Help - Wheel alignment woes!!

[lost_4_words]

Just back from getting wheel alignment done on my G reg 318is - and it didn't go well

They said the passenger side front camber is at -2 degrees and the driver's side is at -1 degrees and that the camber is not adjustable on the car so there's nothing they can do to help (?)

Now, when i'm driving the car at 40-50 and take my hands off the steering wheel it moves about from side to side! Has never done this since i got the car and they reckon it's unsafe and needs fixed.

One guy there reckons it's definitively been hit at some point and that it had been deliberately set up incorrectly so it would drive better! and if it was him he would put a new steering rack on it and change the wheels over from back to front?

Other guy says i should contact a bmw specialist as it could be something simple that's bent that's easy fixable.

Hoping you guys could give some advice? Love the car and had been happily driving it for over six months without problem! All this came about cos i got it mot'd last week and it needed a new ball joint.

Don't really want to leave it and keep on driving it as it is if they're saying it's unsafe and bought it cos it was supposed to be such good handling so it kind of defeats the point

Hoping you can offer some advice before i contact a bmw specialist as i don't want to get ripped off or talked into getting repairs it doesn't really need.

help please!

[Martinaston]

Welcome to the Zone,
How did they check the castor ?
Who did it and what ball joint was replaced ?

[E30Mark]

you can buy camber correction top mounts, they are available in +/-0.5 deg adjustment (30min)

Follow the link:-

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... fg=10&hl=5

[lost_4_words]

Hi, thanks for the replies and the welcome

Martinaston - i am up in scotland and it was a place up here that does digital four wheel alignment. Not long back home and driving it again it definitively did NOT do the wobble thing with the steering wheel before i took it in today.

I just checked the invoice and it was the o/s outer ball joint that was done last week.

So does this mean i can get these camber correction mounts and that will sort the problem? sorry i know nothing about cars

[Martinaston]

If they only changed the outer ball joint then i suspect the arms bent as well, it would only have cost a few quid more to do than what i suspect you paid.

Number 4 on here.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=31&fg=05

Does the tread on the front tyrers wear evenly ?

[lost_4_words]

yeah Martinaston no doubt you are right

Also got an advisory for the front shocks when it was mot'd and now i think about it, it's driving much worse since a month or so, stuck bit more air in the tyres which helped a bit, and told em at the mot that i didn't want to be spending money on it so they said it could wait. But now thinking about it don't want to keep driving it like it is for another year! it's bloody awful over uneven surfaces and ruining the drive! Was lowered as well when i got it, suppose should have got the shocks done then

So looks like i need to consider getting shocks done as well in sorting all this out (don't know about the wear on the tyres btw will have a look when i can) but this is gonna mean getting plenty other stuff done as well to feel the benefit isn't it? so is it all gonna add up to mega bucks? love the car and want to keep it as long as poss (as long as i can get this sorted!) but it's done 130k miles so what do i do?

Appreciate any advice you can give one thing's for sure, have decided definitively don't want to just keep driving it as it is.

[Martinaston]

I'd say stick a new tracking arm on it, there about £35-£40 and only a couple of bolts and go from there before changing anything else.

[lost_4_words]

yeah think that sounds like the best thing to do, thanks