Stoley

I have 20K on mine and am curious if an alignment is needed. What should I expect to pay?

nickolas_g

I would think that an alignment would only be needed if there was uneven wear shown on the old tires. But then again, Im no mechanic by any means.

I'm the guy you see driving on the highway with the turn signal on for abou 50 miles.

Stoley

Anyone else care to comment?

tegel

I have read on another forum that the 5 series is very sensitive when it comes to wheel alignment so ask the next time you change tires.

Generally you don't have to align if wear is ok and if you don't feel any strange push or pull in the steering wheel. Your tyre-shop can advice you on this.



/M

EBMCS03

Its very hard to align the E60 especially with Active steering.

With 20K miles only I dont see why you would need align it so soon. But then again... since you're getting new tires and you want them to last you as long as possible you might want to consider it. Couple questions... Have you ever hit anything? Is it tracking straight? do you see abnormal wear on one side of the tire and not on the other?


Either find a dealer to do it or a reputable shop that can do Active Steering cars... I would say a large dealer because they'll more likly to be obligated to align it till it works and can reset the AS if needed and all that junk while if you use a independent shop they might not get it right and might not be able to align the AS properly and by the time you find out a few thousand miles later they might not warrant their work. Up to you. I think I read that dealer was charging like $200+ for a AS car... :'(

Ray Hull

Alignment was required by my dealer for the replacement Dunlop Thumpflats at about 6000 miles. Actually, I asked prior to his telling me, if an alignment was worthwhile. So, I paid $150 for $1400 worth of tires. I was reassured too, as my RF was the only one really wearing funny and I had clipped a curb, pulling a U-turn with that wheel (scraped wheel edge too).


Cheers,
Ray Hull

cobradav

Most reputable dealers will check teh tires and even alignment and only recommend and charge if you actually need the alignment. I dropped shipped my Tire Rack tires to BMW and they installed. We discussed at length the condition of my tires coming off and they looked like "normal" wear patterns. Normal in this case means taking into account the negative camber on rear tires as BMW designed. However, my SA had my alignment checked at no additional cost. They did detect a bent wheel in rear but after 30k miles were not about to fess up to a factory defect. I had just the slightest hint of seat vibration (in the empty passenger seat back, but not on my butt tester). I had the wheel straightened and I believe the vibration detector improved. This car has had the least (like none) wheel vibration of any car ever owned. From 0-145 mph no vibration apparent over the 30k+ miles I have driven.

dlevi67

I have it at least checked (on a good 4-wheel tracking check machine - not on one of those squint-in-the-mirror things out of Jurassic Park) when I change tyres. Most times, some small adjustment is needed!

jsal

The BMW wheel alignment is a 4-wheel alignment so it is not cheap. But as stated previously by one member, this car and tire wear is sensitive to wheel alignment.

Taking into account the cost of tires, I would consider it. I had mine done at 16k when I got my runflats changed. I did not do it at 22k when I upgraded tires/rims, but will probably do it when I have to replace the tires next time.

I would think every 20k-25k would be appropriate depending on how many pot holes you hit.