Johnhav430

last time, everything was out (after purchasing vehicle and having LCA bushings installed), so a 4 wheel alignment was performed, and everything was in spec except for the rear right camber being -1.9.

I had it realigned yesterday after 11k miles, and the front left toe was out, and now, the rear left camber was -2.1, with the rear right being -1.3 and in spec? Is that even possible, and if so, does this imply things are moving?

What I will say is I go to an automatic car wash which drags the vehicle by the left wheels, and I sometimes wonder what's going on when it does. If seems as if the steering wheel will be off center to the right, then correct itself after driving....

p.s. we have annual safety inspections so if there is any play on the tie rods that's a fail....

edit pps the long story short is the only thing touched was the front left toe being adjusted to spec

Bocatrip

Yes John, a four wheel alignment sometimes just comes down to a single toe adjustment. I too have often thought about how the automatic car wash tugging at my suspension is affecting my alignment. Glad to find another person who thinks along the same lines. Did you ever consider how the proper tire pressures, amount of fuel in the tank, and even having someone sitting in the driver's seat will all have an affect on the overall accuracy of our alignments? During my last alignment a few years ago, I don't remember after watching the tech, he actually touched more than one or two adjustments. My sheet was all in the green but the numbers weren't actually close enough from the left and right to satisfy my OCD . Still my car's tires after 15,000 miles were wearing evenly, after all the car washes, and one or two Florida pot holes. Most of my suspension is original, that is until I change my front LCA bushings which probably as discussed will be a waste of time.....but at least I'll know they are new!

Johnhav430

I'm wondering, though, who the right rear camber was now good (no adjustments made), and the left was out (no adjustments made)....are the techs making mistakes? also, they stapled two sets of reports....as if the first were botched? lol

BMW weights the driver's seat with x kg when they align the car, dunno if necessary but Firestone said we would definitely not do that. I am finding the subsequent visits at Firestone say "express" on the top of the sheet, so I am pretty sure they would not adjust anything if it's in the green, even if less than optimal....I should pull out my BMW alignment report--if all the values are in the center of the range, that would say something....

edit: live and learn. Just checked. On the BMW, alignment performed by dealership, even when a value was in the green, it was adjusted to the middle of the range. The final report has the left and right values being the almost identical. It would be curious if Lexus would do that, meaning number is already within spec, but adjust it to the middle. It kind of lends to the notion that everything German is precise. Not necessarily reliable, but engineered precisely. The BMW report has symmetrical numbers leaving, and not entering. So now I can honestly say what the difference between going to Firestone and BMW is. Next time I'm at Firestone, I will ask that the numbers be set to the middle, and let's see what they say, probably no that's not what we do lol

Moral of the story is I didn't look for the actual values before, just for green boxes

Riick

BMW engineers are naturally OCD, everything is balanced. In my old 328, I learned that the gas tank, was located directly under the rear seat.
Since there's a hump where the drive shaft goes, it's effectively two tanks (left & right) and there's a pumping system to keep both tanks at the same level.
Vee do not want there to be unbalanced veight anywhere.

Johnhav430

Yeah the cars have always strived for a 50/50 weight distribution, down to lesser expensive X1 1st gen cars. This may have gone away with say newer X1's which have a FWD platform. They always used to bring FWD A4's to events to drive back to back with RWD 3's, to exaggerate how much worse the Audis feel when pushed. Battery in the rear right of the trunk. Even when I do the oil, the filter comes with a washer for the drain plug and 2 gaskets that are to be replaced each oil change. I just watched a GM YouTube where the tech said leaking is often because the drain plug rubber washer was not replaced, and for a GM car, it costs $4 hahahahahahaha no wonder. This tech said he used to work at Toyota, and you don't have to change that one every time, maybe every other time. Imagine all the customers getting charged for that part when it wasn't replaced. But Germans are precise imho and follow the procedure.

Drove my car on the highway yesterday didn't feel any difference...but it does bug me how the rear right camber was out last time, now it's fine, and now the rear left is out, I wonder if the shop knows what they're doing after all......I guess I can go back if I really wanted to but maybe I should try a different shop....it's lifetime anyway, no charge...

Bocatrip

Not easy finding a tech who actually cares or takes pride in his/ her work. It’s not that they are not skilled but how many are actually motivated?