grahamn Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Having been careless enough to kerb the NSF of my e92 BMW twice in one year, I thought I would get the alignment checked at a Hunter equipped alignment centre Nr Gloucester. The car seems better now, but two things concern me, having read the report afterwards. 1. No adjustment or values for the Caster - is this normal/correct? 2. The adjusted values left and right, whilst green are not always close, or the centre value. Is this correct/acceptable, or does it suggest it was a quick job without too much effort? I've tried to insert a scanned image of the report, but cannot see a way of doing that Grateful for any advice! Thanks, Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIH Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Hi Graham 1; No that isn't good I'm afraid. 2; Can you upload the image to something like photobucket so we can see it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Hello Graham The reason the castor values are missing is because they didn't bother to measure the angle, in truth without that the report is worthless. I suggest you go back and ask them to measure what you paid them to measure and that was a full geometry not a partial geometry. Once done if you cannot display the figures i will call you and validate the results over the phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamn Posted January 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Hello GrahamThe reason the castor values are missing is because they didn't bother to measure the angle, in truth without that the report is worthless. I suggest you go back and ask them to measure what you paid them to measure and that was a full geometry not a partial geometry. Once done if you cannot display the figures i will call you and validate the results over the phone. http://s881.photobucket.com/albums/ac12/gr...rrent=IMG-1.jpg <- hopefully this works! Thanks guys, I feared you'd say what you did. I will give xxxxx a call tomorrow - unfortunately they're not local to me by any means. Ironically they're a stones throw from Pro Tyre Golucester who I have used in the past. But it's an hours drive to either. I will see what he says and will keep you guys posted. Thansk for your help so far. Regards, Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamn Posted January 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 http://s881.photobucket.com/albums/ac12/gr...current=IMG.jpg second attempt to get a working image of the alignment report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 16, 2010 Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 What they have done looks fine but we need that castor position, in addition did they add weights to the car to pre-load the suspension? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIH Posted January 16, 2010 Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 I'd guess not if they didn't do the castor sweep ? To answer the first question I'd say it's "okay", but that's it. You really want them to be identical side to side but that isn't always pratical. Front camber, especially on these late model 3-series, is tricky and I'd be weary of adjusting it unless there were a complaint that tied directly to it - though were I work they're hostile to spending time on adjustments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamn Posted January 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 I'd guess not if they didn't do the castor sweep ? To answer the first question I'd say it's "okay", but that's it. You really want them to be identical side to side but that isn't always pratical. Front camber, especially on these late model 3-series, is tricky and I'd be weary of adjusting it unless there were a complaint that tied directly to it - though were I work they're hostile to spending time on adjustments. Hi Tony / Cam, Thanks for those repsonses. I spoke with the owner today (very helpful, as before) and he is willing to have the camber looked at if I really want it, but said they'd only normally do that on this model if it had been involved in a serious accident as there was some limiting factor as to what could be done with this adjustment (?) - I'm trying to remember the words he used. The gist was I shouldn't need it checking, but he'd be willing to do so if I wanted it done. And yes, they added weights into the car, passenger and boot area. Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Measuring the castor opens a whole host of other information within the steer axis, the time to do this is about 1 minute so it's hardly a chore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamn Posted January 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Measuring the castor opens a whole host of other information within the steer axis, the time to do this is about 1 minute so it's hardly a chore. Hi Tony, I will see if I can pop the car into them tomorrow. Do I need to do anything like have a full tank of fuel etc? Any idea what kind of figures I should be seeing when they do this? I'm crossing my fingers here, that they don't find anything untoward! Thanks, Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIH Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Best to have full load of fuel but not end of days if that isn't possibile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Fuel would be nice but not vital..... The machine offers a end trim height that concludes how much weight needs to be added to the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamn Posted January 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2010 Fuel would be nice but not vital..... The machine offers a end trim height that concludes how much weight needs to be added to the car. Hi Tony, We just spoke a moment ago. Here is the report. Second Alignment report As spoken, the car behaved differently as I drove the 40 or so miles up the M5 this morning. It felt like a lot of resistance to turn the steering left/right and when some lock was applied it took more effort than I'm sure it should, to keep it there. When I drove across to Chris Mullins's place, later on on A and B roads, again it felt very tight, but it was driving straight with no pulling. They stuck on the Hunter and the checks were made; and a *lot* of out of tolerance values can be seen and these were again adjusted. Now the car had only driven from them to home; was garaged all weekend until today!!! On the way home tonight intially it felt better (again) but seemed to vary through the drive... Steering went from "normal" to stiff for left/right turns and back to normal again At some points it had a drift tendency, even in lane 3 of the m-way which was cambered to the central reservation! At other points a slight left drift- almost like it was floating! As mentioned on phone, the damage leading up to this was: 1. a mild glance of a kerb as coming to rest (too close) to a kerb back in June 09 2. managing to climb a kerb then dropping off it, again at slow moving off speed so <5mph - I couldn't see in the pitch black early hours, a couple of weeks ago. And now this I would be grateful once again for your thoughts as I'm tempted to get the local supplying dealership (d*** Lovett, The Laurels, Cribbs Causeway, Bristol) to deal with it once and for all - but that would certainly mean throwing serious money at the problem. But if that's what I need to do, I will Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 18, 2010 Report Share Posted January 18, 2010 From the end figures on the first report and the inital figures on the last report it really looks like there's no weight added to the car, this would make the last reports camber positions "light".. are you sure they added weight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 18, 2010 Report Share Posted January 18, 2010 From the end figures on the first report and the inital figures on the last report it really looks like there's no weight added to the car, this would make the last reports camber positions "light".. are you sure they added weight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamn Posted January 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2010 From the end figures on the first report and the inital figures on the last report it really looks like there's no weight added to the car, this would make the last reports camber positions "light".. are you sure they added weight? They definitely put some of their white containers in..how many and if they were heavy enough I couldn't say... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 18, 2010 Report Share Posted January 18, 2010 Well we have to assume the end positions are fine then.... they look ok to me. So since the chassis appears ok we have to look outside of the box now regarding the steering feel. Since this is now variable the tight/ loose situation must be mechanical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIH Posted January 23, 2010 Report Share Posted January 23, 2010 did you get a report from the dealer ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 23, 2010 Report Share Posted January 23, 2010 I said weight has been an issue from the reports..... Did BMW add weight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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