Wheel Alignment

My car, 2006 X3 is pulling to the left (RHD car) and although i paid for an alignment last week when i got new tyres it actually felt worse than when i dropped it off, pulling more to the left, my feeling is that the alignment was not done at all and when i asked about what they did they claimed BMW don't let you adjust the wheels and its difficult to align and he then changed around my front wheels so my directional tyres are now back to front as a solution!

Well guess what my car is still pulling to the left and im putting in a charge back on my credit card for this BS wheel alignment.

So seeing im now going somewhere else soon for an alignment and get my wheels put back on correctly so my tyres are directional again is there anything i need to ask about in regards to getting this done right on an X3?

Have them give you a printout of the alingment( I wouldn't pay without it) . That way you can see what is going on. Its common to cross rotate tires to diagnoise a pull just not with directional tires. Sounds like you need to find a good shop with a real alingment tech.

Yes you are right, the Yokohama Tyres i have are Advan ST which are directional, staggered but i believe they can be used on the inside or outside so i may need to change both my front tyres onto the opposite wheels.

I still cant believe this prick just changed my front wheels over and runs the tyres backwards saying its no worries!

Originally Posted by maxeaus

My car, 2006 X3 is pulling to the left (RHD car) and although i paid for an alignment last week when i got new tyres it actually felt worse than when i dropped it off, pulling more to the left, my feeling is that the alignment was not done at all and when i asked about what they did they claimed BMW don't let you adjust the wheels and its difficult to align and he then changed around my front wheels so my directional tyres are now back to front as a solution!

Well guess what my car is still pulling to the left and im putting in a charge back on my credit card for this BS wheel alignment.

So seeing im now going somewhere else soon for an alignment and get my wheels put back on correctly so my tyres are directional again is there anything i need to ask about in regards to getting this done right on an X3?

BMW's are more challenging to align than many other cars but there are provisions to align all four corners. In my opinion they are best left to the dealer as many places don't like to screw with the trouble to set the camber and tow of the rear wheels. Dealers are used to it. The rears take a special socket as well. http://www.ecstuning.com/ES199128/

Originally Posted by usaret

BMW's are more challenging to align than many other cars but there are provisions to align all four corners. In my opinion they are best left to the dealer as many places don't like to screw with the trouble to set the camber and tow of the rear wheels. Dealers are used to it. The rears take a special socket as well. http://www.ecstuning.com/ES199128/

Thanks for that, unfortunately BMW charge around $350 for an alignment which i think is quite unreasonable here in Australia, the dealer said most people take their cars elsewhere because of that. The dealer of course never mentioned that tool, so i may need to find someone that can do BMW's, unfortunately i have never met a dealer employee who is friendly and approachable they are all assholes so I don't let them touch my car, I always go elsewhere.

I don't know whether you have independent shops specializing in BMW near you. That's what I used for my alignment. They had a fancy machine imported from Germany. Cost about $100 USD for the diagnosis, then another $100 to do the alignment if necessary.

+1. I have my dealer check mine every 50k miles or so. They only charge $109 so I think it is worth it!

I have just had it done at a JAX tyres shop, they have the same machine as the BMW dealership up the road and it cost me $120 in total including some balancing and tyres rotated etc, took around an hour to do properly and the before and afters prove the previous alignment was not done as they claimed.