toe in after control arm replacement
 

2004 X5/sport package. 68K trouble free miles. no accidents. 30K miles on Nexen low profile tires.

Front control arms replaced due to wear at time of CV boot replacement. 1,000 miles later have lost all tread from outside of Rt front tire.

Independent BMW shop says control arm replacement cannot affect alignment.

I'd like to hear from other owners who might have knowledge or experience with this.

Tried a search-no matches

Thank you, Jim

Jim, I completely disagree with that indy shop. However, there are a series of suspension components that need to be removed/loosened in order to replace the CV boot/joint. Obviously your alignment is off and needs top be corrected. The control arm has a ball joint on one end with the rubber bushing on the other. It always recommended to get an alignment performed after any suspension part is replaced. I suspect that when the CV joint was replaced, something got reinstalled differrently than before. What shop told you this?

You do know that going with a different tire size also affect the suspension settings. So if the toe was correct for you stock tire, it might be incorrect for your new low profile tires. Should have the suspension aligned after you put on new tires.

When I did my control arms recently, I noticed that there's a very slight difference to the twist between the left and right arm. It seems it would be pretty easy to mix them up. I dont know if they will even bolt up that way, but I wonder if they put the arms on the wrong side of car?

As far as alignment is concerned, if the car is aligned with bad suspension components, and you then fix those components, now your alignment will be off.