DIY Wheel Alignment

[Stubbie Blue]

I decided to try a DIY wheel alignment because I just replaced all the struts/shocks on my 135i. I got the Vevor wheel alignment plates with digital level from AliExpress with some coupons for $80.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803105398615.html

I also have another car which I paid a shop $150 to do the alignment, and when I checked the Vevor alignment plates against the shop's alignment printout, the toe was pretty much the same, and the camber was different by about 0.2 degrees. So that gave me enough confidence to do my 135i.

Alignment specs for E82 with sports suspension:



E82 with standard suspension:



You'll need to do some trigonometry to convert the toe from degrees to mm or inches, but here's what I got:

- Front total toe: 2.5 mm/0.1" (difference at the sides of the toe plates which are 546 mm/21.5" wide)
- Rear total toe: 2.9 mm/0.11"

These plates only do a 2-wheel alignment, so to get the thrust angle straight, I just drove with the steering wheel straight and noted which way the car was pulling. Then I made small 1/12 of a turn adjustments to the tie rods.

I have a QuickJack, and used some vinyl tiles with lithium grease as turn plates. But actually with the car on the ground there's just enough room to reach the tie rods.

[4JawChuck]

For the at home guy with little cash you can do toe and camber measurements with two parallel wires stretched between jack stands (I use armature wire 18g) and a flat/level pad to do the measurements on.

To do this you need to “roll the car out” to get the tires sitting properly, after that stretch the wires parallel to the wheels close enough to measure to the wheels at axle center, if the wires are parallel you can get the toe. For camber a plumb bob and the same measurement technique works too, you need a vernier calliper to make the measurements to the wheel rim.

You need to do the math and it takes a little practice but it’s super low cost and easy to do. I did all my race car setups using this method and had excellent results.

What I found was that factory toe settings are quite extreme for the track, for example I typically use 1/16” total toe which works well for rigid suspension’s like we have on the 1 series and caster as close to zero as you can get. Makes the steering very light and bump steer can be dialed out by adding small amounts of toe to each side to eliminate it.

To tension the wire I just tip one jackstand over to keep it taut, wire needs to be at the axle centerline.

It’s not for everyone and it takes a little math to get the numbers but it works as well as a fancy machine without special tools, since I figured out to do this at home I don’t pay for alignments anymore, just remember to roll the car out after each adjustment (no anti friction plates needed but a garbage bag laying on another works well) so you can get a true reading of where the wheels end up.

Makes straightening the steering wheel to be pointing straight ahead very easy as you can make fine adjustments down to 0.001” if you’re careful measuring to the wire using a light to see the gap.

Just an FYI for those wanting to try it at home without investing any cash beyond some thin wire and four jack stands.

[Stubbie Blue]

Okay I did a string alignment as well with 2 x chalk lines, 2 x electric metallic tube conduit and 4 x jack stands. Turns out the toe was 0.5mm uneven from side to side, but the total toe matched the toe plates. Got it evened out, went on a long test drive and it drove great. Not just straight and true, but the steering effort builds evenly as you wind on more lock, the car rotates nicely around corners, and under hard acceleration the car stays straight. Before it used to veer off to the side like FWD torque steer. And that was even after I had a shop do an alignment. So I'm very happy with these alignment methods and will continue to DIY from now on.