dealer alignment--is it worth the price?

[brick8]

I was at the dealer today to pick up a dealer-only part for my 1992 525it and while I was there I stopped at the service desk to find out what they charge for an alignment. They want $150 which seems way high to me. Is there any advantage to going to the dealer for an alignment or should I just go to a tire shop?

[markus]

probly not. the only thing adjustable on these things is toe anyway and i dont carry any passengers usually. I just get it done at the local firestone.

[632 Regal]

dude, to set the toe takes less than 5 minutes, there is NO thrust job, NO 4 wheel job ETC.... their BS'in you man

[Paul in NZ]

i just go to a good tyre shop,the owner knows bmws,he has owned a few

[E34 530]

dude, to set the toe takes less than 5 minutes, there is NO thrust job, NO 4 wheel job ETC.... their BS'in you man

Do the know the toe setting for an e34?? I have to get an alighment so bad. My car pulls to the side so bad if I'm slowing down and hit a small bump. So toe is the only thing that can be adjustted when it comes to an alignment??

[BillionPa]

front:

camber can be adjusted with new expensive strut mounts, toe adjusted with a wrench.

rear:

camber adjusted with eccentric trailing arm bushing installation, toe adjusted with a special adjuster tool.

since there isnt much to be changed, the best thing we can do is make sure the wheels are perfectly balanced and the tire pressure is dead on.

also pulling to the side can be caused by flaky calipers or pads wearing at an uneven rate.

[brick8]

dude, to set the toe takes less than 5 minutes, there is NO thrust job, NO 4 wheel job ETC.... their BS'in you man


One more reason to stay away from the dealer!

[Dash01]

Do your own alignment with white or yellow thread, run around all four tires at the equators. Sight down the side of the car along the thread. Toe in should be about ~1/16" so use a ~1/16" allen wrench or drill bit, scotch taped between the thread and the tire at the front bulge on the front tire. With this, thread should be straight, touching the equator bulges on back tire, rear bulge on front tire, then straight to allen wrench at front bulge on front tire.

Use one piece of thread stretched around all four tires. Park car on level and smooth driveway or garage floor. Put a couple of sheets of wax paper under the front tires, to allow them to be adjusted without squirm resistance or histeresis.

This ought to take you ~15-20 minutes.

Using this trick, I've then taken the car to laser guided alignment shops, and none of them have ever been able to improve on it, so none have ever charged me for the diagnosis. Sears is pretty good about free diagnostic work.

Last time I did this, the car tracked straight ahead, hands off, at 110 mph on a flat, straight road.

[Dave M]

Dash seems to have the time and energy to handle this himself (nice job BTW), but....for the rest of us, alignment prices seem to vary considerably.

The best deal I found was at a VW dealership in town. I asked around and the consensus was that they had the best machine (don't recall the name). For $60 CAN they did spend quite a bit of time (over the winter I had the car in pieces), did a great job (I gave them the specs) and then proceeded to wash my car :)

I dunno, FWIW, it made me happy.

[E34 530]

Dash seems to have the time and energy to handle this himself (nice job BTW), but....for the rest of us, alignment prices seem to vary considerably.

The best deal I found was at a VW dealership in town. I asked around and the consensus was that they had the best machine (don't recall the name). For $60 CAN they did spend quite a bit of time (over the winter I had the car in pieces), did a great job (I gave them the specs) and then proceeded to wash my car :)

I dunno, FWIW, it made me happy.

What exactly are the specs??

[E34 530]

front:

camber can be adjusted with new expensive strut mounts, toe adjusted with a wrench.

rear:

camber adjusted with eccentric trailing arm bushing installation, toe adjusted with a special adjuster tool.

since there isnt much to be changed, the best thing we can do is make sure the wheels are perfectly balanced and the tire pressure is dead on.

also pulling to the side can be caused by flaky calipers or pads wearing at an uneven rate.

I don't think it's the brakes because I recently replaced them and it was doing it before they were replaced anyway. I never got an alignment whe the new springs/struts were installed, so I think that's why the car tracks so bad when slowing down and hitting bumps.

[632 Regal]

if your car pulls its not the alignment, something is either bent or a tire is wasted. toe in/toe out is alignment.


Do the know the toe setting for an e34?? I have to get an alighment so bad. My car pulls to the side so bad if I'm slowing down and hit a small bump. So toe is the only thing that can be adjustted when it comes to an alignment??

[ryan roopnarine]

i used the jeff 632 regal beagle quick method one day when i didn't want to bother with tools and such. it worked great, and i would have considered it acceptable if i had paid somebody to do it. only problem was that there was a tremendous amount of wear in the steering box already, so it doesn't matter if it would normally "track straight" with the wheel straight ahead. the open space made the car wander, no matter what.

oh, fyi, my implementation (i think jeff's as well) involves just putting it up on ramps with the wheels forced to straight ahead and adjusting the tie rods until they are at rested position. if one is more/less straight than the other, just tweak until both sides are uniform. it was a little hard for me to "wrap my mind around" the first time. do it once, however, and it makes perfect sense

[Dave M]

What exactly are the specs??

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dave_macisaac/align_specs.jpg