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      01-23-2016, 12:13 PM   #23
vp
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Quote:
Originally Posted by x986
Wow, the original alignment looks awful. Since the car can't get out of the factory w.o. going through the alignment process, something about the car, tire, frame process must have happened to cause an alignment like that. (Or something happened during shipping.) I would imagine the dealer 'should' have access to the factory alignment records, but since they have never seen a problem like this, they didn't check.

Tires can also be a big factor. Over the years, I have gotten two or three tires that were out of round, but that normally just causes bump-bump-bump. Does your car have one directional tires?

Do you know a good tire shop? In a time vs. money equation, it might be cheaper to have an independent shop do some L/R switching. I hate to say it, but this is an "interesting" question. Please keep us informed.
The SA said she will talk to the head technician and shop foreman on Monday and get back to me on the next steps. I will suggest moving the right tires to the left based on what they say and give it a test.

I will also ask for the factory records as you state but at this point I doubt it would do much for me
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      01-23-2016, 12:14 PM   #24
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OP it's the tire(s). If your dealer can't help you get any or all tires replaced via the tire-manufacturers warranty then visit a Discount Tire or similar shop. I had this same issue as soon as I drove my new car off the lot.

I went through numerous alignments and tire rotations to no avail (had a square set up), so I figured it had to be the tires. So I got my set replaced with the help of my local Discount Tire... then my car drove straight as an arrow!

Couple of weeks after that I switched to a 1+ staggered set-up on PSS tires and the ride is even 'more-better'.
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      01-23-2016, 12:15 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rob_h10
OP it's the tire(s). If your dealer can't help you get any or all tires replaced via the tire-manufacturers warranty then visit a Discount Tire or similar shop. I had this same issue as soon as I drove my new car off the lot.

I went through numerous alignments and tire rotations to no avail (had a square set up), so I figured it had to be the tires. So I got my set replaced with the help of my local Discount Tire... then my car drove straight as an arrow!

Couple of weeks after that I switched to a 1+ staggered set-up on PSS tires and the ride is even 'more-better'.
Did discount tire cover it under the manufacturer warranty? Or did you have to get new tires at your expense?
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      01-23-2016, 12:17 PM   #26
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I had zero out of pocket cost.

They will try to sell you a tire hazard warranty but you can decline it. I purchased it because a run-flat tire can cost up to $300+ to replace. I've had this happen to me on a previous car. It's worth it to me.
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      01-23-2016, 12:19 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rob_h10
I had zero out of pocket cost.
Fantastic thanks for sharing your experience. I will go to my local discount tire next week if the dealership doesn't solve the issue.
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      01-23-2016, 03:50 PM   #28
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Directional tires?

I had this happen to my 330ci before, brand new and was pulling right. they checked the alignment and all that , went to same dealership 4 times and they couldn't find the problem. Decided to get 2nd opinion at another dealer, turns out tires were directional and was put on backwards !!! .. they corrected and car drove fine.

so check your tires..
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      01-24-2016, 09:55 PM   #29
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Look again at the "after" readings on your alignment sheet. The front caster (grey box) was correct in the "before" section, but after the tech finished there in now too much left to right difference. The max should not be more than .5 degrees difference side to side. When there is a excessive caster split the vehicle will pull toward the side which is more negative. Your car has a right side the is more negative (closer to zero) than the left, almost 2 degrees difference. Looking at the readings the car should pull to the right.

The concern is why are the caster readings that far from specification and now further apart than before the alignment adjustment. The technician should easily see the problem.


Another technician fail is you should always correct tire pressure before beginning the adjustments..

Last edited by kenwelch; 01-24-2016 at 10:07 PM..
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      01-24-2016, 10:07 PM   #30
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If possible go to a differnt dealership for alignment or find a local reputed alignment shop.
If u still haven't, try switching the left-right tires.
Contact Bmw NA if they cannot fix ur issue. Ur car shd not pull hard to either side on a flat road.
Good luck.
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      02-01-2016, 05:28 AM   #31
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Update #1 on this issue.

So I went back to the dealership and talked to the shop foreman. We went on a drive and he said everything is fine and normal. Apparently my definition of the steering being straight is slightly different than his. When I hold the steering to what I think is dead center, the car drifts right, but with his definition it goes straight. So it's my word against his. So he said that after 2-3k miles if there is any uneven wear on the tires I would take the care in and they would take care of it. He also told me that apparently the casters are not adjustable which seems like BS to me.

I got tired of going to the dealership and spending time there on this issue. So I will wait it out and see what happens after 2-3k miles.

Last edited by vp; 02-06-2016 at 03:51 PM..
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      02-01-2016, 02:46 PM   #32
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Yea had more than a year of fun with a problem like this with a new Mercedes van pulling hard to the right (like literally pulling you off the highway in seconds if you let go) They had an engineer come in from Brussels after multiple visits to the dealer and he said it was perfectly normal and all Mercedes products have it to some extent!! I said I will never in my life buy a luxury Merc-Benz if that is normal :/ He did not really respond to that.. Multiple alignments and tire swaps later and it's 98% resolved now after getting some new front tires for free... Not annoying anymore at least! The only issue left now is a judder in the transmission when going over 110km/h! (Used to be a strong judder but got a new transmission) Also perfectly normal because it shouldn't drive that fast according to them. But it's road legal for 120km/h.. Oh and they had to wedge a piece of velcro in between the GPS module and bracket so it wouldn't reboot while going over a bumpy road... For the love of god don't buy anything built by Mercedes engineers lol!

Sorry to hear you're having this problem every BMW my family has ever had tracked perfectly straight! Something must've gone wrong or been forgotten in the factory/transportation. Contact other dealers or BMW if you must!
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      02-06-2016, 09:21 AM   #33
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OK. Try this, inflate all tires to full load pressures, with mine that is approx. 44 rear and 40 front, and see wht the results are. Did they do the alignment with weights in the car with a half tank of gas? Also, do you have Adaptive m Suspension?
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      02-06-2016, 12:20 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ Rocc
OK. Try this, inflate all tires to full load pressures, with mine that is approx. 44 rear and 40 front, and see wht the results are. Did they do the alignment with weights in the car with a half tank of gas? Also, do you have Adaptive m Suspension?
Yes I have the Adaptive suspension. I'm not sure if they did the alignment with loads and half tank of gas.

Il try the full load tire pressure although I'm not sure what that will do. Can you elaborate?
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      02-06-2016, 12:25 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vpatel787 View Post
Yes I have the Adaptive suspension. I'm not sure if they did the alignment with loads and half tank of gas.

Il try the full load tire pressure although I'm not sure what that will do. Can you elaborate?
That should not matter.

I have Adaptive suspension as well, and it was pulling towards the right as well, I also noticed my steering wheel was not straight when driving straight, I had to slightly turn the steering wheel to the left to go straight.

I brought it in and had them do a 4 wheel alignment, and it's perfect now. I could let go of the steering wheel and it goes straight forever.

My tire PSI was 36 fronts 38 rear on my winter tires (Sottozero 3) Fuel was around 85%?

You may want to go to a new dealership and have another place align your car for you. It may be either the dealer is doing it wrong or something is wrong with your suspension or tires.
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      02-06-2016, 03:32 PM   #36
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Update #2

As many of you had suggested, I was finally able to go to another dealership and talk to a SA. He looked at the wheel alignment chart from the previous dealership and said that the alignment numbers are fine and within spec.

He told me that since I did the performance center delivery, they don't do the final quality check that dealerships do before a car delivery. He said that the car gets off the ship, its transported to the performance center and cleaned for delivery day. As per him thats all they do. He stated that when the vehicle is tied down onto the ship they tie it down with the suspension and the tires and this sometimes causes the alignment to go out of whack. Which may also explain why the tire pressures were quite off after i picked up the car. I guess I should have checked all these things before I left the performance center.

As next steps, he recommended that I swap the front tires left to right and see if the vehicle pulls the other direction(left). He was going to charge me $69 for rotating the tires so I went half a mile down the road to my local discount tire who rotated the tires for free. After this, the car now pulls to the left which indicates that its a tire issue as a few of you suggested.

The dealership I went to today suggested that I contact the tire manufacturer for warranty coverage.

It seems like this dealership doesn't want to deal with the tire warranty for me and I hesitate going back to the first dealership as they even refuse to acknowledge the issue.

Has anyone had to contact the tire manufacturer directly? how did you go about this and was anyone successful getting the tires replaced under warranty?
Are all 4 tires supposed to be replaced?

My local discount tire said they hate dealing with Bridgestone because they are a pain to deal with on such kind of issues. He did say he will try contact them on Monday and see how it goes.

If discount tire is unable to help me, I'm wondering what my options are on getting the tires replaced.

Last edited by vp; 02-06-2016 at 03:57 PM..
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      02-06-2016, 04:10 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vpatel787 View Post
As many of you had suggested, I was finally able to go to another dealership and talk to a SA. He looked at the wheel alignment chart from the previous dealership and said that the alignment numbers are fine and within spec.

Has anyone had to contact the tire manufacturer directly? how did you go about this and was anyone successful getting the tires replaced under warranty?
Are all 4 tires supposed to be replaced?
Sorry but the SA that you had look at your alignment printout missed the clear evidence that is shown. The final (after adjustment) caster readings are not correct!

Go back to my post on 1/24/2016 #29 and read why the technician failed based on the alignment printout.

You need to locate an alignment shop and tech that is willing to correctly align your vehicle. Someone told you that the caster is not adjustable, but it still needs to not have the wide side to side difference. The difference is causing your pull, not the tires. Maybe the difference is caused by a suspension component being bent. Save your energy with the tire manufactures and have the alignment corrected. Here is a video link showing how fast this could be checked :


Even if it took ten times longer you would have the answer very fast.

I have had the BMW dealer replace tires after approval from the regional
BMW Technical Specialist. But the problem that we were having was tire noise with less than 1 year/6,000 miles of use on a 2002 E39Ti Wagon.

I have taught wheel alignment during my 40+ years in the automotive classroom. The tech did not review his final readings on your car and the others that have reviewed your printout also do not see your problem.

More training about why alignment changes:
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