X5Meister,

I agree with both, you and mD. I want to get best results. For my own good, I will research if any of the shops I'm familiar with have the Hunter equipment you are referring too. Human factor still remains a major unknown but I would expect dealer's techs to have better competence than an average mechanic shop. But it is just the matter of probability.

This morning I've heard the story about the shop I was considering going to and it turned me away completely. I was told by a person I tend to trust that he was offered a ride in a tuned Carrera 4S that was in the shop. I doubt the owner authorized that. I don't want my X5 to be used for test-drive purposes.

I went to a Hunter balancer shop and they failed to even see that my left rear tire was spinning out of round. The BMW tech put it up and spun all 4 tires... you can visually see it spinning out of round from a side view... it juts forward easily. How can a Hunter machine not detect this and even go so far as to try and balance it? Can added weights cause this or is it DEFINITELY a tire defect? I know the obvious answer is the operator had no idea what they were doing but this was just so obvious on the car, why not obvious on the Hunter balancer?

Ok. My main point about using the full Hunter setup is that their latest spec equipment, as used by BMW, has the capability of mounting/dismounting tires without any metal parts coming in contact with the rim thus to a great deal preventing any damage.

Here is a little older unit that I believe was the first of it's kind, and immediately adopted by BMW.

all_hunter_tire_machine

You can see the latest ones on the hunter website. Check my link as posted before.

That shouldn't happen. In my link I listed some places that have the latest and greatest Hunter setup. Try one of those.

I think the difference is that we need to compare quality local mechanics and tire shops and the dealer. Generally, most dealers are pretty good, which you should expect. But a quality local tech or tire shop can easily be better. It's just finding those quality local shops, preferably those that deal with BMW, is difficult.

A shop or dealer that has the Hunter is a bare minimum for a quality shop, IMHO.

My experience has been that a shop who is diligent enough that have sprung for the latest and greatest Hunter setup is a quality shop and they generally do good work. Just takes a phone call. Also mom and pop places seem to work better as well.

Well, I went to the dealer to have the tires replaced and the alignment done.

I received the following report along with the rest of paperwork:
Picasa Web Albums - evolvah

How bad do these angles in red look like? The vehicle pulls to the right slightly. I think I should raise it with my SA, shouldn't I?


Thanks!