Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral BMW wheel alignment

Replaced the complete tierods on my E36/323 and now need to get them aligned.

kwik-fit and National won't touch it because they say it needs weighting.

The car drives and steers ok as i measured the old ones to adjust the new, but just need to get it checked. Does anybody know of a garage locally that can align bmw wheels?

Trenics in Queensferry can do them, but it's a bit of drive.

Cheers.

topgear tyres on the rossmore trading estate, its on the same bit of road as the royal mail. Its only £20 and the que is minimal. The guy that did mine spent along time and it well made the difference!

cheers. I've seen various threads on the internet they say the weighting and four wheel track don't make that much of a difference in practise.

Tunnel tyres aligned the front last time and the tyres seems to wear evenly.

I thought the same until a nearly new tyre went right down to the threads after a week! Even if it's out slightly, it'll wear your tyre down very quickly!

It's true that alignment will wear down tyres quickly, but with most cars there isn't a need to align all four wheels. The back tyres seem fine on the car.

I wonder why the need to go over the top with a weighted four wheel BMW aligment when most cars only need the two front wheeks tracking. BMW use a system called KDS with lasers, seems a bit OTT to me to adjust two nuts.

Try Buckleytyres, sure bit of a drive but for £50 for a 4 wheel alignment it's worth it.

It's mainly Toe-In on the rear wheels aswell on cars, especially the Vectra B.

Cheers. I just hope the back isn't siezed too as changing the front arms wasn't much fun.

Took them to Topgear in the end. Got the tracking done for £20 and got 4 part worn Pirelli tyres for £40 each. Could hardly tell that the tyres were part worn. Y rated too.

Was impressed would defo recommend. Cheers Sanchez.

Take cash if you go.

Out of interest, how far out was the tracking after you measured the old / new?

I'd measured the length of the old rods when I took them off.I adjusted the new ones that I had bought to match.

Only do this to get you to the garage to get the wheels aligned properly. I wouldn't drive anywhere else beforehand as your car will eat the tyres. Provided you can get a slight toe-in and the car road tests ok, then you should be fine driving to get them aligned. It is practically impossible to get a good alignment without a machine.

Initially, they were out a bit and needed adjusting; after I'd had the four new tyres fitted, the guy checked and adjusted the toe slightly again.

No probs bud, I think that place is the best for tyres and tracking etc!

I used to use tunnel tyres but haven't been impressed with them as they spouted some shit that the two main dealers that had worked on my suspension were wrong. They'd also screwed up the balance on a front wheel and I had to take it back.

When I went down to get a tyre for my girlfs KA he had some 13 year old lad working for him and was giving him shit about nothing, I didn't like that.

The guy from topgear however took us through the warehouse and let me pick the tyres for my car out of their part-worn stock. They didn't take card and I had to drive some little polish bloke up the cash point with me which was funny.

spend the money...drive to queensferry and stop being so tight fisted!

Here is the fancy print out you get from Buckley. They put weights on the seats to carry out the work. Car drives so much better now.