Any Alignment Gurus in the house....

[chefwong]

I've been giving this too much thought...

What requirements do ya'll look for in a shop when doing a alignment.

Is Ballasting a requirement for you or not. (some newer machines have settings AFAIK that take into account no ballasting)

How old or how new the equipment is.
This would go inline with how *calibrated* the equipment is in relation to getting similar reasults if we were to hook up the sensors again....after a test drive ;-)

Just debating on which alignment shop I should go to ....

I've had great results from a particular shop, and I got blown off one day and I have not been back....maybe it was a bad day at the shop, but left a bad note on my end.

Shop 2 I've used. Did not ballast the car or even check tire pressure which I thought was off. Went in after fresh tie rods. Alignement was good, just wasn't quite sure how on point it was bearing the 2 things I noticed (no ballasting of car nor checking tire pressure, or measure ride height)

Shop 3: Old skool dude with some very old skool hunter equipment. Not even sure if it was calibrated within the last 12 years-15 years ;-) Very thorough, just old equipment with paper written results. Ha, I think the computer is still DOS driven. Lasers on the wheels though (not string).....just old school in many ways. 2 post lift, slide supports under the wheels, etc...

How much does calibrating the steering angle sensor come into play ?
In 12 years of visiting independents for alignments, whether it be a John Beam Visuliner or Hunter Hawkeye, I don't believe I've ever asked them how are they treating/calibrating the steering angle sensor (as opposed to the dealership)

[DCC]

I know what a steering angle sensor is, but I don't see how it comes into play for an alignment?
I typically pick the guy that has the knowledge over the latest and most fancy equipment.
If you get one of those young guys who can only read the alignemnt machine screens, I can do the alignment too if they leased me the machine for an hour.

[elh0102]

Well, I don’t know if you have given it too much thought, but probably ample. I can’t give any advice on steering angle, you probably know more about it than I. Regarding ballast, I’ve had a lot of street and track cars aligned both ways, and I’m personally convinced it makes no practical difference. My advice, tire wear and handling performance are the indicators on which you need to focus. And that applies to both street and track applications, although obviously in different proportion. If your tech understands alignment and handling dynamics, it’s a matter of you explaining what you want the car to do differently.

The equipment used by the tech can vary from the newest Hunter equipment to string and manual tools. It’s all in the diligence and competence of application.

[rzm3]

1. BMW standard procedure calls for weights on both front seats and the trunk. It's meant to simulate the weight of the driver and passengers (and perhaps some aero) because these loads change the alignment in 'normal position'. Obviously if you are the only person who's usually in the car there is no need to add the weight of the passenger.

2. Calibration: as someone who's been preached six sigma, obviously calibration is very important. And most shops probably have not calibrated their equipment (regardless how state of the art it is) in a while. This is why many race teams use strings/lasers to align their cars because the string method requires calibration as part of the standard procedure. But keep in mind that most cars have very loose alignment tolerances. M3 has relatively tight tolerances, but it still allows for 0.5 deg difference between left and right camber, which is a lot out of ~1.5 deg of camber.

The string method is also limited in terms of how many things it can measure accurately, usually only camber and toe, while something like Hunter 9700 can measure other parameters related to steering (i.e. lock to lock angle).

BMW's procedure also calls for reseting the steering angle sensor, but based on my experience, unless you are making drastic changes to the suspension/steering, there is probably no need to reset it.

[Mr.Bimmer]

Originally Posted by rldzhao

BMW's procedure also calls for reseting the steering angle sensor, but based on my experience, unless you are making drastic changes to the suspension/steering, there is probably no need to reset it.

When I got my alignment done, I went to a reputable shop but not BMW obviously. Alignment was done perfectly, but I can tell my steeering wheel is ever so slightly off. Had I paid twice as much, I would have taken it to BMW so they can do both the alignment and steering angle. I might do this the 2nd time around.
I think your reference above has to do with what I'm talking about. Maybe I'm wrong though.

[chefwong]

On 2 of mine, it has been off kilter a smigen to the left....with that said, I recall one of the shops I use ( I will take the 1 1/2-2hrs drive to a trusted indy shop), that bmw's tend to have a little left bias....

With that said, AFAIK, the steering angle sensor does interact with DSC, but I have not dug deep enough to see how MUCH the steering angle sensor reset comes into play when doing a alignment. Nor have a gotten a fully qualified answer or info that I've always wondered about the *KDS* system versus a regular INDY alignment rack setup and the benefits of KDS.

My premise has always been that regardless of KDS, while the dealership will just get it in the green, my previous go to alignment guy tweaked it down to the degree ....he was also my go to guy on the track rat alignment which was slightly tweaked off factory specs

[rzm3]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bimmer

When I got my alignment done, I went to a reputable shop but not BMW obviously. Alignment was done perfectly, but I can tell my steeering wheel is ever so slightly off. Had I paid twice as much, I would have taken it to BMW so they can do both the alignment and steering angle. I might do this the 2nd time around.
I think your reference above has to do with what I'm talking about. Maybe I'm wrong though.

The steering angle sensor has nothing to do with off centered steering wheel. The sensor simply tells the car computer what your steering input is to run systems like DSC and EBD. I believe the reset procedure simply zeros the sensor based on the new alignment.

Off centered steering wheel could be caused by a few things, such as improper centering during alignment, uneven tire wear, large delta between left and right alignments, and/or the crown of the road, etc...