E46 330Ci Coupe - Tracking Problem?

[LC23]

Hi All

I hope you can help. I have a 2001 330Ci Sport Coupe. Until a few weeks ago it drove as straight as a die, no pulling left or right and everything perfectly lined up. I then noticed it started to pull to the left so I figured the tracking must be out (I have had the car over a year and never had the tracking checked so thought it was about time).

I took it to a well established local tyre supplier who checked the front tracking only and the car came back from there worse than it was before they looked at it. The car would only go in a straight line with the steering wheel quite a way over to the right. After the fourth time of returning (within the space of about an hour) their response was "we can only check the front sir so if the rear wheels aren't aligned there isn't a lot we can do".

So I then took it for a full wheel alignment the next day to a different place and although that did rectify the problem to some degree it still pulls to the left and will only go in a straight line with the steering wheel slightly pulled to the right (although not as bad as it was after the first garage looked at it). I am taking it back tomorrow for them to take another look at it to hopefully sort out the problem but I'm not holding my breath.

I know this may seem quite a minor issue but the car was perfectly set up until a couple of weeks ago and to me it spoils the enjoyment of driving it to a certain degree where I know something is wrong. So I suppose the questions I have are;

Has anyone else had this problem and is the E46 really that difficult to sort the tracking out on?

Could it be something else that is affecting the geometry of the car (I have checked tyre pressures and they are fine and although I don't believe the balancing would affect it, this also seems fine as there is no steering wheel "shake" at all)?

Am I going to have to just swallow the cost and take it to BMW to look at if it doesn't get rectified tomorrow?

Any help/comments are appreciated.

[doodlebug]

Check your tyres are OK. Had exactly the same on my E36 328. A full front suspension rebuild didn't fix it - replacing the front tyres completely cured it.

[LC23]

Thanks Doodlebug. I've just come back from the garage and although they have done a complete recheck on the alignment it still seems the same. The tyres currently on the car look OK at the moment (seem to be wearing evenly across each tyre/no major splits or cracks in them). I'll have to look at changing the fronts (the rears weren't put on that long ago) and see what happens then.

[Slurms]

Had the brakes checked? A Caliper could be sticking..

[LC23]

That's a good point. The car is due a service soon so I'll ask them to specifically check that (although I would hope the brakes would be checked anyway when I take it in!).

[buffly]

Sounds like a tyre issue to me... Are you running on origional wheels rims?, because this can make a huge difference to how a car drives.

[LC23]

Yeah everything is standard so it's got the 18" M Sport alloys.

[wantmorepower]

If you're in the London area, especially North Lon / Herts / Bucks, the place to go for a high end tracking adjustment is Northway Tyres in Colindale, utterly professional and with the best kit I've seen.

I have virtually the same car as you and take mine there every 6 months even if nothing seems too awry although I'm certain that the Islington (spit) speed humps, which are the type that don't go all the way across the road but only part way, are responsible for upsetting the camber (seem to add positive camber - i think that's the correct term: where the wheels are further out at the top than the bottom) as this is the error that always seems to need correcting.

Worth noting that there are multiple dimensions of adjustment on BMWs for tracking (many simpler cars only have toe-in/out) and not all garages may be equipped for adjusting all of these (an additional problem to the one you describe about one place being unable to adjust the rear). A BMW dealer will charge you £200 plus for this service but I've never paid more than £95.

[LC23]

Thanks very much for this. This isn't too far from me and should only be a half hour drive early Saturday/Sunday morning. It looks like the only way I am going to be sure it's nothing to do with the geometry is to have a full check; and yeah, I went to BMW for a quote on this and they wanted to charge me over £200!

[wantmorepower]

Would do it ASAP, I would assume if something's out it's going to be transferring physical forces to something else and causing faster wear

It's on the A5 (Edgware Road) but don't think it's open on Sundays. Obviously saturdays are their busiest days, find out what time they open and be there at opening time is my advice...good luck!