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      09-09-2015, 08:34 AM   #1
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Question BMW Default Factory Alignment Specs

Does anyone know if the BMW Factory keeps a record of the Factory Alignment Numbers for each new vehicle.

Mine has been in for alignment three days in a row, and BMW Service dont seem to be able to get it right!?

Want to know if I could ask them to just reset the alignment to the settings the car came down with, and go from there, if that is possible, and that data exists or not??

The car is pulling to the right slightly, and does not show good Straight tracking, too very easy for any small bump in the road to throw it off center.
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      11-21-2015, 05:03 AM   #2
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Car: 2014 BMW F30 335i RWD M Sport (Sport Suspension) - No modifications.

I had my alignment done at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds Auto Skills Center. They have a Hunter alignment machine and the price of an alignment is $60. (My guess is a BMW dealer would charge between $200-300 for an alignment). I will say that maintaining BMWs is incredibly expensive IF you don't have access to facilities with the right tools and equipment.

Notes:
If your car has "AFS", you will need an OEM scan tool (Autologic?). If you don't have "AFS", you're good to go.



Not entirely sure about the "DSC" part of this. I think you can disregard it for a standard alignment.


Prep work:

You'll need to properly weigh down the car. I ended up going to my unit's gym and having the full time guys hand receipt me a bunch of plates and dumbells. It's a LOT of weight and you will need this to get the rear camber correct. (You'll see the effect of an unloaded car later).


And now to the official specs:


My front right toe and rear left toe were off. Here is my final alignment spec with the car loaded correctly and full tank of gas:


Here is my final alignment spec with the car UNloaded correctly and full tank of gas. Notice the significant change in rear camber. I ended up taking the readings unweighted because this will be more convenient in the future given the exact same suspension setup.



Here are some other photos...

This is the front tie rod adjustment. You basically need to rotate the tie rod until you get the correct toe. The torq bolt is to secure the tie rod in place.


Here's how to adjust the rear toe. There seem to be two eccentric bolts. One for each arm (upper and lower). Notice in the diagram that the braket has a hole around in it. This implies you are adjusting the upper arm. On the rear side of the bolt, it's a standard 6 side bolt. On the other side (towards front of car), the bolt is actually a "star" similar to a torx but you'll need a socket not a torx bit.


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      11-21-2015, 11:02 AM   #3
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Thank you for you this! Question about the specs..what is the range? For example in your pic it shows front camber spec of -0.5. What is the +- range for all the measurements?
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      11-21-2015, 11:26 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tboooe View Post
Thank you for you this! Question about the specs..what is the range? For example in your pic it shows front camber spec of -0.5. What is the +- range for all the measurements?
The tolerance is shown in the 4th pic.
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      11-21-2015, 11:30 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snj49er View Post
The tolerance is shown in the 4th pic.
Thank you sir. So many numbers got me all confused!

Good to know my car is in spec after installing coilovers and dropping my car.

OP, how much weight did you put in your car? It seems like BMW is recommending aligning the car with the weight of 3 small adults in it and a full tank of gas. If a person like me drives mostly by themselves wouldnt it make more sense to just add weight to the driver side? Also curious also why BMW would recommend having a full tank of gas? The car spends more time with less than a full tank than with it. I would think that aligning with 1/2 a tank would make more sense?
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      11-21-2015, 11:40 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tboooe View Post
Thank you sir. So many numbers got me all confused!

Good to know my car is in spec after installing coilovers and dropping my car.

OP, how much weight did you put in your car? It seems like BMW is recommending aligning the car with the weight of 3 small adults in it and a full tank of gas. If a person like me drives mostly by themselves wouldnt it make more sense to just add weight to the driver side? Also curious also why BMW would recommend having a full tank of gas? The car spends more time with less than a full tank than with it. I would think that aligning with 1/2 a tank would make more sense?
I put ~150 lbs front driver seat, ~150lbs front passenger seat, ~150 lbs rear seats, and ~45 in the trunk. I ended up going to my unit and borrowing their weights from the gym.

As for the bold text, I would recommend just doing what BMW instructs you to do. I don't think the weight of a single person is going to change the alignment of the car significantly. However, 500lbs of weight would. I'm sure the engineers at BMW have done way more analysis into optimizing suspension alignment for different loads than any of us.

Full tank of gas is far easier to measure than how much is left in the tank.
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      11-21-2015, 12:02 PM   #7
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I hear what you are saying. I still would optimize the alignment based on the conditions that I drive the car the majority of the time. To me it doesnt make sense to align to a situation that does not occur very often.
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      11-23-2015, 08:11 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tboooe View Post
I hear what you are saying. I still would optimize the alignment based on the conditions that I drive the car the majority of the time. To me it doesnt make sense to align to a situation that does not occur very often.
How are you certain that their alignment settings are not optimized?

My guess is that they want you to load the vehicle a certain way because at that gross vehicle weight, they want to make sure the contact patches are optimal. When you lighten the load by ~300 lbs (with just driver), you won't perform worse than when the car was fully loaded even if the contact patches are not perfect.

The bottom line is that there is an excellent chance that the scenario (among many others) that you are describing has already been taken into account by BMW engineers. Unless you are able to quantify and prove that their configuration is sub-optimal through rigorous testing, it's best to trust their judgement.

Here's an excellent example of driveway mechanics thinking they could do better than BMW engineers and completely fucking up: http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1082735
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      02-25-2021, 01:05 PM   #9
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So where can I find your specs for car loaded and unloaded? My local BMW dealer has screwed up this car's alignment several times. I want to try an independent shop and need to know the specs without the car loaded. It is a 2013 328i RWD auto with Sport package.
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