XSeries-forum

boo hoo  :no:

anyways, long story short, tried to get alignment done when i noticed, at a formula 1 auto centre today.

they 'tried' to give the car back with toe corrected but still negative camber outside recommended range.

is that normal? do tyre centres only adjust toe and not camber?

When they check your tracking at tyre centres, they only normally check the tow in and that's it. The garages that offer 4 wheel alignment check all the geometry, even the rear wheel  alignment rake etc. X5's tend to scrub off the tread on the inside edge due to the geometry set up for better handling, but it wears out the inner edge of the tyres. Some report having 5 mm on the outer edge and down to the cords on the inner.

Exactly that, but they charged £89 for 4WD alignment.

'Toe only' was news to me and I wasn't ready for that, with inside edge wearing out plus X5s known to have negative camber by design. So I was particularly insistant that it wasn't even more negative camber than specified. It was -2.2 degrees and the range is 1 to 2 (I think)

Anyways they put the car up again and did camber too a second time around.

Keen to avoid in future, need to find somebody else..

Hi

Mine always wear on the inside edge on the rears.  I use a very reliable tyre fitter and have done for years.  He reckons that he sees it on most X5s he has in. He also said that the more aggressively you drive the more it will wear the inside rear edge.

Cheers

Steve

[quote="jaynana"]
Exactly that, but they charged £89 for 4WD alignment.

'Toe only' was news to me and I wasn't ready for that, with inside edge wearing out plus X5s known to have negative camber by design. So I was particularly insistant that it wasn't even more negative camber than specified. It was -2.2 degrees and the range is 1 to 2 (I think)

Anyways they put the car up again and did camber too a second time around.

Keen to avoid in future, need to find somebody else..
[/quote]Had that prob I keep checking my replacement tyres,I did have Rear drop/arm os bottom bush replaced prior to new tyres,but also another post has stated there are two other bushes that can go!!! And give the same problem with tyres!!

Camber when adjusted brought it back to within range. So bushes were good the bods just hadn't adjusted camber had only adjusted toe.  Doesn't help though that the range is -1 to -2deg! Which means inner wears faster than outer.

Their Theory was that the major contributor towards wear on the edge is toe. Which is prob correct. But camber def. Needs to be within range.

Camber was set excessive negative from factory to provide better grip.
No regard to tyres as that is a "if you can afford this car you can afford new tyres every 6 months!!" sort of thing.

Read a lot about getting camber as close to zero as poss and you wouldn't notice too much difference unless you are the type of looney that does F1 driving around town??

you notice it a lot more on the 20" wheels as theyare a lot wider but the others can also show signs.

have you noticed that in F1s the rears are not visibly negative. possibly even at zero. fronts are visibly negative camber.

but in the X5s the fronts are possibly zero but rears are visibly negative.

could be due to the differences in the whole cars setup and therefore the likelihood for under/over steer?

I've been through this while problem

When I bought my X5 (2004 plate E53 3.0 D Sport) I looked at the tyres and they seemed fine at around 5-6mm. However , I didn't get down on my arse and check the inside edges. When I got home with the car I saw they were down to the cords (the independent dealer who sold the car second hand dint want to know of course)

Given the cost of a pair of 19inch rears I've always kept on top of wheel alignment. Absolutely must be done by a garage with four wheel drive alignment. Not that I use KwikFit but I know for example that my local KwikFit cannot do 4 wheel drive alignment. My local independent tyre dealer can. And they dotn charge to check - only charge if it needs done. So I get it checked twice a year at least (one after winter crap roads and once after offroad driving in Scottish isles on holiday

The guy there did say they do tend to sit that way and the more you push it the more the car 'squats down' under harsh acceleration and exacerbates the problem. But is is no problem for them to adjust and get it back in. I keep the printouts each time to see the variation over a period of time and hwo much it moves

Smee

Can you not swap the wheels over from side to side to get the most out of your tyres? I used to do this on my old front wheel drive cars. Would swap the fronts with the backs.

[quote="Rossco0506"]
Can you not swap the wheels over from side to side to get the most out of your tyres? I used to do this on my old front wheel drive cars. Would swap the fronts with the backs.
[/quote]
Tyres are directional, and different size front and rear, so ain't an option.

Can you fit none directional to the fronts  only, just thinking long term as my N/S
Front is wearing on the outer edge,


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[quote="malc1950"]
Can you fit none directional to the fronts  only, just thinking long term as my N/S
Front is wearing on the outer edge,
[/quote]

Yes - some winters are non-directional. Just a case of finding a 19" wheel that is non-directional.

U possibly can find non-directional tyres but The 'long term' really is ensuring that wheel alignment is fixed.

Hard as it is - even for me on my rears..

I Had 4 wheel alinement check done around 6mth ago, but I never took the tread depth so I could compare the wear later on


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