Coilovers installed - query on alignment

[cat-like]

I had my KW Street Comforts installed on my 135i today and a wheel alignment was done. I only noticed when I got home, that the alignment report I got was based on a 2012 F21?

As you will see from the report attached, there are some values that are not within spec, but as the specifications were based on an F21 and not an E82, it might not be relevant as they might be within E82 specs?

At this stage I plan to go back and question this, but thought I might throw it up here to see if there are any pearls of wisdom on how my settings look. I am basically clueless on this stuff.....

Thanks in advance.

[TimMc]

I don't think there's much you can adjust on the front apart from toe. Mine's set to 0 deg and yours is close to this. This means the front wheels are pointing straight ahead, not splayed out or pointing in. You can see that this is all that he/she adjusted too. If you get camber plates you can adjust camber & sometimes castor too.

Back's more of a mystery to me...

[TS135i]

These were slightly modified for even tyre wear... E87 Hatchback haha

[cat-like]

Thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything too out of whack compared to others.

At least it says E87 on the registration papers

[Walnut]

How is the car riding/handling on the street comforts?

[cat-like]

Originally Posted by Walnut

How is the car riding/handling on the street comforts?

Well I've only had them on for a day and I haven't really pushed too much yet. They are on the default rebound settings which I think are 6 clicks from full firm on the rear and 9 clicks on the front.

My initial impressions:

1. The ride is firmer than OEM
2. I can "feel" the bumps more through the steering wheel, but in a good way, it's not like there is vibration or kickback. The car just irons them out. It's like I can feel the road more, which is cool!
3. I tested the car on a series of drains on a road I travel on quite a lot. No more bouncing.

I asked the installer (Wilkinsons) to drop the ride height 10-15mm at most, which they've done at the front but the rear looks and measures close to stock. There is a big difference in fender gap. I will have to crawl under tomorrow and see where the adjustment collar is sitting. I will give it a bit of time first but it looks like I might have to get the adjustment tool out and get dirty.

So far so good, I caught myself smiling on the drive home so that is always a good sign

[Giveway74]

re the ride height.

If you have done it for looks and stance then drop the rear.
If you do track days and have done it for handling then i suggest going to a good alignment shop and get corner-weighting done.

Corner weighting makes a big difference under brakes and makes turn in more predictable left to right. It may mess up the ride hight all round though.

[cat-like]

Originally Posted by Giveway74

re the ride height.

If you have done it for looks and stance then drop the rear.
If you do track days and have done it for handling then i suggest going to a good alignment shop and get corner-weighting done.

Corner weighting makes a big difference under brakes and makes turn in more predictable left to right. It may mess up the ride hight all round though.

Apart from maybe a fun track day per year, it's for looks. I just think it looks a little too raked right now for my taste and I certainly don't want a slammed look either. I might even try bringing the fronts up a touch first, especially as they are a lot easier to adjust than the rears.

Good luck getting corner weighting in this town, this is Perth - not Sydney or Melbourne!

[VGR00]

With all this talk about wheel alignments lately, does anyone know what would throw out the steering angle sensor when an alignment is done. A week ago I had new tyres installed on my E90. Even though the alignment felt good, I had one done. I pick up the car and went to activate the tyre monitor system but it got stuck in the activation stage. Didn't think anything about it till about 10 klms down the road and I got a DTC / DBC and tyre monitor system failure come up on the Idrive. Took the car to a BMW independent service and to cut a long story short, the steering angle sensor had failed. He reset and re-calibrated it and all is fine. Luckily it was only a $70 fix. So my question is, what part oft he alignment process threw out the steering angle sensor? And by the way, I trust my tyre shop and been using them for over 30 years but something must have throw the sensor out.

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by VGR00

With all this talk about wheel alignments lately, does anyone know what would throw out the steering angle sensor when an alignment is done. A week ago I had new tyres installed on my E90. Even though the alignment felt good, I had one done. I pick up the car and went to activate the tyre monitor system but it got stuck in the activation stage. Didn't think anything about it till about 10 klms down the road and I got a DTC / DBC and tyre monitor system failure come up on the Idrive. Took the car to a BMW independent service and to cut a long story short, the steering angle sensor had failed. He reset and re-calibrated it and all is fine. Luckily it was only a $70 fix. So my question is, what part oft he alignment process threw out the steering angle sensor? And by the way, I trust my tyre shop and been using them for over 30 years but something must have throw the sensor out.

just about anything throws the steering angle sensor off... touching an ABS sensor more than likely in an install

often it'll just throw an unrelated hissy fit, had to take mine apart after everything stopped working.

if it ever goes out of cal again, usually just take it for a drive with a few low speed lock-to-locks will recalibrate it.

[drjekl]

Originally Posted by flinchy

if it ever goes out of cal again, usually just take it for a drive with a few low speed lock-to-locks will recalibrate it.

That's handy to know (providing it works!)

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by drjekl

That's handy to know (providing it works!)

and if it ever randomly dies (which takes out a LOT of functions), it's probably fixable, rather than spending $1000 on a brand new one!! (i fixed mine when it went out)