Re: E36 M3 alignment spec

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

"Diana and Mike Kohlbrenner" <kohlbren-m-d@domain.elided> wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: alex.fadeev@domain.elided <alex.fadeev@domain.elided>
> 
> >The insinuations you heard are largely B.S.
> >New bimmers are properly aligned at the factory.
> ...
> >I've only heard of one suggestion ever surfacing about massively 
> >misaligned new cars. And that one came from a very questionable 
> >source.
> ...
> 
> Alex,
> 
> We've now heard from another poster who had a crappy
> factory alignment on a brand new BMW.

Sorry, I should not have been so over-generalizing in my statement above. 
Shit happens and some cars may be delivered with a whacky alignment. 
My sample size of 4 was spot on.
Mike's sample size of 2 was off. 
Both sample sizes are way too small to draw any spastically valid 
conclusions. 

Mike, if this was a common problem with new bimmers you probably would 
have heard from more than one other person ;-)

My humble suggestion is to not worry about it unless you notice unusual 
tire wear pattern side-to-side. 
Front and rear wear patters will be different. Front tires wear more on 
the outside (the faster you go through the turns the more they wear). The 
rears on the inside. 
If you have the same size wheels/tires front and rear, you can rotate the 
wheels. Or if your tires are directional, at least move them up/down the 
same side of the car. That is against BMW's recommendation since you will 
wind up with somewhat decreased traction until the tires wears into a new 
front/rear pattern.

alex f

P.S.: FWIW, my wife's E36 was tracking straight but wearing the inside 
right rear tire. Upon closer inspection the left rear control arm was 
bent. Probably from a toe truck driver strapping it to the front and rear 
control arms the one time the car was toed without me (E36 radiator neck 
fiasco). Shit happens.

------------------------------