Wheel alignment (BMW KDS)

[E46Fanatic]

If what Schwepps says is true, then the drifting can possibly be caused of the irregularly worn tyre damaged by the bad alignment before the rectification. Now have to wait for the tyre to bed in with the new alignment settings.

In reply to Schwepps feedback above, 33 minutes of difference in camber sounds like a lot, quarter degree? The crowning of the road izzit commonly mid lifted or right lifted so water from the road only drain one side

, or both side [mid lifted]? If mid lifted, then if I drive on the fast lane, the right drifting effect shall be amplified by the mid lifting road contour.

But E46Fanatic did confirm in his posting about both left right setting were "similar". Same as in my case, my rear camber both -1'10 and no drifting felt. Can eat nenas potong in belacan sauce at 140kph.. ​

The beauty of the KDS II is that the target settings are optimized based on ride height of the car. Note the difference between left and right ride heights of NCH's car, and the resulting within spec camber settings. His tyre pressures are rock hard and he has star ratings on his tyres which I didn't. Wonder how that impacts the target specs. Our thread depths are similar and we are both running on 18's.​

 

[E46Fanatic]

I just got my car back from Quill. Sent it in because my car always pulls to the left while driving. If I'm driving straight on a highway at 100 km/h, 5 to 7 seconds later I'll end up on the left lane when my hands are off the steering wheel.

Please take a look at the KDS II measurement printout and tell me if something's not right.

They claimed to have done the wheel alignment twice but the problem is there. This is very frustrating because my car never received the treatment required at the service centre. I always leave after hearing excuses like "we checked and found no faults", "it's the uneven road that pulls the car to the left" ... sickening!

Just curious, were your camber pins on the front shock tower mounts removed after the alignment?

 

[viewfinder]

e46fanatics, aren't they supposed to put the safety pin back? Did they forget? I better go check tonight...

 

[gameover]

NCH I'm in the same boat as you except I haven't gone as far as doing KDS II because AB Sg Besi doesn't have it. Had a long chat with Astroboy about this during the TT session last weekend but I'm still not sure what to do next...

 

[B33mEr]

I just got my car back from Quill. Sent it in because my car always pulls to the left while driving. If I'm driving straight on a highway at 100 km/h, 5 to 7 seconds later I'll end up on the left lane when my hands are off the steering wheel.

Please take a look at the KDS II measurement printout and tell me if something's not right.

They claimed to have done the wheel alignment twice but the problem is there. This is very frustrating because my car never received the treatment required at the service centre. I always leave after hearing excuses like "we checked and found no faults", "it's the uneven road that pulls the car to the left" ... sickening!

That's normal for E46 and previous generation of BMW's since the car's are originally left hand drive and they design the geometry for left hand drive vehicle hence that's why cars are slightly "senget" sebelah i.e. the right is slightly lower than the left. No matter what you do it will veer slightly to the left but i didn't know it affects E90 too or not.

According to the mech at Lim Tayar TTDI it affect not only BMW but also Mercedes ... Go figure

 

[NCH]

So it's normal for our cars to shift left while driving? I think mine does it really badly and I'm really not very comfortable with this norm. I'm gonna speak to Ingress and see if they're interested to rectify it for me.

 

[Schwepps]

So Lim Tayar mechs also use the "it's normal" excuse Firstly, I have both an E90 and a Merc W211, and neither one pulls to one side. Secondly, steering will pull to the lower side if ride heights or thread wear are uneven. So if the right side is lower (as in your car too) it should pull to the right, not the left. Based on your KDS readout, your car is setup with a bias to the right, as RHD cars are supposed to be to compensate for crowning, especailly on highways.

Many things can make a car pull one side. Even a sticking brake pad. Look up 'tire conicity' to see what tire manufacturing defects can do.

 

[rts_4]

Dear NCH,

Mine pull to the left too since day one i got the car. AB Glenmarie changed the steering rack and spindle (not sure right spelling) but nothing has improved.

BTW, mine is 325 sport lci. Just wonder if this only happen to the sport model only? Any non-sport model owners have the same problem?

Thanks

 

[astroboy]

Maybe the car is designed to avoid veering into opposite traffic when the driver doze off..

 

[E46Fanatic]

Maybe the car is designed to avoid veering into opposite traffic when the driver doze off..

Sounds like an common excuse used by technicians who cant fix the problem LOL. But in theory, if the road slants to the left (for water dispersal) the gravity forces will gradually pull the car to the left as well. However, it shouldn't be an extreme pull to the left.

 

[NCH]

Maybe the car is designed to avoid veering into opposite traffic when the driver doze off..

You know they'll actually say something like this when they fail to fix it

 

[NCH]

Dear NCH,

Mine pull to the left too since day one i got the car. AB Glenmarie changed the steering rack and spindle (not sure right spelling) but nothing has improved.

BTW, mine is 325 sport lci. Just wonder if this only happen to the sport model only? Any non-sport model owners have the same problem?

Thanks

Is your car still under warranty?

My car is entering its 3rd month now. Don't think my SC is interested to rectify. I'll speak to BMW Malaysia.
If they claim it is normal, I want to see their statement in writing.

 

[rts_4]

Is your car still under warranty?

My car is entering its 3rd month now. Don't think my SC is interested to rectify. I'll speak to BMW Malaysia.
If they claim it is normal, I want to see their statement in writing.

Yes, my car still under warranty. It will be good if solution can be found before its expire end of the year.

 

[gameover]

NCH, rts_4 my car is under warranty as well. Let's do this in a group, we'll have more say together.

 

[Ennui78]

Aiyoh...so confussed. I knew I should have paid more attention to the teacher in geometry. Ok, thanks guys.....

Viewfinder: I believe VKS who comes from Penang, happens to know a pretty good guy on Dato' Keramat Road. A place by the name of Goh Swee Hin. I know, sounds like a Chinese Restaurant, right? My car is over a year old and it's gone 14,000km. First time I did an alignment was 5k.

Guess it's time to shell out some money for an alighment job, huh?

 

[astroboy]

... My car is over a year old and it's gone 14,000km. First time I did an alignment was 5k.

Guess it's time to shell out some money for an alighment job, huh?

Haha... My alignment was done when odo was about 10k km if not wrong when I start noticing irregular wear to my rear tyre.. now is 40k km, RFT replaced by PS3 and S-Drive liao... haven't do a 2nd alignment yet..

Been thinking to increase my rear camber back to -1'30 from my current -1.10.. since I'm using S-Drive at the rear, directional but symmetrical pattern which allow remount.

 

[viewfinder]

Aiyoh...so confussed. I knew I should have paid more attention to the teacher in geometry. Ok, thanks guys.....

Viewfinder: I believe VKS who comes from Penang, happens to know a pretty good guy on Dato' Keramat Road. A place by the name of Goh Swee Hin. I know, sounds like a Chinese Restaurant, right? My car is over a year old and it's gone 14,000km. First time I did an alignment was 5k.

Guess it's time to shell out some money for an alighment job, huh?

Yes I go there for other car alignment. They don't have the BMW KDS spec'ed alignment machine made by Beissbarth. And they don't add weight ballast to achieve specific ride height.

 

[Ennui78]

Irregular wear....do I like turn my wheels out , all the way to the right and check? Sorry......this is the first time I have had to take care of just about everything when it comes to a car.