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      08-08-2013, 05:15 PM   #1
PrazVT
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Question Steering Alignment Question

Hey Guys - just wanted to get your input on something.

I took my car in to the dealer to get some things repaired last week and got the car back Monday. Since then I've noticed that when centered, the steering wheel like ~5 degrees off to the left. If I straighten the wheel, the car will slowly start veering to the right.

Other points that may / may not be relevant:
- I typically run higher tire pressures (~35 front, 38 back) and they did lower them back to stock (I haven't put them back up yet)
- Tire wear seems even (7 on both fronts, 6 on both rears)

I took the car back to the dealer today and I guess the shop foreman drove the car; he noticed it, but said that it's minimal enough that I shouldn't worry about it. Basically he tried to convince me that it wouldn't be worth the expense to go in and correct such a small deviation. And he said that this is typical on all BMWs, based on his 14 year experience as a BMW tech.

I'm not entirely sure what to do. Learn to live with the wheel being just off center? Maybe take it to another shop and have them ensure everything is balanced / aligned? At this point, I'd feel a little silly taking it back to the dealer again.

I'm not expert in this area ...so any input / feedback would be appreciated.

- Praz
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      08-08-2013, 11:55 PM   #2
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That's not normal. Did they perform an alignment on the car when you had it in for service? It should not be related to tire pressure unless there is some marked difference side to side.
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      08-09-2013, 12:50 AM   #3
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I just reviewed the notes from the last 2 times I brought the car in to the dealer.

At 13360 miles, I brought it in for scheduled service; aside from checking the tire wear (all 4 tires @ 7/32), I don't see any mention of checking wheel/tire alignment.

At 18500 miles (ie. last week), I brought the car in to get the rear view replaced, the A/C cleaned out, and to get the iDrive fixed. Again, they did the basic checks but that's about it.

When I got home today, I checked the pressures and they were mostly fine (38/37 in the back, 35 in the front). So I would agree it's not the tire pressure.

First the shop chief tells me it's just that the roads are tilted so you think the car is pulling; then the whole 'all BMWs are like this'. Sorry but my dad's '09 335i tracks straight and true; mine should too.

Point is, I put 80 miles a day on this car due to my commute so it's going to be a major annoyance. A friend recommended a local shop w/ good reviews, so I may give them a call and see if they can check it out.
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      08-10-2013, 12:38 AM   #4
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I would take it in then for an alignment. They should center the wheel as part of the service.
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      08-10-2013, 12:36 PM   #5
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Yeah, I think I will - thanks for the input.
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      08-10-2013, 05:53 PM   #6
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Update -

I took the car to the local Wheel Works and they checked the alignment with their machine; they confirmed everything was in the green and somewhat reiterated that the steering wheel being slightly off center was normal. At most, it might be due to tire wear a little.

Anyway, looks like I just have to deal with it. They did, however, discover a nail in the rear driver's side tire. As far as I know, there's no leak so not exactly sure what I need to do. I have the BMW tire / wheel protection, so presumably that would cover a replacement.
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      08-15-2013, 12:31 AM   #7
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If you are brave enough
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=749585

Sears was notorious for making your steering wheel crooked. They've done this to my 2007 civic. But, my 335i came off the BMW lot tracking straight with my hands off the steering wheel. I didn't noticed the steering wheel wasn't dead center until the novelty wore off after 2 months. The BMW logo was about 5 degrees pointing left. I used the method above to straightened it out. Now my car is perfect in every way.

I know it is very frustrating and annoying to see a crooked steering wheel, bothered me everyday driving to work, it actually interfered with my ability to back into a parking space straight. Pretty difficult to find a shop that will be meticulous enough to fix your 5 degrees off steering wheel.
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      08-15-2013, 12:54 AM   #8
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The steering wheel offset can be adjusted quite easily, someone is having a lend of you.

I had the same issue when I changed my steering wheel and all they do is adjust the toe, half hour job!

H
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      08-15-2013, 11:25 AM   #9
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@ _bdiddyb_

That has been my exact experience. Everything was fine in the beginning and now, for whatever reason, the steering's off by 5 degrees. And it bugs the hell out of me. I did come across the thread you linked to earlier this week - I haven't read it closely, but it does seems like tweaking the toes should fix it. Whether I can do it myself is another question - but I think at least being armed with the information may help if I ask someone else to do it. Thanks for bringing my attention back to this!

@ HFW003

Yeah. I am not going to give up on this so easily. I'm going to read all the background info and see if one of the shops near my office will undertake this specific activity. Otherwise I know for sure the wheel alignment is fine; in fact I just swapped in a set of Potenza S001s (from Pirelli P7 summers), so all that is left is to get the steering thing fixed.

Will update you guys when I get this taken care of. Thanks again for the suggestions!
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      08-23-2013, 03:59 PM   #10
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UPDATE: Took the car to Auto Innovations in Milpitas yesterday. While they too kind of said that the steering being off center wasn't too bad, they did tweak the alignment to mitigate it. I'm at work right now, but they gave me the data sheet with the various toe adjustments.

I drove the car home yesterday and back to work today. My initial impressions:

1 - The steering is definitely straighter in the neutral position
2 - Borders on going the other way a little, but just barely

They told me to call them if I wasn't completely satisfied - I'll give it the drive home again and then see if any minor adjustment needs to be made.

Those of you with F30s ... do your cars drive completely straight when the steering is centered? Am I just being OCD about this?
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      08-23-2013, 11:30 PM   #11
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your being ocd...completely straight varies by the person looking at the steering wheel. What I think is straight may not be what you think is straight-this is made harder by the fact that the wheel isn't centered with the stalks and the instrument cluster/dash anyway.
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      09-11-2013, 08:46 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PrazVT View Post
UPDATE: Took the car to Auto Innovations in Milpitas yesterday. While they too kind of said that the steering being off center wasn't too bad, they did tweak the alignment to mitigate it. I'm at work right now, but they gave me the data sheet with the various toe adjustments.

I drove the car home yesterday and back to work today. My initial impressions:

1 - The steering is definitely straighter in the neutral position
2 - Borders on going the other way a little, but just barely

They told me to call them if I wasn't completely satisfied - I'll give it the drive home again and then see if any minor adjustment needs to be made.

Those of you with F30s ... do your cars drive completely straight when the steering is centered? Am I just being OCD about this?
My f30 came like that couple degrees to left off centered drives straight at like 11oclock.. Been lazy and havent addressed but will check w dealer
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      09-26-2013, 02:34 PM   #13
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My F30 veers to the right lol. Right from day one with around 12 miles on the dash.
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      10-08-2013, 09:38 AM   #14
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My 328i tracks pretty straight, with the wheel centered well enough that I don't notice any offset. I would definitely have any steering wheel offset corrected. Here's why. The power steering gain varies depending on how far the wheel is off center. Little gain (power assist) when the wheel is centered, and proportionally more assist as the steering gets more off center. So if the wheel is offset a bit to the left, it will take less force on the wheel to turn to the left than to the right. And the right turn-in will feel squirrelly, as the power assist goes from mild to zero and starts ramping up again. That non-linear steering effort is disturbing to me.
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      10-25-2013, 09:53 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PrazVT View Post
UPDATE: Took the car to Auto Innovations in Milpitas yesterday. While they too kind of said that the steering being off center wasn't too bad, they did tweak the alignment to mitigate it. I'm at work right now, but they gave me the data sheet with the various toe adjustments.

I drove the car home yesterday and back to work today. My initial impressions:

1 - The steering is definitely straighter in the neutral position
2 - Borders on going the other way a little, but just barely

They told me to call them if I wasn't completely satisfied - I'll give it the drive home again and then see if any minor adjustment needs to be made.

Those of you with F30s ... do your cars drive completely straight when the steering is centered? Am I just being OCD about this?
My brand new F30 (~1,000miles) has the same issue. Steering wheel is off center by ~5 deg to the left and, yes, it does take less force to move it to the left than to the right. I took the car to the dealer last week and they checked the alignment - found it to be out of spec (? so they claim) and re-alligned. Claimed it fixed the issue. Two days later and the steering is back to where it was. Off center by the same amount. Taking it back to the dealer next week.
A lot of BMW owners probably don't pay close attention to it. I have a feeling it's more prevalent than it is reported. Wonder if BMW's electric steering may have to do something with it.
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      10-25-2013, 01:04 PM   #16
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@Cobu:

At least your dealer is willing to look at it. The 'all our cars are like this' comment still get my blood boiling.

I ended up getting the tie rods adjusted a few times at Edge Motorsports here in the bay area. After 3 sets of adjustments, the wheel is about 95% accurate now. Apparently the front wheels are very sensitive to tie rod adjustments on the F30.

It's good enough that I don't notice so I'm content. Anyway I'm currently being distracted by the 'loose tail light issue' finally rearing its ugly head on my car. The day I got the left one fixed, the right one got loose when I got home lol.
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      10-27-2013, 03:32 PM   #17
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Mine veers verrrrrryyyy slightly to the right, but I lowered my car and I know that I need to have my car aligned. It tracked straight & true when it was stock though.
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      12-28-2014, 08:32 AM   #18
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My car had a very minute alignment issue as well. You couldn't even tell that the steering wheel was a bit off center. However, after 20,000+ miles of driving, the front right tire was severely worn down at the outer edges. It was completely bare for a good inch and a half on the outer edge.

The f30 seems very prone to alignment issues. My parents have the f10 535i and the F06 640i and they don't have any alignment/tire issues whatsoever even with 20,000+ miles.
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      04-06-2023, 03:11 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PrazVT View Post
UPDATE: Took the car to Auto Innovations in Milpitas yesterday. While they too kind of said that the steering being off center wasn't too bad, they did tweak the alignment to mitigate it. I'm at work right now, but they gave me the data sheet with the various toe adjustments.

I drove the car home yesterday and back to work today. My initial impressions:

1 - The steering is definitely straighter in the neutral position
2 - Borders on going the other way a little, but just barely

They told me to call them if I wasn't completely satisfied - I'll give it the drive home again and then see if any minor adjustment needs to be made.

Those of you with F30s ... do your cars drive completely straight when the steering is centered? Am I just being OCD about this?
Please let me know how much the shop costed you get this resolved. I am staying in San Mateo and can visit that shop.
I have a similar issue and whenever I drive my car, the steering feels softer and a little unresponsive on the right turn to 5 degrees and stiffer on the left turn. It kills the driving experience every time I drive the car.
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      04-06-2023, 03:17 PM   #20
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You do realize that this thread is nearly ten years old, right? And Prax VT hasn't been here since July 2022.
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      04-06-2023, 08:00 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
You do realize that this thread is nearly ten years old, right? And Prax VT hasn't been here since July 2022.
This just a spam account ignore it.
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      04-06-2023, 09:06 PM   #22
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I don't see embedded links or thinly veiled advertising that are the usual hallmarks of a spambot.
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