Hello! Im getting a set of oem 166 wheel with 245/35/19 and 285/30/19 tomorrow at sears. Should I let them do allignment on my car? or have it done at a dealer. Thanks

 

Personally, I wouldn't let Sears do an alignment on my BMW. My 530i has the M5 wheels and same sized tires as you are using. Last alignment was at dealership and I assume they used stock 530i specs even though it is obvious the car has wider wheels/tires.

I had the tires rebalanced the other day and noticed significant tread wear on the inner surface of the tire. I asked my "unauthorized" BMW mechanic about this and he said some additional inner tire wear is typical on aggressively driven BMWs due to performance alignment specs.

Most of the additional width on the M5 wheel is to the inside of the wheel. This affects the amount of camber needed. My mechanic said he could realign and put a little less camber in to help even out the wear. He said not to use M5 alignment specs because they are more aggressive than standard 5 series and would wear inside of tires even more. He said best thing to do is rotate tires from side to side to even out tread wear. Unfortunately, this requires dismounting/remounting the tires.

I posted a question here earlier this week asking if anyone had revised alignment specs for wider wheels/tires and didn't get an answer. So, if you want to avoid premature wear on the tires, you need to find a shop that 1. knows BMWs and 2. knows how to adjust the stock alignment specs for the wider wheels/tires.

 

BMWs come from the factory with negative camber (up to -2.3 degrees)on the rear axle which is the reason for the inner tire wear. Luckily on the e60s, the rear axle can be adjusted to decrease the negative camber. As for the front axle, you shouldn't be experiencing any premature inner tire wear.

IMO if the Sears has ASE certified mechanics and the latest alignment machine, there shouldn't be any issues. Alignments on late model BMWs are fairly simple. Just be sure to get a print out of the before and after measurements.

 

Hi! I just had it alligned at Sears today. You are right, they alligned the car using E60 sport 18" wheel specs and not on m5 wider wheels. Can you tell me if these adjustments are within M5 wider wheel specs. I will be posting pics of my car new shoes tomorrow. Thanks for the reply.

 

Sorry, I did not attach printout copy from sears

 

Ummmm ... bigger pic wouldn't hurt ... just so other can see the number better ... just a thought.

 

Sears alligned the wheels using E60 sport 18" wheel specs. I wonder if I should go back and have it realligned using M5 wider wheels specs since I'm now using staggered m5 166 wheels.
This is what my rear right tire looks like when I had my style 123 size 18 wheel. The other 3 wheels are ok. What do you guys think? rear suspension problem or just allignment. Thanks again.

 

Not sure what model E60 you have but you really shouldn't let Sears do the alignment. Our E60s have a steering angle sensor that needs to be zero-ed and it can only be done connected to a GT1 scanner or the computer at the dealership. Try to find an indy shop with the proper equipment or spend the $299 at the dealership for a proper alignment.

 

I have 2006 530i sport and car drives flawlessly without any vibrations.

 

You're probably good. There is no sensor to reset unless you have Active Steering. My 530i Sport doesn't and I've done alignments at Big O Tires. If they can't do it an honest shop will usually tell you. I can't read the pic because it's too small. If the rear negative camber is -2 or more (-1,0) that should get rid of the inside wear.