I had always thought this was BS but I thought I should ask since I am getting new rear tires on my 545i. Do I need a rear tire alignment post-install?

Thanks!

 

I am nor expert but I do not think you need wheel alignment to replace tires. You need good tire and wheel balance like road force balance. But if you have unusual tire wear than the wheel alignment will be good

 

if you want to avoid the typical problem of your inner tires wearing out before the outers, I'd have as much of the negative camber dialed out as possible. You can dial out most of the negative camber to the neutral side of BMW's specs and see vastly improved tire life (double or triple the life) with hardly any compromise in handling. My rear tires now last beyond the manufacturer's tire wear ratings..

 

The need (or desire) for an alignment might depend upon how long the tires lasted, your desire to make them last longer and what your driving style is.

The 545i is known for eating tires quickly. The staggered sizes prevent the use of traditional front to rear rotation methods.

I had directional symmetrical tires on my car and went in recently to have the tires off-rim rotated (tires are reversed on the rims) then moved to the other side of the car so the tire rotates in the proper direction but the wear is transferred to the other edge of the tire due to the strong negative camber. But I waited a bit too long and the wear was already through the rubber and the belts were beginning to show (19K miles on the tires), so new tires were needed.

Negative camber is designed into the suspension to provide better tire contact when the tire rolls and suspension compresses in a sharp turn and to counteract camber steer which is the tendency of the tire to steer in the direction it leans (which is the opposite direction to the one you are turning toward).

If you rarely do competition type aggressive driving you may consider an alignment where they reduce the negative camber a little so that while driving straight (which is most of the time) the wear is more even on a greater portion of the tread, not just concentrated on the edge.

This coupled with a high-durometer tire (high wear number) and regular off-rim rotation can really extend tire life.

For some of the newer BMWs, like the 5-series F10, BMW employs electromechanically driven active rear axle kinematics (adaptive suspension) that allows the suspension to be adjusted dynamically as the car enters curves and turns. This system obviates the need for negative camber used in the older style passive suspensions such as the E60.

 

So True. I had it done to my car and don't have to worry about the inner side wearing out anymore.

Where in AZ are you located BimmerFan52 ??

 

You need a alignment if your tires are showing abnormal wear or if you want to dial out the negative camber. Like what BimmerFan did I recently had my alignment done and the shop changed my negative camber in the rear. Now with that and off rim rotations I am hoping to get more then 10k miles on this set of tires.

 

Greeting Southgate!

I am about 3 miles East of the intersection of Pima and Happy Valley.