[Ryanrs]

Hi, Recently I had my wheel alignment set up using a 4 wheel alignment machine. The wheels were out of alignment slightly , correcting them was enough to make a difference in the way it drives (for the better) but nothing to indicate a problem.

Anyway, a few weeks later I hit a pot hole HARD! it was a crater with an Iron manhole sticking up in the middle. Dont ask why i didnt avoid it, it was impossible if you see the situation. Anyways, both front and rear nearside wheels hit it and my rear wheel (19" 313) died. non repairable.

I have replaced the wheel and tyre but now my steering feels odd. the car feels like its 'center' wonders. one min the car will be pulling to the left, then to the right, almost as if a lower arm rubber has play or the balljoint is shot etc. i may go into a right hand bend with the car pulling left then mid turn it will 'Fall into' the turn and ill come out with the steering either heading straight or slightly pulling right. Whatever tho it certainly pulls left worse than right.

There is a difference in tread size on the tyres as the replacement wheel has a near new tyre whereas the offside wheel is probably 1/2 way through its life.

I got the tracking checked at the same place again and have a print out. They tried telling me that if they do the tracking (at a cost of £100!!) then the car will be fine, but tbh i know a fair amount about cars and mechanics and going by the way it drives it wouldnt surprise me if pulling off the tracking machine, driving round the block and driving back on would give a totally different reading again.

Can anyone advise what the issue may be, what i need to check and replace? Dont get me wrong, its not extreme pulling, it just feels 'loose'.

Heres the latest alignment printout

[hockeyplayer]

I can't tell you exactly whats wrong but looking at the photo...your alignment is out of spec.

You shouldn't see any red.

[shadow191]

Is that your current alignment after the pothole? That may explain some of the wandering, it's not way off, but since the toe is off on 3 wheels and camber off on your left side, it's going to impact handling. Have you inspected the suspension to see if anything is loose?

[J-Spec Dan]

other than the alignment, you may have some damaged suspension parts.

[Ryanrs]

Yes this is after hitting the hole and fitting the replacement wheel / tyre. I have looked underneath and cannot see any obvious signs of damage, nothing appears bent or worn or stressed.
Do you think a simple re-allignment could correct the wondering steering then? i dont want to fork out the money to find its not improved. I cannot see how the allignment can be out on 3 wheels when only the left side wheels hit the pothole!

[cmg5461]

Thrust angle should always be 0.00

[Ryanrs]

will adjusting any of the thrust angle or camber settings cause a error message to come up on the idrive ? the garage seems to think it will...

[Ryanrs]

bump?

[mike3000fl]

pretty obvious you need an alignment. they aren't trying to scam you by getting one. your numbers are out of whack, bad.

i would also suspect damage since the front left camber is off, the camber normally is not adjustable up front without modifying the top of the strut where it mounts to the tower. you may have bent something.

if you have tie rod or steering rack damage, you may need major repairs, might be easier to claim this on insurance.

[David1]

Originally Posted by cmg5461

Thrust angle should always be 0.00

Incorrect, here is the factory specs for the E92 and my alignment set up with M3 parts. The E93 is not much different.

[David1]

You have some bent suspension parts on the car especially if you can not get the car in spec.

[Ryanrs]

Would the camber not fall into place when the toe is adjusted tho?

[cmg5461]

Originally Posted by David1

Incorrect, here is the factory specs for the E92 and my alignment set up with M3 parts. The E93 is not much different.

There is no logical reason for the thrust angle to be anything different than 0. (unless you're correcting a pull)

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78566

[David1]

Originally Posted by Ryanrs

Would the camber not fall into place when the toe is adjusted tho?

Nope.

[David1]

Originally Posted by cmg5461

There is no logical reason for the thrust angle to be anything different than 0. (unless you're correcting a pull)

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78566

It isn't just for messing around with pulls. It has more function such as how straight the car goes during hard acceleration on a crowned road and all that stuff. In all my years of doing alignment I never correct for it since it is a moving target with no individual adjustment on independent rear suspension. It will tell you though when it's way out that the car has been wrecked or something like a subframe is bent. You should see how bad some thrust angles are on cars pieced together!

[David1]

The OP's specs show suspension damage more than likely an arm on the front and back and maybe a rear hub assembly.

[Ryanrs]

How could i find out which is damaged? would there be obvious signs? as when i got under the car last i could not see anything obvious..

[David1]

It will not be that obvious. Bent strut or lower A arm can be your problem up front. the rear is more complicated. Could be just a damaged ecentric bolt to the main lower arm.

[grussauto]

Non technical explanation - Your alignment sheet shows front wheels pointing right and the rear wheels pointing left. When you compensate for the front wheels with the steering wheel the rear end will be tracking to the left. This would cause the ride to be off!

Toe and Camber do effect each other and according to the Bentley manual you set the toe on the Front first and the Camber on the rear first.

A few weeks ago my son hit a curb going around a "round a bout" buried in the snow and bent the front lower rear control arm on his X5 which is a similar design as the e90. See the attached picture.

If you can't visually see anything bent then imho, I would get a new alignment. If a component is bent it should show up in the specs from the new alignment data sheet. This worked years ago for me when I was fighting a towing company that bent both of the lower control arms on my e36 M3 when they pulled it up on the flat bed from the rear by wrapping straps around the control arms. I wasn't there when they picked it up. I was able to get them to pay for the repair with the alignment data sheet.

[grussauto]

I just remembered years ago my wife hit one of those concrete barriers you see in front of parking spaces. We discovered that along with damaging the wheel, and one of the control arms, the strut tower was tweeked as well. A frame shop was able to pull it out on a frame machine. May be one thing to have inspected.