[Rando]

My car seems to lose alignment pretty damn quickly, like in a month each time. I do live in an area with a lot of bad roads, so maybe that's natural... Anyone have advice on that?

I had a suspension repair done a long time ago, just on the rear-right. So I am wondering if there is something wrong with the suspension that is making the alignment hard to sustain.

As I understand it, setting the alignment is basically turning a bunch of screws, so it's odd that it could just change so easily.

Also, I should note that I am particularly sensitive to alignment, after 100,000 miles of enthusiastic experience in these cars. So maybe that's the problem, haha.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you!

[MrDummy]

to be honest unless you are using it on cobblestone, auto X tracks or just raping corners you should NOT be falling out of alignment.

PS what tire/rim combo do you sport?

[Rando]

Wheels are the OEM 18" for 2007 335i.
Tires are Pilot Sport PS2 (225/40/R18 front, 255/35/R18 rear)

Everything else is stock.

But the roads in Oakland are not great... once in a while you just hit a HUGE pothole and that probably does it. But aligning once a month seems crazy... thank goodness for the Firestone lifetime alignment. I am using it!

[E92-Lighting]

Originally Posted by MrDummy

to be honest unless you are using it on cobblestone, auto X tracks or just raping corners you should NOT be falling out of alignment.

PS what tire/rim combo do you sport?

+1. at least not this fast... a wheel alignment generally will last much longer than a month

[MrDummy]

^^ even with decent sized potholes that seems excessive, I live in an area with shyt roads as well, and I am going on a year now with NO alignment needed, Knock on wood.

But I have a lot of other little issues with my bimmer

[Rando]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I agree...

What should i do though? How does one test such a thing? The dealer will probably be quite useless on this one, especially since it's a gradual loss of alignment.

[Delanez]

Unless you have a suspension piece that is worn of loose, you shouldn't be losing your alignment that fast. I guess you could have the car checked over to verify that nothing is loose?

[GenePoole]

Did the mechanic show you the specs before and after?

The shop I used to take my E36 to did like 5 alignments on my car. They always quoted me their "special" price, but always later added the extra "4 wheel thrust angle alignment" charge. The last time I asked to see the specs. The camber on the right rear wheel was slightly off. I went ahead with the alignment and asked to see the spec sheet after the alignment. They adjusted the camber on the by 0.1 degrees but is was still out of spec (even printed in RED on the sheet). I asked what gives and they said that it was at the limit they could adjust. I asked if they'd ever, in the 5 alignments I'd had done, actually improved anything at all. They weren't too happy with my attitude, but I've never been back.

Frankly, in my humble opinion, alignment is a rip-off in most cases. Very little can be adjusted (toe on the front and toe and camber on the rear) and if it really is out, then you've got bigger problems (bent or loose suspension components). I still think it's a good idea when getting new tires as subtle differences in tire geometry are likely to stress the components in different ways.

[Rando]

Oh yes, I am looking at the before-after specs each time. And the car feels great after alignment, each time. It's just that in the subsequent weeks, it starts to feel squirrely again, and, sure enough, the numbers are again all over the place.

[cb1111]

You said that there was susension work done on the car - I'd look at that to make sure that it was done properly.

[Rando]

Yeah, I've had it checked by various people (dealers and independent folks), but I really doubt they are checking thoroughly.

One one hand, it's seems like it shouldn't be rocket science to put the pieces together when rebuilding the suspension, but on the other hand, you can really feel every degree or two of misalignment... so the suspension geometry matters.

My question is this though: what would make suspensions not HOLD. It's one thing if the suspension is off, and so your alignment numbers look good no paper but don't feel right. But they shouldn't be CHANGING so easily... if the suspension is making them wrong, they should stay consistently wrong and the car should handle sub-par. But it shouldn't start by handling great and then deteriorate so easily, no?

[MusclezMarinara]

Potholes are not helping this situation

maybe your wheels are out of balance

[Rando]

Ah, interesting point about the wheels...

But if the wheels were out of balance, the car would never feel right, no?

In my case, it feels great right after alignment, and then goes south quickly afterwards. (Again, it could just be the potholes. I really do end up hitting at least one brutal one every few weeks.)

[mike3000fl]

you mentioned 100,000 miles in these cars, how many on this particular car?

worn bushings and balls joints will cause an alignment to go all over the place. its not that the actual alignment adjustment points are moving, everything else is.

one thing you could do is get an alignment done, while the car is up in the air take a paint marker or sharpie and go ahead and mark the position of the alignment eccentric washers, nuts, tie rod adjustment and length, so that if anything moves you will see what is loose. if all the alignment points are staying the same, then your bushings and/or ball joints are shot.

wanted to add that firestone does lifetime alignments, pay once and you can take it in every weekend if you feel like it.

[Alexander]

Originally Posted by mike3000fl

you mentioned 100,000 miles in these cars, how many on this particular car?

worn bushings and balls joints will cause an alignment to go all over the place. its not that the actual alignment adjustment points are moving, everything else is.

one thing you could do is get an alignment done, while the car is up in the air take a paint marker or sharpie and go ahead and mark the position of the eccentric washers, nuts, tie rod adjustment and length, so that if anything moves you will see what is loose. if all that is staying the same, then your bushings and/or ball joints are shot.

wanted to add that firestone does lifetime alignments, pay once and you can take it in every weekend if you feel like it.

Good points through there. Some thing minor is loose or worn and needs to be checked.

[Rando]

mike3000fl: Wonderfully helpful answer, thank you so much!!!

Yes, I will do all of what you suggest. I have done the suspension marking thing before (suggested by a suspension guy), but forgot about trying that again now.

This car has 46,000 miles on it, and they have been pretty enthusiastic miles, so I wouldn't be surprised if the bushings are pretty worn.

How much would it cost to get those replaced? Are they covered under warranty at all?

Thanks!

[cb1111]

Originally Posted by Rando

mike3000fl: Wonderfully helpful answer, thank you so much!!!

Yes, I will do all of what you suggest. I have done the suspension marking thing before (suggested by a suspension guy), but forgot about trying that again now.

This car has 46,000 miles on it, and they have been pretty enthusiastic miles, so I wouldn't be surprised if the bushings are pretty worn.

How much would it cost to get those replaced? Are they covered under warranty at all?

Thanks!

What kind of suspension work was done?

[atopa2002]

what are you actually feeling or seeing when your aliment is shot?

[Rando]

cb1111: the suspension work was the right-rear... the entire thing was redone. Fell asleep due to jetlag and got lucky to just bump the right-rear tire into a wall.

atopa2002: the main feeling is that the car just doesn't feel buttoned-down on the road at all, especially at speed. Which is pretty lame.

[cb1111]

Originally Posted by Rando

cb1111: the suspension work was the right-rear... the entire thing was redone. Fell asleep due to jetlag and got lucky to just bump the right-rear tire into a wall.

atopa2002: the main feeling is that the car just doesn't feel buttoned-down on the road at all, especially at speed. Which is pretty lame.

Ouch - most of us have almost been there.

Unfortunately, I'd suspect that repair. Perhaps they overlooked something slightly tweaked that puts additional stresses on the suspension - causing misalignment in short order.

[Rando]

Yup, I agree it's probably that repair... the question is how do I get someone to *really* check it... it's going to be something pretty subtle.

At the macro level, of course they'll look and say "yup, all the pieces are there."

Any advice would be very useful. Thanks!

[Rando]

Since a dealer did the repair, I should be able to go to any other dealer to get the repair verified, right? (I'm also further from the original dealer who did the repair now... and they were VERY incompetent, so the likelihood of a problem is pretty high.)

Thanks!