I call alignment BS!

Long story short: car at the shop for a weeks worth of repairs: lower control arm replacement, 'knuckle joint', alignment, etc.

I test drive the car and it pulls a little to the right despite it being straight on before my wreck. I come back and tell them it pulls.

First response was "Are you sure? It seemed straight to me."
No sir, definitely it pulls to the right.

Second response was "OH! Your car had some tire damage as well. We aligned the car to factory specs so it's not that. Since your tires had some problems then they're what's causing the car to pull to the right. We can't help that."


I'm calling but before I make an issue of this, wanted to hear from some people who have more experience than I.

Here is a quick way to prove him wrong. Move the pulling tire to the other side of the car, if the pull moves to that side, its the tire, if not...well, you know!

Will try this over the weekend, big thanks Gary.

And when it's time for me to get new tires, expect a call.

[quote=rumatt]Brashland, how did you crash? Were you watching your sig while driving?

QUOTE]

If the tire damage is severe enough to pull the car to one side, you should be able to see the damage. Do you see any? If you do, then maybe you should get yourself new tires.

i'm Brashland's friend who'll be helping him do the swap... i've got 3 questions that i'm hoping will make things easier...

1. where are good center jack points on the car? i'm not horribly familiar w/ BMW's so, please be merciful and detailed.

2. what sort of damage should i look for on the tires? i would think obvious would scream... are there any whispers i should watch for?

3. what torque should i hit the lugnuts to when i put the tires back on?

thanks!

Well, actually, no. Will do this afternoon.

1. where are good center jack points on the car? i'm not horribly familiar w/ BMW's so, please be merciful and detailed.

A: I have an E36 so I don't know the answer to this, but hopefully some one else can chime in and let you know.

2. what sort of damage should i look for on the tires? i would think obvious would scream... are there any whispers i should watch for?

A: First, see if the pull changes, then you'll know its the tire. Feel over the tread for scalloping or irregular wear.

3. what torque should i hit the lugnuts to when i put the tires back on?

A: 87lb/ft details here http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...threadid=91281

Originally Posted by pjk3

1. where are good center jack points on the car? i'm not horribly familiar w/ BMW's so, please be merciful and detailed.

Here





But seriously... check out this thread:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...+jacking+point

Or do a search for "center jacking point" and you'll find more info too.

Originally Posted by doeboy

Here





But seriously... check out this thread:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...+jacking+point

Or do a search for "center jacking point" and you'll find more info too.

love the model...

thanks... sorry, while a newb here, i'm just being lazy at this point... i figured you guys knew exactly where this stuff would be, and it would have taken me a while to find it...

thanks for the assist!

Originally Posted by pjk3

love the model...

thanks... sorry, while a newb here, i'm just being lazy at this point... i figured you guys knew exactly where this stuff would be, and it would have taken me a while to find it...

thanks for the assist!

Did that thread help? It has some pics of where to look for your jack points there...

yeah -- i think i found it...

:thinker:

edit: it's up in the air now...

Originally Posted by Gary@Tirerack

A: 87lb/ft details here http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...threadid=91281

The old spec was 74, the new is 88.5... I do 80 and my wheels haven't fallen off yet.

To make things more confusing, I decided to 'test' the tire so Saturday I switched my front tires. If a flat spot is causing my car to pull to the right, switching tires should make it pull to the other side, no?

Switched tires and.... not pulling to the right anymore, at least not to any great degree. So I'm not sure what to make of it. Maybe this is good enough until I get new tires, and the repair shop/insurance doese have a lifetime guarantee on the parts.

Originally Posted by The Roadstergal

The old spec was 74, the new is 88.5... I do 80 and my wheels haven't fallen off yet.

we hit them to 87 ft-lbs, so i'm fairly sure they're not going anywhere...

First, see if the pull changes, then you'll know its the tire. Feel over the tread for scalloping or irregular wear.

there was some feather edging wear to the tires... more than i expected to see, and enough to justify some pulling for sure.

thoughts or comments? how sensitive are 3 series BMW's to tire wear?

Originally Posted by pjk3

how sensitive are 3 series BMW's to tire wear?

After a hard day ot two at the track, my car tends to want to wander to one side from all the scrubbing (I'm not sure how much of it is due to tire scrubbing though)... some people here call it "track envy"

It can be the tires, commonly refer to as 'RADIAL PULL'. I once had a car that did that. Both front tires were F up and I didn't know. I had the alignment done and it pulled to the right. I thought it was a bad alignment, took it back and they checked. They said it might be redial pull......bad tires......I didn't believe them so they swaped the left to the right side and it still pulled to the right. They kept on telling me it was bad tires but I just wouldn't believe it, so they swap the front the back and the problem was fixed. I did feel kind of stupid afterward..........