09W211

Been a while since I've been here but the car has been turned back to stock since and is hardly driven. The car has now been to 2 different alignment shops and has gone through 2 sets of front tires in 3 years and maybe 10k miles per set. Both alignment shops, one of which just installed a brand new hunter alignment machine at their shop (unsure of which model) have put the car on their racks without being able to cure the alignment issues after multiple test-drives and after 4-5 alignment attempts. At first I thought I was experiencing radial pull since the car was pulling excessively to the right but that wasn't the case. One shop is claiming that it's because I raised and lowered the car so many times, which I call BS on since it was lowered once, then raised back to stock. I also had a friend put the car on his lift and inspect the control arms, end-links, rods, etc. and he said nothing seems out of the ordinary.

I'm out of ideas here...any suggestions?

bbirdwell

Mileage? May be time for replacement of the thrust and control arms (new ones with pre-installed bushings and ball joints), tie-rod ends, upper ball joint, and the lower steering knuckle ball joint. I also replaced the rear bushings and control arms (airmatic code 489) and then calibrated the entire airmatic suspension.

Initially, my car would align but only get 9000 miles on a set of tires. Replaced all of the above at 100K miles and the next set of tires went 36,000 miles (and I could have stretched that to 40K).

09W211

I gave the car to my mother so I don't drive it anymore, but I think the mileage is somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90k miles. Are those parts typically worn out by 80-90k miles? I had a 2004 530i that had 110k miles with no suspension issues whatsoever. My father has a 2005 VW Touareg with 110k miles and doesn't seem to have any issues either. I know they're all different cars but if they're typically wear and tear items around that mileage then I should probably have all the high mileage cars in my family inspected.

Thanks for the info!

95viper

F1Fan

I am sure the suspension components are worn out. In the front, I would start with the control arms, spring control arm, and ball joints both upper and lower. In the rear, you might be able to do just the bushings and save money there. That should get your suspension back into the ballpark for alignment. If you do replace the suspension, might as well also do the stabilizer bar links. Easy to do and not expensive.

ps2cho

The alignment specs are worthless. If the tires are getting wrecked, the bushings are moving on load. Align it all you want, it just moves when the weight shifts. Front bushings are usually done for every 80-100k.

95viper

ptkacik

For wheel alignment, first off, how did the tires wear out? Was it front or rear; inside shoulder wear or outside shoulder wear? The wear determines what you need.

Some things like front camber have a small adjustment and there is no adjustment in the rear. That is just how they were designed. Typically, negative rear camber wears out the inside rear shoulders. The wear depends on how much hard acceleration you do. A lot and they wear fast. A little and the wear is very slow. Ask me how I know.

Toe (toe-in) will wear out tires very fast so it is always very adjustable front and rear.

Good luck,
Peter