540i wheel & steering alignment...

[CarZee]

My 540 has always (in 28 months) suffered from terrible tyre wear due to poor alignment. Oh and a lead right foot + love of sideways G. But it's the unevenness of the wear that's been troubling me.

I know this because I have all the print-outs from the 3 times I've had the alignment checked (and fixed).

There's no evidence the car's ever been in an accident and I've never let anyone else drive it.

Is this an e39 'thing'? Or is it related to the crappy box-steering on the 540i?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Oh and it's a 2001 M62 4.4, with 17" M wheels and, in said 28 months, I've taken its odometer from 66k to 122k.

Edited by CarZee on Monday 17th August 23:10

[TheEnd]

What kind of wear has it been getting, and what happened on each alignment? did it always need resetting?

[CarZee]

It always needed resetting, but the variances on the pre have been different every time.

I just get the feeling either the car's loose, or there's a few bad suspension components (it handles well), or its simply my aforementioned hammerage that's to blame.

Tyre wear examples:

2 rears to the steel in sub-12000 miles, with DSC always on. Rear toe was fugged. Glad that, when the RAC guy arrived, he needed his 4ft breaker to undo the wheelnuts, because I called him due to my wheel wrench being missing.

Last week, I had the front pair replaced. At that time, the edge wear indicated low tyre pressures, but there hadn't been any air losses from the tyres and they'd been kept at 33psi. I'd say this is just because of my predeliction for lifting off before bends* to set up, and remove understeer, but that's just my 'pub driver' talking.

The important thing is that the front tyres were replaced as a pair, but as of the MOT in June, right front was 2mm, and left front was 5mm.

That Morris Minor steering is implicated in the latter incident.

Asterisk: Is it bad that I use the manual mode of the box to come down to the right gear to launch out of a corner? (you're almost forced to do that in the 540, because you have to load the steering up to have an idea of what's coming.)

Edited by CarZee on Tuesday 18th August 00:10

[madou]

CarZee said:

I just get the feeling either the car's loose, or there's a few bad suspension components (it handles well), or its simply my aforementioned hammerage that's to blame.

What cars have set your expectations ? My E39 540iA Sport Touring is the largest, and heaviest car I have owned so far. It has needed suspension parts replaced, new tyres, and KDS alignment. You could try some where like Wheels in Motion or Center Gravity for specialist alignment

CarZee said:

Last week, I had the front pair replaced. At that time, the edge wear indicated low tyre pressures, but there hadn't been any air losses from the tyres and they'd been kept at 33psi.

I run the factory recommended 36psi front, 41psi rear, wear appears even so far

CarZee said:

Asterisk: Is it bad that I use the manual mode of the box to come down to the right gear to launch out of a corner? (you're almost forced to do that in the 540, because you have to load the steering up to have an idea of what's coming.)

Not bad, I often do this, but manual mode still does not lock out full ( emergency ) kick down on maximum throttle

[CarZee]

madou said:

I run the factory recommended 36psi front, 41psi rear, wear appears even so far

yeah - the tyre place increased all mine to those levels.

Previously, though, I saw wear on the centre sections of the rears at that pressure.

Oh well... we fight on...

[Paul.B]

It might be worth geting all the bushes checked/replaced. Maybe even going for a harder pollybush type rather than OEM. I run an E34 540 track weapon and have Black Powerflex bushes. Maybe a bit harsh for road use but they do a Purple option which are softer. Tightens the steering response up a bit too. Not sure about the E39 but you can adjust the steering box on the E34 which helps, see this thread ... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Also, where did you have the alighnment done? I always go to Micheldever tyres nr Winchester. They have a full laser set up. The guys there know a spanner from a dipstick too!


Paul.B

[Huff]

Drive car hard, wear the tyres, no great surprise

Standard setup will be a compromise to suit wide range of uses. I reckon Paul.B has it - there are some large bushes involved, and if you are driving the car hard they will deform.

L/R front tyre wear won't be to do with the steering box providing basic alignement is correct. Could be simply down to the way you approach L/H bends differently, or cross-weighting, or simply different compliances L/R I guess.

Edited by Huff on Tuesday 18th August 10:55

[CarZee]

Great info all - many thanks

[Podie]

Blimey, it lives...

'zee

[CarZee]

Hello, good sir.

[CarZee]

Paul.B said:

Also, where did you have the alighnment done? I always go to Micheldever tyres nr Winchester. They have a full laser set up. The guys there know a spanner from a dipstick too!

I use a local branch of Merityre these days - it's local, prices are competetive, and I get a discount when I drop my indy service guy's name.

That said, the monkey who did my alignment last week didn't fill me with confidence. I had to go back to the workshop and guide him through the software to find my model (E39 V8 Sedan, MSport suspension, apparently). If the car was debadged, I'd probably forgive this.

Re the alignement, though, the computoh said no before and yes afterwards, according to the laser alignment read-outs.

[Paul.B]

If the car is a keeper it may be worth looking at a rebush all round. Not just for tyre wear but to tighten up the handling generaly. Fast Road Powerflex are about £180ish. The harder track biased ones were about £270ish. Then there is fitting costs if you don't do the spanner work yourself.

Paul.B