found some pics of the race car at the shop as well as of us performing an corner balance and alignment at an old house of mine on an e46m3.

obviously some of this has specialized equipment, but you can definitely do all of this with basic stuff you can buy from any home supply center. they sell an aluminum rig called smartstrings as well (super duper nice), but i never needed it... simple aluminum angle bars were all i needed.

Perfectly leveled plane for where the tires hit the ground (snap on alignment stands, notice the 6 levelers under the stands, scales, and slip plate). shop aligment racks that you drive on rarely ever have rear slip plates (mainly due to not having a fixed wheelbase for all the cars they service).
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F1808sized.jpg

slip plates under all four tires so the suspension is truly seated
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F1808sized.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F1810sized.jpg
and that is GUARANTEED -2 degrees camber folks. does your x5's rear look like that or does it lean more? all of the ones i measured sure does lean in a whole lot more than that...

and here's some of the m3
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F2067sized.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F2073sized.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F2071sized.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F2069sized.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F2068sized.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F2076sized.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...F2064sized.jpg

i just wanted to know wat do u guys mean to have the X5 sitting on it's wheels when you tightned the bolts through the bushings or etc.
the reason am askin cause i did both front wheel bearing about a week ago and i just noticed the steering is off a lil & this past two day i been feeling front end vibration over 45mph, could it be something loose when i put the spindle back on and the all the arms attached to it. the X was on the raised up when all the work was done

any feedback would be appreciated
btw the past couple moths i did front pads and rotors & wheel bearings

I have the same problem a little shake at 100 km. I havent done anything just got the alignment done but when they balanced my 20's the used a regular balancer rather then the road force. Going next week to get them rebalanced. If shake still there I think maybe the caliper is what im gonna check. Otherwise ball joints.

Basically what happens is that when the car is raised the suspension hangs low, if you tighten the bolt through the bushings while it is hanging down low it holds the bushing in that position... Then when you drop her back on her wheels and the suspension is pushed back up the control arms and thrust arms twist the bushing to the normal position which holds lots of twisting pressure on the bushing and it tears really quick while driving.

Before tightening the bolts through the bushing side of the arms you want to have the wheels at ride height so the bushing will be in its natural state in the normal driving height. In the driveway this is easiest done with the aid of some drive on ramps.

Top man hayaku .
I like the adjustable swivel pods , I would most likely try perspex or polycarbonate shims as a cheapo alternative .

yep, i've used ceramic 16x16 floor tiles with lithium grease in between at the race track before. just need to be able to let all 4 tires slide to their natural seated position and then make your settings.

its just the methodology. you can apply any number of rigs/hardware to it and apply the same methodology...

create a level plane where the car sits, let all 4 tires slide to rested position, string the car so its perfectly parrallel to the hub centers and you are ready for measurements/changes... very very very simple and highly accurate method.

Did the almost exact job on my x5 and ofcourse you need a alignment.. Anytome you do suspension work you need to re align things....

Fixed my clocked steering wheel issue