Wheel alignment tips/info
 

The wife's X has the all too familiar "stance" in the rear and seeing as she's got fancy snow tires on there I'd like to try and prevent them from wearing unevenly.

I've got an appointment booked tomorrow at a shop that does a lot of work on lifted jeeps and trucks and I figure they'd know their way around, but just in case they've never dealt with an e53 before I'd like to come with some info that might help the tech and not come off like some prick telling them how to do their job.

There's bits and pieces here I've read over the years but I can't remember any of the info off hand.

What's the low down on getting things dialed in properly?

Check for wear on the outboard side of the "wishbone". (rearward control arm). That's the usual suspect that wears out and causes tire wear and partly why you'll see more than usual negative camber (not the cause of tire wear).

It's difficult to see the motion of the ball joint when loaded so if you have air springs best to remove the pressure and it will become obvious. But even with spring pressure you can pry with a crowbar and if you see motion it's shot.

ARD has some very useful pointers over on the E70 forum that apply equally to the E53. I recommend putting a sheet together with numbers you want the alignment shop to hit (I use toe-in 0.02 +/- 0.01 and camber 1.1 +/- 0.1, both settings to be balanced L to R. The rest I am fine using std spec.) Present it to them when making the appointment. If they balk say good-beye! and find a better shop.


If no recent suspension work was done, be ready to swap some control arms, ball-joints or the inner bushings in the lower CA.

No air suspension

I won't know the status of the suspension until it's up on the hoist and if anything looks worn out then I won't bother with the alignment until those issues are addressed.

It's been a long time since I've had an alignment done so I'm assuming you input make, model, year into some computer and the Matrix will tell you what spec should be.

I meant more so what people are actually using vs BMW spec.

I don't know the status of the suspension components as I've only had this thing for a year and it's never seen a hoist so it will be a voyage of discovery tomorrow.

This shop regularly deals with multi link lifted suspensions and big wheels/tires and the local dealerships send all that kind of work to them. Plus the owner is my neighbor so I'd like to support local business.

I'll pop into the e70 forum and see what I can dig up

I searched the E70 forum for "ARD" and after 13 pages I didn't find any definitive alignment thread.

Only info I found was...


Front:

Camber is nice and balanced up front, just a smidge neg which is fine

But toe should be 0.02 with a total toe of 0.04

Your 'steer ahead' will be 0.00 when the toes are balanced

Rear:

Id like the left rear dropped to -1.4

and both toes to 0.02 as the fronts

Front:

Camber is nice and balanced up front, just a smidge neg which is fine

But toe should be 0.02 with a total toe of 0.04

Your 'steer ahead' will be 0.00 when the toes are balanced

Rear:

Id like the left rear dropped to -1.4

and both toes to 0.02 as the fronts

Would you happen to have a link to the post you were talking about?

Do you know how many miles are on your suspension parts right now?

No

I guess I should have said I'm looking for alignment specs not just tips.

I'm well aware that getting an alignment with worn suspension is a waste of time but I'm also used to "techs" that don't know jack shit other than what their computer tells them.

You found the info from ARD that will maximize tire longevity. I'm ok with a little more toe in I get a little tramline and wander at that close to straight.


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Here are the BMW specs. I don't see any particular reason to deviate from them for the most part, unless you're looking to sacrifice handling for tire wear. The one thing that I did do on mine was pull the camber bolts on the front struts and max out front camber.

32 00 Wheel Alignment E53 Steel spring, 1-axle air suspension, 2-axle air suspension, not low-slung
Observe test conditions!
Front axle:
Total toe 0° 18' ± 12'
Adjustment* total toe 0° 18' ± 4'
Toe difference single wheel between left/ right max. 12'
Camber (difference between left/right max. 30') - 12' ± 30'
Adjustment* camber - 12' ± 25'
Toe angle difference (difference between left/right max. 20')
- with 20° lock on inside wheel - 1° 35' ± 30'
Caster angle (difference between left/right max. 30')
Front wheel displacement 0° ± 15'
Maximum wheel lock
- Inside wheel approx. ° 37° 06'
- Outside wheel approx. ° 31° 07'
Turning circle approx. m 12.1
Rear axle:
Total toe 0° 18' ± 12'
Adjustment* total toe 0° 18' ± 4'
Camber (difference between left/right max. 30') - 1° 50' ± 25'
Adjustment* camber - 1° 50' ± 5'
Geometrical axis deviation 0° ± 12'
*Note: To minimize adjusting errors*(measuring inaccuracies), use a narrower tolerance for adjustment.
**Note: Toe difference front axle*=*criterion for steering wheel inclination