Said: Have to go to dealer 4 allignment?

[sameh]

After putting my new Conti DWs my car pulls right slightly but constantly. Went to get my wheels aligned at a local shop and he said "BMW has to be done at the dealer, it has strict specifications for weight in each corner and unless you go to the dealer local shops will mess it up". I thanked him and left. The closest dealer to me is 70 miles away. Is what he said true?

[persian54]

Eh it depends... if there is a shop with the right equipment and a knowledgeable tech, you will be fine.

[LateBraking]

Man, I recall that one thread about that one guy tripping about the infalliability of people working at tire shops because that's what they do for a living....

Anyways, no, anyone with an alignment machine and the proper alignment specs can do this for you. I simply recommend against going to a Firestone or something. If you want to be sure that the job is done correctly, go to a shop that does them on a regular basis/specializes in the work, perferrably one with a Hunter alignment system.

[jrlee53]

I wouldn't say anyone can do it, most preferbly shops that have Hunter alignment machines. At least he was honest up front and didn't attempt to do it anyway.

[mkoesel]

I honestly thought for a moment that you were addressing this post to someone named "Said" (Sah-yeed).

I don't know if what he said is true, but I would not trust any old shop to align an M3. At the very least, find a shop that specializes in German cars. It will probably be cheaper than getting it done a the dealership.

[yusammyyu]

if your car is new version like 2010 or 2011, you'd better go dealer, most of repair shop don't have updated allignment data and they don't know which one they should use, they couldn't find out which data is for bmw m3 even they try to use vin number, because the vin number does not exist in the old system .

I just went to dealer do allignment last weekend , for the reason I couldn't find any repair shop who knows the correct allignment data for my M3 .

but, you are lucky, because I have allignment paper on my hand right now.

print the picture out, go find any repairshop who has allignment machine, show him the paper, make sure the data is correct for your car in person(it is very important to check the data by yourself) .

[Seattle S65B40]

are we supposed to get an alignment every time we change tires?

[MRSSIIM3]

Originally Posted by yusammyyu

if your car is new version like 2010 or 2011, you'd better go dealer, most of repair shop don't have updated allignment data and they don't know which one they should use, they couldn't find out which data is for bmw m3 even they try to use vin number, because the vin number does not exist in the old system .

I just went to dealer do allignment last weekend , for the reason I couldn't find any repair shop who knows the correct allignment data for my M3 .

but, you are lucky, because I have allignment paper on my hand right now.

print the picture out, go find any repairshop who has allignment machine, show him the paper, make sure the data is correct for your car in person(it is very important to check the data by yourself) .

jw, does your car have competition package by any chance?

[tony093]

it's 200 bucks @ the dealer...i had mine done recently.

[disapr]

If your nearest BMW dealer is 70 miles away then I'd go there just to be safe..

[sameh]

Just came back from dealer. Did my alignment $140 and got my 24000 mile oil change (this is the one I pay for, in the middle of the 15K free oil) paid $110 for that and got the "customary" 3 miles difference between driving in and driving out (some service guy must've made sure my car can truly get from 0-60 in less than 4.5 seconds) I'm serious though, how can you pick a car after oil change (cool oil) and oil temp needle is past the 210.

[Richbot]

Can't get a good oil level reading unless the engine is warmed up. It's faster to drive it to warm it up than let it idle.

[J08M3]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Can't get a good oil level reading unless the engine is warmed up. It's faster to drive it to warm it up than let it idle.

If you pay attention to what you put in the car then there is no reason to get a reading off electronic dip stick

[yusammyyu]

Originally Posted by hamama3

jw, does your car have competition package by any chance?

yes my car has competition package.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by sameh

Just came back from dealer. Did my alignment $140 and got my 24000 mile oil change (this is the one I pay for, in the middle of the 15K free oil) paid $110 for that and got the "customary" 3 miles difference between driving in and driving out (some service guy must've made sure my car can truly get from 0-60 in less than 4.5 seconds) I'm serious though, how can you pick a car after oil change (cool oil) and oil temp needle is past the 210.

they needed to warm it up to get a good reading

110 for an oil change? holy crap that's cheap...

Can you PM me the paid invoice? I'll take it to my dealer and be like "Here, Match this please. Kthx"

[sameh]

Originally Posted by persian54

they needed to warm it up to get a good reading

110 for an oil change? holy crap that's cheap...

Can you PM me the paid invoice? I'll take it to my dealer and be like "Here, Match this please. Kthx"

Here Persian, in case someone else wants to do the same.

[mike33176]

Just got aligned today after putting Nitto NT05's on. My alignment guy has been doing only alignments for 31 years. Was $99.99. He uses a Hunter Engineering Alignment System.

[JCtx]

Originally Posted by sameh

in case someone else wants to do the same.

Hope tech didn't use the E60 alignment specs, like the invoice suggests .