Hi Everyone,

I have been noticing more road noise for the last little while. I noticed that my front right and back left tires are feathered.
Also, my steering wheel is a little off centre by 1/4 inch (if that).

Will a wheel alignment do the trick to fix this problem or is there something more than that involved?

Thanks,

 

alignment yes for sure,sounds like your toe is out and camber also most likely,recommend if you don't have staggered fit rims rotate every other oil change.

 

Outside of taking the card to a BMW dealership, do I need to look for a specialist for wheel alignment/camber and toe resetting or can a general mechanic do the job?

 

i'd go to someone with bmw experience. plus they have a better idea of looking for worn components, which could be the culprit of your alignment.

 

I recommend a BMW Dealer or a qualified BMW Independent with the correct wheel alignment equipment ... NOT your local mechanic who specializes in 'Fords'! (not that Fords are bad cars) or Sears, Midas, etc. Some forum posters have had luck with the chain stores and there was a time that one of my local stores had a fair amount of euro-car customer traffic - but not so much anymore. So for run of mill and out-of-warranty stuff I have a good BMW Indy - for the more complicated it's off to my dealer who treats me and my BMWs carefully and very fairly.

If you've posted your location - maybe forum members will make some recommendations, based on personal experience, for service / alignment.

 

I 'm located in the Mississauga/Oakville area in Canada.

Can anyone recommend a mechanic that has done excellent work for wheel alignements?

 

There is nothing special about wheel alignment on BMW cars. As with other cars, Caster, Camber, Toe. Any alignment machine with BMW factory specs will do - unless you have special setup or staggered setup.

 

Actually, the special this is the weights that are needed. There is a specification for sand weights etc to be placed in the pass front side two or tree in the rear and one in trunk along with 3/4 tank of fuel. Most tire shopd don't bother to do this and it could cause problems later when its almost too late...

 

May be a dumb question but why do they need all the weights when 99% of the time I am the only one driving/riding the car? I understand we have a bad ass car and need to be taken care of, but having to go to a dealer for alignment seems stupid. I will probably not buy another German car because of this. Best driving car I've had, but really annoying what I have to do for upkeep. Not just financially but my time and effort.

 

Learning how to do basic maintenance yourself with save you a lot of money down the road but when you can't do it yourself, a qualified shop is the only way to go. I just had my alignment adjusted yesterday and the dealer charged $240. Less than the cost of one tire - well worth the money imho. It wasn't even off by much but it made quite a difference in how the car rides. Money well spent in my book.