Hi all,

See if you can advise help my with my latest problem....

About Feb last year, after repeated visits to the stealers for a creaking steering rack, my steering rack was replaced under warranty, I wwas advised by the stealer that this would include full 4 wheel alignment.

When I got my car back after 3 days, the steering didn't feel right, I took it back to the steelers who refused to look at it again, saying that they aligned the steering and it was perfect, I still insisted they look at it and dropped it off, collecting the car the job card said nothing found, tyre pressures corrected !

I had qwikfit do a quick check on the car thereafter and they advised that the wheel alignment was out, I can't remember by exactly how much they said, but only used this as a very rough guide, I know BMW steelers use different and more accurate equipment.

I wrote to the dealer, but they weren't prepared to do anything, so I left it.

Now I have noticed uneven tyre wear on the front two tyres, approx same uneven wear on the inside of the tyre both fronts are almost at the legal limit and the outside has approx 5-6mm tread left !!!

Does this mean the alignment was never done?
The Stealer will say you probably went over a pot hold or some s**t like that. Anyone got any advise?

Wheel alignment is approx £140 at a stealer, two new tyres are going to cost around £300..... not happy !!!!

 

The problem is that you went to KwikFit afterwards and got them to change the alignment, they said it was out and sounds like they changed it.

The system BMW uses is much more adanced than KwikFits and I personally would have taken their word for it or taken it to a company who uses a proper alignment machine e.g. a hunter 4 wheel system for them to check if it was out.

I would still argue with the dealer and see if you can get some compo or at least the alignment done for free, but my personal experience is things like wheel alignement is very difficult to prove if it has been done incorrectly/

 

I didn't get Kwikfit to do anything, simply a free check.

I knew there equipment wasn't of the same specification and they actually said they couldn't do the wheel alignment on a 5 series anyway.

The stealer in question reckons, "it is normal for a 5 series to wear the inner of the tyre and 15K from a set of tyres is good" !!!

The stealer is going to send me a copy of the KDS, and he reckons that they would have not let it leave the stealer without it being perfect !!!

The stealer in question wants £380 for the wheel alignment.... I've found another dealer that has a special offer, KDS for £140 so will probably have to have that done and two new front tyres !!!

 

Hang on, are you saying the stealer wants £380 just for a wheel alignment?

In regard to comeback, if it's been 15 months since they did the wheel alignment, you basically have no comeback. At any point while driving in the last 15 months the alignment could have been knocked out. It's just a shame the dealer was so unhelpful when you told them it did not feel right.

 

Yheap the local stealer, the one who 'balls' everything up wants £380 inc VAT to re-do the KDS.

They are W!!k!!!.

I thought the wheel alignment wasn't right but they wouldn't re-check when it was done, insisting that the "air in the tyres was low".

Now I'm faced with

£300+ for two new Runflats
£140 for KDS !!!

All because one stupid stealer.

 

OK, Wheel alignment done, the results show

Rear axle
initial measurement target data Final measurement
Camber left -1'52' -0'20'[-1'53']+0'20' 1'49'
Camber Right -1'51 -0'20'[-1'31']+0'20' 1'34'

Cross Camber 0'00' [0'30] -0'16'

Individual Toe
Left +0'03' -0'05'[+0'05']+0'05' +0'04
Right <+0'00'> -0'05'[+0'05']+0'05' +0'03

Total Toe +0'04' -0'10'[+0'10']+0'10 +0'07'
Geometric
Driving Axis -0'02' -0'12'[0'00']+0'12' +0'00'

Front Axis

Caster 20'
Left +6'54' +6'45'
Right +7'08' +7'15'

Cross Caster -0'14' [0'30'] -0'30'

Toe out
on turns
Left -2'04' -1'50'
Right -2'03' -2'13'

Cross Toe
Out on Turns -0'01' [0'30'] +0'23'

Camber
Left -0'13' -0'20'[-0'10']+0'20' -0'10
Right -0'02' -0'20'[+0'00']+0'10' +0'07'

Cross Camber -0'11' [0'30'] -0'03'

Individual Toe
Left -<-0'13'>- -0'05'[+0'05']+0'05' +0'06'
Right -<-0'11'>- -0'05'[+0'04']+0'05' +0'06'
Total Toe -<-0'23'>- -0'10'[+0'09']+0'10' +0'11'
Setback +0'01' -0'15'[+0'00']+0'15' +0'00'

-< >- Out of tolerance

I'm not 100% sure what all this means, but the car feels better, more grippy and less wondering, even with the old front tyres still on. The steering wheel isn't perfect, but new tyres tomorrow should hopefully resolve that once worn in a bit.

The dealer reckons the results on the front are too close to be the result of a pothole.

Can anyone explain the results?

Thanks in advance

 

Which dealer was offering it for £140? cheapest I can seem to get it for is 280? was thinking of going for a hunter alignment however £140 sounds good.

Will the new dealer give you a 'report'? eg a letter saying about the results and that it doesn't look like the result of a pot hole.

I am not sure but I think all dealers keep the reports from all the alignments they have done so I would push for the previous dealer to give you a copy of the report.

Have you any pics of the wear on the tyres?

 

Hi,

The dealer who did the wheel alignment is Rybrook, Shrewsbury. They also have a dealership in Warwick I think. The wheel alignment was on a special offer at 50% off, don't know how long the offer is on until but you need to get the quote via email, visist their website and complete the online request for service.

I've attached the photographs of my tyres, both tyres were equally worn on the inside, but at least 5mm of tread remained on the outside!

I don't think the dealership will put anything in writting, although I'm seriously considering taking it to small claims court, given that I wrote to the dealer straight after the rack was replaced after giving them a chance to re-check, which they refused to do.

Don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I am £440 out of pocket.

 

That is definatly not normal! I certainly would push as much as you can to at least get a couple of tyres out of them.

One thing I will say is that they do still have quite a decent ammount of 'legal' wear left on them as its only the centre 3/4 that have to be over 1.6 mm so may be worth keeping them on until you are sure its all sorted

 

This is not an issue that I've experienced because my twisties driving scrubs off my rubber real fast. But I have read many posts on this board which state that it is normal for E60s to wear out the inner part of the tire much faster than the outer part.