Casper

I had a local good year store align my 545 and install 4 new non run flats tires. they have balanced the tires twice without succes. There is a weird vibration, feels like jumping, and is felt on steering wheel but mostly in the seat.

I wonder if during the alignment they messed up something with the active steering or active suspension? Is it possible?

subterFUSE

Not sure.

I do know that there isn't a snowball's chance in hell I would have allowed a Goodyear Tire shop to align my BMW, though.

What were you thinking??

Rudy

Then again, as long as they had one of these:
KDS_diagnosis_system.pdf
And took care of this:
adjustment.pdf
You should be okay using the Goodyear shop...

RAI

What you're feeling is likely an imbalanced or out-of-round tire. I doubt it's related to your Goodyear alignment. BUT, the odds are great that your alignment is now messed up. I had my car aligned by an excellent boutique (non-BMW dealer) shop, and was told that they couldn't bring my car into full alignment and sthat something was probably bent. I took it to the BMW dealer, and they told me they had to get all-new equipment to do alignment on the new active steering cars, that nothing with my suspension was bent at all and that the alignment I had just gotten was way off! Apparently, they have to make some special adjustments while also configuring the active steering, and it takes special training, equipment and knowledge to do this. I saw a print-out from BMW about the process, and it looks quite complex. If I were you, I take the car to your BMW dealer and have them do a full 4 wheel alignment, recalibration of the active steering, etc, and vow to never again have an alignmeent done to your car by amyone except a BMW dealer! I think BMW should do a better job letting people know about this and the fact that special equipment and training is needed to align the new active steering cars. I, for one, had no idea that this was the case until I found out from the dealer- otherwise I'd never have had an alignment done by anyone else to start with.

goyk

Why did you take it to goodyear? Shouldnt the warranty cover it?

subterFUSE

I was never told that active steering could possibly require special equipment/training to align. I simply assumed this to be true on my own. When in doubt, go the safe, conservative route.

This is the same reason why I paid about 4 times more than I needed to get my M sport kit installed. I'd rather pay more and have BMW do it, than pay too little and have some jerkwad mess my $68,000 car up.

Casper

In 3 different occasion I mentiones a problem with my Dunlop RF to the dealer, 3 times they chose to ignore it and told me to go to the tire dealer. I spoke to BMWNA and they told me the same, call dunlop. I called Dunlop and they told me to go to a local goodyear tire store to have the tires checked and I was told I needed alignment, Dunlop Cust Service told me to do alignment before they would consider any action.

So, by havibng the worst dealer in the united sates (South Motors BMW, where all they do is ignore and charge) and by having BMW NA also ignoring my problem , and both dealer and BMWNA sending me to the tire dealer, what was I suppossed to do. Now the car is messed up, I keep going back to the tire store, but I now know they are limited into what they can do.

I am growing tired of calling the dealer, BMW NA and Dunlop, I am starting to believe that all my years as BMW fan and loyal customer are coming to an end, it is just not worth the effort.

Griffin

How often should the active sterring cars be aligned...that is, assuming no noticeable pull either way in the steering?

I just had all four original RF's replaced by the dealership after 14k miles for free but the dealership did not align the wheels, which I assumed they would (and I would even have be willing to pay for it). In the past, I have typically aligned all four wheels about once a year or when replacing the tires. When I asked the dealership why they didn't align the wheels they said that alignments on these cars (my is a 545 sport) were very different from previous models and much more difficult (more $$ too). They said not to have an alignment until I felt the car pull.

EBMCS03

I wish. Does your dealer cover it under warranty? If so Imma have mine call yours!