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[Jeepster]

Currently been to 2 shops to get alignment still seems to be off. Car seems to drift left & right slightly. When going over any bumps passenger say seem like rear tire on passenger side is shaking a little. I assume this is the time to bring it to BMW ? I also have active steering.

[Bulldog 6]

I thought it I had an alignment problem and it was the stupid run flats.

[dave herzog]

I just had mine aligned, and i still feel that it pulls to one side... When you guys have the wheel _exactly_ straight, what happens? If I held mine completely straight on, 6 to 7 seconds later I'd crash into the left guardrail.

How did you know it was the run flats?

[dave herzog]

had mine done at the dealer, so hopefully they checked pressures and set ideally..

[lpphreakx06]

Re-balance the wheels/tires/

[claykin]

Could simply be radial pull.

Also when allowing tire shops to align, make sure their alignment machine has your car in its computer including the active steering option. The good alignment machines will tell the operator exactly how to set it up to properly align. Make sure the guy working on your car understands how to use his equipment. If you talk with him and he doesn't give you the answers you expect, move on to another shop. Or just go to the dealer, assuming your dealer has a modern aligner and a good tech. Most do, but some still use older equipment that isn't so good.

[Jeepster]

Finally got the car align at BMW driving around city alignment seems fine. Driving on the highway car alignment seems to be off, feel like the car is drifting left & right again, not sure if its coming from rear. Problem is becoming frustrated thinking about trading the car in.

[tolkino]

Also check if the wheels are bent.. that may cause the problem

[dave herzog]

is everyone's wheel EXACTLY straight when you're driving straight on the highway? or is it slightly turned to the right? thanks.

[Thunder Dump]

There are three things most people forgot about when trying to see if their alignment is straight.

1. Road crowning: even the flattest, straightest road is not actually flat. The road is pitched away from center in both directions to allow for water runoff. If your alignment is set perfectly dead center and you drive down a straight road and take your hands off the wheel, it *should* gradually drift right in the right-hand lane and left in the left-hand lane as it follows the crown of the road.

2. Tire abnormalities - Even with a car that is perfectly aligned with perfectly balanced tires, there is still a chance that a car will "pull" to the left or right. This can be caused by out-of-round or not true steel bands in the tires. These defects can't always be detected in the manufacturing process and the tire may balance true *in the air* (tires are balanced with no load on them), but once load is applied and the belts take the weight of the car, they may set not completely true and cause a tire to pull left or right. If you swap tires on the same axle and the pulling goes from one side to the other, this is usually the cause.

3. Tire pressure - Extremely mismatched tire pressure side to side, front to rear, or even on one corner can cause a car to pull in a certain direction. With TPMS now standard this is less of an issue than it had been in the past. However, always make sure your pressures are correct and matching before troubleshooting alignment problems?

[Jeepster]

I have to admit THANK YOU all for the help, appreciate it car drive ALOT better since i adjust tire pressure all around.

I did a few pulls on the highway and the car drift right but not often, left seems to be ok. I notice what the problem might be, all around aftermarket wheel size is 225/40/18. But on the driver rear tire is Nankang Ultra Sport NON RFT and the other tires are bridgestone rft, since tire pattern is different, will that be the problem for the car to pull to the right ???

[RedDinan335i]

Originally Posted by Jeepster

I have to admit THANK YOU all for the help, appreciate it car drive ALOT better since i adjust tire pressure all around.

I did a few pulls on the highway and the car drift right but not often, left seems to be ok. I notice what the problem might be, all around aftermarket wheel size is 225/40/18. But on the driver rear tire is Nankang Ultra Sport NON RFT and the other tires are bridgestone rft, since tire pattern is different, will that be the problem for the car to pull to the right ???

All of the previous advise was based on an assumption that you were at least running on matched tires. That is obviously your problem. Put some new tires on!!!

[lonestar22]

unless u have brand new tires, your car is going to pull the same way it did before the alignment. just slightly less. the tires have a wear pattern in them from before, it only takes 20miles of driving for a tire to form this wear pattern

[AlanAZ]

But on the driver rear tire is Nankang Ultra Sport NON RFT and the other tires are bridgestone rft

You really don't want to mix RFT and non-RFT. Period.

Not that I've tried, but others have documented the problems, and it makes sense given how strong the sidewalls of a RFT need to be.

One solution is to buy a Bridgestone RFT tire, of the EXACT same model (there are 3 with similar model names) with the same amount of tread as the one on the other side from Ebay. One without any patches or repairs. There are lots of these Bridgestones for sale there.

Or replace both rear tires. But stay with RFT of the same performance category as the fronts.

And secondly, Nankang. Probably the cheapest tire out there, with a name. I won't trust it.

[BimmerGuyFL]

bump