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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Wheels and Tires Forum Sponsored by The Tire Rack > Got new tires - Discovered alignment problem.



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      03-19-2012, 08:21 PM   #1
Soliditude
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Question Got new tires - Discovered alignment problem.

So I finally fulfilled my wish of putting on Hankook Ventus V12 Evo tires on my coupe, and thankfully, it made the exact difference in ride comfort as I wanted. "There," I thought, "finally the perfect setup..." But no, but no--there's always some issue as soon as you do something you want to your car.

Basically, my stock run-flats were perfectly fine; the car drove in a perfectly straight line with no alignment problems whatsoever. As soon as a put the Hankooks on and then get out on the freeway, I noticeably see that I need to bias my steering wheel to the right to go in a straight line, while the car pulls left. I called the tire shop back, then called my local BMW dealer and went in to do the alignment that same day.

After the alignment is done, the service guy tells me that all wheels were adjusted into specs except the driver's side front wheel, which they said will not move into specs for reasons they can't determine (nothing is bent, nothing is visibly wrong). Service advisor says it might be a bent strut from hitting a deep pothole or something of the sort (possibly the previous owner), however, because the wheel is only a "1/400 degree" out, it shouldn't be a problem and nothing should be noticeable. And although, after they did the alignment, the car is driving much better, I still have to bias the wheel to the right to a small degree on the freeway.

My biggest two issues: 1, when the freeway goes left, my steering eases towards that direction on its own, and if it's steep enough, I can let the wheel go and the car goes left with the turn by itself--however, this isn't normal, and it doesn't happen when going the opposite direction. And 2, why did this only arise after getting new tires? I swear, none of these issues were there until I got new tires. Why did this happen only after install?

Nobody has given me a clear answer on this yet and I am not too knowledgeable with wheels/tires/alignment to figure out why. Please chip in. I'm trying to figure it out so that my car can be perfect to drive.
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      03-19-2012, 10:56 PM   #2
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Are the new tires wider? Wider tires will tramline more and also be more sensitive to the crown of the road.
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      03-20-2012, 01:10 AM   #3
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No, they are the same width as stock. No specs changed.
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      03-20-2012, 02:44 PM   #4
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I will go in for a rebalance as soon as I'm able to and update on how it affects or unaffects. If anyone else has any ideas, please chip in.
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      03-20-2012, 06:30 PM   #5
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Bump.
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      03-20-2012, 11:17 PM   #6
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Exact same problem. I had a TPMS error, went to Discount Tire to get TPMS replaced and since then has been tramlining like crazy. Went for 600 mile roadtrip and it was scary at times when it started raining. Not sure what went wrong during the TPMS fix. Let me know if wheel balancing fixes your issue.
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      03-21-2012, 01:15 PM   #7
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Come to think of it, they also replaced, or fixed, my TPMS sensors during install. I don't know if that could be the origin of cause, but are you getting the exact same issue of steering as me after it?
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      03-21-2012, 02:45 PM   #8
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Make sure you do not have too much psi in your tires. Too much PSI in my tires did cause me to feel i was driving on oil...

I had a similar issue and a bent control arm was causing the issue for me, but that was many years ago when i was driving a ford and a truck hit my wheel. It hit my wheel only so i had no damage, but i guess it bent the control arm
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