 0 (0°01'), he says the same thing as the other tech, that my tires will wear more without toe in. I tell him that the BMW specs are for safety and don't care about tire wear etc etc. He still argue that I'm not correct.
I showed him with my hands how a toed in and negative camber tire would look travelling the road and wear the inside, then, I think he got it, but seemed a bit upset that I was showing him what he should know.

He then said, ok, it's your tires, I will do what you request. Well, he tried. The camber couldn't be set lower than -2.5 on one side, and -1.9 on the other side.
Then, he says that I must have a bad wheel bearing, and jacks the rear axle and starts testing the tires for play. I go to see him, and tell him that he won't see any play by testing this way, that this truck requires to have the airbag pushed up to released tension on the multiple joints.
Again, I was showing him how to do his job, and I think he didn't like that.
He stopped the testing, tightened the bolts, lowered the jacks and told me that he didn't have the equipment to align BMWs with air suspension, that I need to go to the dealer where they have special computers, to remove air in the airbags during alignment, and he also told me that BMW was aligning those cars jacked up by the frame with the wheels hanging at full droop!! I don't think that is true, however.

So I told him, yes sir, I will go see BMW, and have a good day.

Now, who is right?? To me and from what I read on this and other forums, it make sense to have near 0 toe in to reduce wear. Why those guys keep saying the opposite?

I've been aligning my E30 track car in my garage with ropes, tape measure, and digital level for years, and never got an unequally worn tire, even if they are very soft (R-compound).

Will I have to go to the dealer at $320? (compared to $89 that tire shop price)

I think I must have a worn component since the camber is excessive. After fixing the issue, I think I will try to align it with ropes just to see before bringing it back to -another- shop. In french we say; ' On est jamais mieux servis que par soi-même'. Bad english translation: If you want something doing, do it yourself.

Sorry for the long post, I had to express myself :-)

[recklessspyder]

Alignment specs are on the site somewhere.....but you shouldn't have 0 camber. You're current camber is too much i think and you probably have some worn parts. I could have my fronts done until I replaces arms and links.

The BMW specs aren't just for safety, they're for performance.

check this
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ults-shop.html

[dkl]

Your alignment tech is absolutely correct with regards to toe. Since you have excess negative camber, with 0 toe or toe out, you will wear out the inside faster. A bit of toe-in will help even out the wear with negative camber.