BMW KDS II Wheel Alignment

[jobe]

Hi,

 

 

Do you guys use the KDSII system as specified by BMW? 

 

Can you please explain why this would be better over a standard geometric wheel alignment with a Hunter system? Is it even required?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

 

[Tony]

We use the Hunter DSP811 which is recognized for all the German marques. KDS is the software that is BMW specific, whereas our software carries the same datum as the KDS it also includes all other cars.

[jobe]

Thanks for the reply,

 

Background 

I have had the alignment checked because the car was pulling to the left most of the time. This was both at low speed and on the motorway. I thought this was due to camber of the roads. When I would drive on the right side of the road (early in the morning of course) it would pull to the right. The car would also pul to the right on an A road where the right lane is cambered to the right.

When the car pulls to the left the wheel turns slightly to the left and the car moves off. This occurs quite soon after taking my hands off the wheels . At low speed around town, the wheel can turn quite significantly especially when setting off at the lights the car will move to the left.

The car is nearly three years old and I have only had it for 6 months. I have only ever scraped the rims on the kerb never hit the kerb and no potholes of note.

 

Results

I had the alignment checked by a the team at Thame Service Station, I believe they use a Hunter Hawkeye system and seemed pretty experienced when I spoke to them. This is after my local BMW dealer quoted 300quid!

The alignment was not to bad really
Front left Camber -0.45 toe 0.15 (0.02-0.12) (toe now is 0.08)
Front right camber -0.19 toe 0.09
Rear left Camber -1.57 toe 0.02( 0.06-0.12) (toe now is 0.08)
Rear left Camber -1.39 toe 0.04( 0.06-0.12) (toe now 0.11)

They fixed it all up so the print out looked all straight. He also looked at my tyres and apparently it all looked good only slight over wear on both front tyres which he put down to camber that goes with the BMWs.

 

I pumped the tyres up the tyres just before the alignment as the car told me they had gone down. The left from and left rear were a bit flatter than the right but even pumping the tyres to did not affect the pull. 

 

Problem

Driving the car after this it all feels the same not much different. Pulls to the left most of the time except as described above. 

 

Question

Could there be anything else that would cause the car to pull? Is this all just due to camber? Is it worth going back to the dealer for a more through look, the car is still under warranty? If I do will they accept this wheel alignment or will they charge me again for it to "do it properly"

 

Thanks again Tony. Sorry for the long story too!