X5 e70 wheel alignment (need help)
 

A few weeks ago, I took my brother's e70 x5 to Kahn & Keville in San Francisco for wheel alignment. BMW wanted to charge me $300 for this while this shop only charges $90. The bad news is, they aligned the wheel according to the previous x5 spec (e53). Last week I drove the car down to San Diego and noticed the steering wheel shaking. Anyone can help me find the correct wheel alignment spec for the e70? I want to compare it to the print out that they gave me. If there's no difference then I won't be to worried. Otherwise, I'm making them do it all over again. Thank you

hello.

I got my wheel aligned after having the 'BMW Winter Tires and Wheels Package' installed at the dealership, and the car was pulling to the right shortly after.

They did the alignment for free because i bi***ed ("I have 2000k on a $90,000 car and you want me to pay for an alignment!!" lol) but also i think it was under warranty. Anyway, the printout reads,

"Complaint: Vehicle pulling to right. Since we put winter tires 'on' and the steering wheel is off center too(report first).
Correction: Tried to do 4 wheel alignment but ALIGn. Machine has no specs!! Used X5 As a guide did 4 wheel alignment with its specs."

Later they told me that they did it with E53 specs. I am no expert but was worried at first because for the new model the wheel base is different and overall size is also different. HOwever, I haven't had any problems with it since i got it done and also this is BMW mechanic at the dealer. NO more pulling to the right as well :) so i trust that everything is okay

Bottom line, steering wheel shaking can be a tire problem not with the alignment. I doubt that E53 spec alignment has damaged or caused the steering wheel shaking that you are describing.

GoodYear shops can do 4 wheel alignments and it's under $100.

Thank you for your advice. My X5 has had many problems with the steering since I bought it in the early 2007. Had to visit the dealer 3 times for faulty steering. Each time was told that the problem had been caused by different things and I was assured that it won't happen again. I share this car with my brother so I'm not sure he had hit anything. Dealer refused to align the car for free stating that the previous problems with the steering had not cause the miss alignment. They wanted to charge me $300!!! I guess kahn and keville didn't have the e70 spec in their computer too. I am just hoping that someone can provide me with the right spec so that i can compare it to that of the E53. Thank you

There is an extremely useful set of documents on this site for the E70:
http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/g...documents.html
Within the Chassis Dynamics section you can find details for axle/wheel alignment (page 17 & 19). I cannot tell you whether these are correct or apply to all sizes of wheel but they are probably a start.
Simon

Wow thank u much Simon. I'm new to the forum so I didn't know abt the references.

Wow I don't really understand it but it looks like there's a lot of difference between the 2 models. Maybe that's why I get the vibration in my steering wheel. I don't know if the provided document is valid for 20" wheel though. What should I do?

I am not an expert but I am quite sure that vibrations are primarily due to tires and maybe the struts. Highly unlikely that its the wheel alignment that is causing that.

Just get the dealer to confirm only (they are obligated to tell you before doing anything anyway)

I thought steering wheel vibration = front-wheel balance necessary where if it were rear-wheels, your seats would vibrate instead (which is what happened to me).

Alignments are just for premature wear and veering left/right, no?

Hmm now I'm beginning to worry that my right front tire is not installed properly. My tire was punctured last week on the way from San Francisco to San Diego. It was Saturday evening and by that time all the tire shops had closed. Crevier BMW sold me a new tire but they refused to mount it on the wheel ($515. tax inclusive). Called about 10 other shops and they were all closed. I finally found a small tire shop that agreed to mount it on. Took them no longer than 10 mins to mount the tire and balanced it. Maybe they have no experience with runflats and that's what causing the problem. And by the way, I was told that it is impossible/unsafe to plug and patch a runflat. Is that true?

my knowledge is that the latest Dunlop run flat tires (includes the North American factory installed ROF tires) can be patched. some of the older generation run-flats had to be replaced but not the current ones.

Hi halohalo,
BMW dealer in Taiwan says that E70 has active steering so when doing wheel alignment, the car has to be connected to the computer and this can not be done by non-BMW service.

Is this true for you?

I need to do wheel alignment, but I don't want to waste my time waiting so many hours.

Thank you very much for replying.

I don't think they have to plug it into a computer, though I'm not sure. The shop that I went to did it for me in around 2 hours. Now the steering wheel is straight but it vibrates when I'm in the highway. But, as many other members had stated, this might be caused by my wheel not being balanced. Now, if it is true that the Dunlop can be patced, I will be really pissed!:cussing: It cost me $500! My lexus has the Conti Sport Contact 2 on it and it cost me around $200 each.

I always get my alignments done by the dealer, it avoids these issues.
When having a major service, I get the alignment done for free under my insistance

Thank you, halohalo. That is what I think. If all X5 or any car has "active steering wheel" have to go to the dealer for wheel alignment, then it will be a disaster for the shops. I guess the BMW dealer just try to pull me back.

My car is still under warranty, so it will be free for alignment in dealer. I just doubt the skill of technician there, so I would rather to spend some little money outside.

If you can get your wheel alignment for free then you should count your lucky stars. My dealers wanted to charge me $300. I'm not sure how much that is in your currency, but other places charge me $89 but they didn't do a good job:D. I find it weird how the dealers always ask you where you buy your car from, and then treat you differently if you bought it from their dealership.