[woof]

I had my car serviced this past week after having new tires installed at a Discount Tire. The dealer was not able to find any all season tires for it (for the past 6 months) and I was near dire need for tires. I had the dealer (Arrowhead BMW in Glendale, AZ) do an alignment. On my previous set of tires, my left front tire had a very strange wear pattern isolated to the outside edge. The inner was worn to the wear bar while the outer edge was worn to the belt. Obviously what I thought was a camber issue.

Well, take a look at the report of the alignment attached. The left front did show up as out of whack and yet they did virtually nothing to the camber to correct the issue. It even states at the bottom that tire wear, handling and safety problems may result. When I asked the service advisor about it, she said that I would need to purchase a camber adjustment kit that would run in the near $1000+ range. I asked that why on a factory vehicle with factory 22" rims that is under warranty and never been in an accident, would I be responsible for something obviously out of spec? She said that if they have to "add something to the vehicle, not just replace something, that is always a charge, warranty or not"

Am I crazy I think this should be covered by BMW? I bought the car, used, when it was 1 year old from BMW of Austin. No third party service, parts, mods etc.

Do I need to talk to a different dealership?

[JimVR4]

Originally Posted by woof

I had my car serviced this past week after having new tires installed at a Discount Tire. The dealer was not able to find any all season tires for it (for the past 6 months) and I was near dire need for tires. I had the dealer (Arrowhead BMW in Glendale, AZ) do an alignment. On my previous set of tires, my left front tire had a very strange wear pattern isolated to the outside edge. The inner was worn to the wear bar while the outer edge was worn to the belt. Obviously what I thought was a camber issue.

Well, take a look at the report of the alignment attached. The left front did show up as out of whack and yet they did virtually nothing to the camber to correct the issue. It even states at the bottom that tire wear, handling and safety problems may result. When I asked the service advisor about it, she said that I would need to purchase a camber adjustment kit that would run in the near $1000+ range. I asked that why on a factory vehicle with factory 22" rims that is under warranty and never been in an accident, would I be responsible for something obviously out of spec? She said that if they have to "add something to the vehicle, not just replace something, that is always a charge, warranty or not"

Am I crazy I think this should be covered by BMW? I bought the car, used, when it was 1 year old from BMW of Austin. No third party service, parts, mods etc.

Do I need to talk to a different dealership?

I'm guessing something is bent and it never was properly aligned from day one.

[eelnoraa]

positive toe, positive caster for front looks reasonable. neutral to slight positive toe in rear is also reasonable. Front camber is OK. that 0.2degree could be a measurement error of the instrument. What bother me is how much rear negative camber is for a street car.

[torso]

In this case the dealer is not right. If the car chassis is not on factory specs (still under warranty) they must replace front axle camber control arms (usually both at the same time) to get front end camber at factory specs. I had a similar case on my ex-X5 F15. You must require that the car is set to be at the factory values. Toe (front and rear) evenly and halfway of the factory values. Rear camber evenly and halfway also. Front camber (left and right) atleast to the ”green zone”.

[woof]

Originally Posted by torso

In this case the dealer is not right. If the car chassis is not on factory specs (still under warranty) they must replace front axle camber control arms (usually both at the same time) to get front end camber at factory specs. I had a similar case on my ex-X5 F15. You must require that the car is set to be at the factory values. Toe (front and rear) evenly and halfway of the factory values. Rear camber evenly and halfway also. Front camber (left and right) atleast to the ”green zone”.

How do I go about this then? Their solution was for me to buy the $1000 camber correction kit they called it. Different dealer? Can I escalate this anyway?

[Hit_Apex]

Originally Posted by eelnoraa

positive toe, positive caster for front looks reasonable. neutral to slight positive toe in rear is also reasonable. Front camber is OK. that 0.2degree could be a measurement error of the instrument. What bother me is how much rear negative camber is for a street car.

I tend to agree with this. The rear is adjustable, I actually prefer that much rear camber as i drive a lot of canyons and know how to adjust pressure to support even wear. The issue with the front is that camber is not adjustable, without this kit (which I'm not familiar with). If toe and caster is in spec, the only way for the camber to be out of spec is by force (hit curb). The degree to which your left front is off is not enough to explain the wear you describe. Actually, the inside wear should be more extreme.

The results you posted, are they after the dealer made adjustments or before? If after, I'd be willing to bet something else was off (ie toe) and you should be good now. Left to right toe variance is much more likely than camber to cause funky wear you describe.

[woof]

Originally Posted by Hit_Apex

I tend to agree with this. The rear is adjustable, I actually prefer that much rear camber as i drive a lot of canyons and know how to adjust pressure to support even wear. The issue with the front is that camber is not adjustable, without this kit (which I'm not familiar with). If toe and caster is in spec, the only way for the camber to be out of spec is by force (hit curb). The degree to which your left front is off is not enough to explain the wear you describe. Actually, the inside wear should be more extreme.

The results you posted, are they after the dealer made adjustments or before? If after, I'd be willing to bet something else was off (ie toe) and you should be good now. Left to right toe variance is much more likely than camber to cause funky wear you describe.

My understanding is the top half of the page is before, the bottom half is after. I just assumed that the red number would produce the wear I saw.

[Hit_Apex]

Got it. I should have zoomed in. I mean, it's technically off and worth pressing the dealer. Not sure I would spring for the kit, but if tire wear doesn't improve that may be an option (versus replacing control arms, linkage or whatever might be bent). It's a tough situation, if the dealer can't charge BMWNA they certainly aren't going to offer to pay. You can always make a warranty claim by calling BMWNA directly.

[woof]

Originally Posted by Hit_Apex

Got it. I should have zoomed in. I mean, it's technically off and worth pressing the dealer. Not sure I would spring for the kit, but if tire wear doesn't improve that may be an option (versus replacing control arms, linkage or whatever might be bent). It's a tough situation, if the dealer can't charge BMWNA they certainly aren't going to offer to pay. You can always make a warranty claim by calling BMWNA directly.

Thanks for the info, I will press a little bit more and then likely just call BMWNA and politely ask for their assistance.

[JimVR4]

Originally Posted by woof

My understanding is the top half of the page is before, the bottom half is after. I just assumed that the red number would produce the wear I saw.

Yeah, it should be possible to bring that camber into specs but that amount probably won't cause premature wear. I ran -1.5 degrees on my sports car for years and didn't have a wear problem. That said, this is a stock suspension in your case and it should absolutely be possible to bring into specs. If not then something is out of spec or bent.

[skyline408]

Negative camber won't produce more outside edge wear. Should be the opposite. Your front camber is barely out of spec and I personally would not throw parts to get that fixed. As for bmw warranty, it will not fly as hitting potholes, curbing your wheels, etc can cause bent suspension components.

[buckybadger]

Something is probably bent.
I had a control arm bent which was replaced.
Everything came in spec after that fix (all green).

[eelnoraa]

exactly, the front camber is only 0.2 degree off. If that is only issue, you won't even see or notice anything at all.

And overall of -0.5 degree camber you won't see uneven tire wear either. For reality check, rear is doing -1.3. If you worry about uneven wear in front, the rear will be many time worse.

I haven't see how G05 front suspend set up. If it is struct front like 3 series, a small amount adjustment is possible without camber plate. If it is double wish bone, I found it hard to believe camber isn't adjustable.

Anyway, is is possible for you to get a independent alignment shop to read out their measurement?

Originally Posted by JimVR4

Yeah, it should be possible to bring that camber into specs but that amount probably won't cause premature wear. I ran -1.5 degrees on my sports car for years and didn't have a wear problem. That said, this is a stock suspension in your case and it should absolutely be possible to bring into specs. If not then something is out of spec or bent.

Originally Posted by skyline408

Negative camber won't produce more outside edge wear. Should be the opposite. Your front camber is barely out of spec and I personally would not throw parts to get that fixed. As for bmw warranty, it will not fly as hitting potholes, curbing your wheels, etc can cause bent suspension components.