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      09-26-2011, 10:37 AM   #1
3onDubs
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Alignment Issue.....help

I had my tires changed and alignment done at a local tire shop. Since then, there has been an occasional "notch" in my steering when I steer to the left (seems to happen as I'm coming from a right steer) and the car tends to pull to the right when driving in a straight line.

Should I not have taken my car to a 3rd party shop for alignment? Should I take it to the dealer to realign or take it back to the shop?
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      09-26-2011, 11:53 AM   #2
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I am waiting for an answer as well.
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      09-26-2011, 05:08 PM   #3
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It was probably a bad alignment job.

Is your car lowered? That makes everything much harder for them to align and some shops don't even have the tools (or know-how, possibly) to align a lowered car.

I'd say have the dealer take a look, but that's a gamble too. Took my car to the dealer for an alignment. Afterwards the car pulled to the left more than it previously did. I told them and they said nothing they can do, because it looked fine to them. Wouldn't realign it without having to pay again. They charged me over 200 bucks (local place charges ~100, another place that services mostly exotics, ferraris, lambos, etc charges ~150).

You could have the same shop take a look. Maybe there was an oversight or honest mistake.. or maybe they don't know what they're doing. Hard to say. Or chance it with the dealer. Once you find a good place, though, stick to it! Good places are so freaking hard to find.
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      09-26-2011, 05:58 PM   #4
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+1...the first thing to do would be to rule out the previous alignment job as the root cause. Go to another shop or dealer.
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      09-26-2011, 06:33 PM   #5
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Any chance the new tires are rubbing creating the 'notch' in the steering?

Stock wheels? what tire sizes are you using?
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      09-26-2011, 06:52 PM   #6
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My car does not pull but shops have had a hard time getting my car to not eat up my front tires on my lowered car. Hopefully the last "race shop" I went to last got me straightened out.
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      09-26-2011, 07:19 PM   #7
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There's nothing wrong with taking it to a third party shop. It could be a few different things that people have mentioned.
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      09-27-2011, 10:36 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1speedbike View Post
It was probably a bad alignment job.

Is your car lowered? That makes everything much harder for them to align and some shops don't even have the tools (or know-how, possibly) to align a lowered car.

I'd say have the dealer take a look, but that's a gamble too. Took my car to the dealer for an alignment. Afterwards the car pulled to the left more than it previously did. I told them and they said nothing they can do, because it looked fine to them. Wouldn't realign it without having to pay again. They charged me over 200 bucks (local place charges ~100, another place that services mostly exotics, ferraris, lambos, etc charges ~150).

You could have the same shop take a look. Maybe there was an oversight or honest mistake.. or maybe they don't know what they're doing. Hard to say. Or chance it with the dealer. Once you find a good place, though, stick to it! Good places are so freaking hard to find.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GotM View Post
Any chance the new tires are rubbing creating the 'notch' in the steering?

Stock wheels? what tire sizes are you using?
Car is not lowered, riding on stock m-sport suspension. I changed from the stock run flats to the star specs (255/35 in the rear, 225/40 in the front).

I doubt it's a rubbing issue...I've had rubbing issues on previous cars and this feels nothing like that. The alignment itself is definitely bad as I have a difficult time keeping the car straight.
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      09-27-2011, 11:40 AM   #9
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Take it back to the shop that did it, and have the Manager there take a drive with you. If they are reputable, they will either resolve the problem or refund your Money. Then take it to the dealer and have them drive it before they throw it on the machine.
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      09-27-2011, 12:08 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shodanusmc View Post
Take it back to the shop that did it, and have the Manager there take a drive with you. If they are reputable, they will either resolve the problem or refund your Money. Then take it to the dealer and have them drive it before they throw it on the machine.
Will do....I'll update this thread after
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      09-27-2011, 12:12 PM   #11
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check your front toe
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      10-06-2011, 03:47 PM   #12
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Took it back to the tire shop....they said that toe and camber are within spec, but that my caster was off. They said that they heard the pop in the steering as well, but it was not alignment related, and that I should take my car back to BMW and have them check it.
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      11-01-2011, 01:18 PM   #13
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Turns out it was brake related....according to BMW Service....they changed my rotors and pads and the steering issue is fixed.
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      11-01-2011, 03:05 PM   #14
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That's interesting...

Glad that you figured out what the alignment issue stemmed from though.

Never would have thought it was brake related.
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