X1 pulls left even after alignment

[tony3series]

My X1 only has 29k miles on it. The car is squirrelly, like it never wants to track straight. I got an alingment hoping it would take care of the problem and it still pulls left. Seems to be worse on the highway, like the higher speed compounds the problem. No extra pull when braking, or accelerating. I have all new pads/rotors in the front. Caliper slide pins have been greased etc. The brake job didn't change anything.

I have attached my alignment specs. It looks like the front caster/camber are different left to right. They said they can't readily change the caster/camber. I believe some people grind out the alignment nub that's stick out in the strut tower to change the caster/camber a bit?

The side to side toe are only like .01 or .02 difference from each other in the front and the rear.

I've also swapped the front tires left to right to see if the pull follows the tires but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have a staggered set-up so I can't really swap front and rear tires.

Do you think I should take it back to the shop and ask them to tighten things up further? Any other suggestions?

[fiehlsport]

Everything looks pretty much dialed in except for front caster. 2º variance between the two sides is a lot.

At my X1's last alignment, the front had 5.8º L and 5.9º R caster. So, it looks like the front left on yours is the problem area. Mine is an M-Sport 35i as well.

Perhaps a bent strut? Loose lower control arm bushing?

The camber is very very close, so I doubt that's where the problem lies. But, more negative camber on the front right will cause the car to pull to the left slightly. The caster definitely needs to be figured out first, though.

[0w40X1]

Yeah, that caster on left can make car turn left easier than right.

My RX8 Mazda has caster like that.

My X1 s28i M Sport has electric steering, but it turned too easy, so I firmed it up with 12mm BMS spacers only on the front.

It's amazing how it got rid of twichyness on hwy.

I have staggered 8x18 and 9x18 on 355m wheels, and the front track was just too narrow compared to back.

[PrematureApex]

I mean, it's a common-practice to run a half-degree less caster on the left vs. the right to compensate for crowned roads, but that a lot of variation there.

Given the crap-soft nature of the stock inboard control arm bushings, it's tough to tell if that's even accurate though.

[tony3series]

Thanks for the replies everyone. This has been driving me nuts. I'm working a lot this week but I will try to check out the control arm bushings when I can especially on the left.

I was thinking about getting spacers or new rims at some point anyway. If I can get the caster/camber sorted out then maybe I'll try the spacers to even out the staggered set-up for better tracking.

[themishmosh]

My X1 pulls slightly to the left as well ie. steering wheel cocked slightly to the right when driving straight. This after two alignments at the dealer. Not so much that it drives me crazy though. I've had my tires replaced recently and it's not that.

[tony3series]

Originally Posted by themishmosh

My X1 pulls slightly to the left as well ie. steering wheel cocked slightly to the right when driving straight. This after two alignments at the dealer. Not so much that it drives me crazy though. I've had my tires replaced recently and it's not that.

That's frustrating, they should have fixed that with the alingment. I think they just need to remove the steering wheel and reinstall it so it's straight while the front wheels are straight.

[MiniMike20]

Same story, alignment is spot on but steering wheel is off center - Need to take it in to have it aligned.

[jaeezzy]

I've this same issue but ironically I started feeling it only after I got the alignment done. I thought I would check the alignment as I had hit the curbs few too many times .. Now, it feels that it happily steers to the left and kinda crooked to the left as well <s'times>. I went to the alignment shop 4-5 times for this and annoyed the hell out of them lol.. manager there took it for a spin as they couldn't believe it He said it's fine so I gave up as well thinking it's just me

[MiniMike20]

Originally Posted by MiniMike20

Same story, alignment is spot on but steering wheel is off center - Need to take it in to have it aligned.

To quote myself, the cause for my off center steering wheel was excessive castor on the front wheels - They adjusted it yesterday on the machine (without touching the steering wheel) and its resolved the issue.

Seems these cars are quite sensitive to alignment issues.

[jaeezzy]

I just found out yesterday that my front left is around 5mm higher than the front right. I've RHD car. I had it sitting in the car space which is pretty much flat and I measured it from the fender through the middle of the wheel. Rear ones are exact height. Last time I was there, Alignment shop told me that X1's front camber and caster can't be adjusted. Just the toe can be changed.

[tony3series]

OK I think I found a simple, cheap solution to my problem. Hopefully this will help some others out too.

It appears you can adjust camber/caster slightly by removing the alignment pin that sticks out of the strut tower. Here's a link to a pretty thorough explanation of how to do this, and the benefits etc.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218440

My alignment sheet says I have:

FRONT CAMBER: Lt.-0.2 / Rt.-0.6
FRONT CASTER: Lt.+4.2 / Rt.+6.4

If I remove the alignment pin on the front left and tilt the top of the wheel in as far as it will let me, I should be able to get an extra .3 to .5 of negative camber. This should (as far as I understand) provide me with more positive caster on the left side as well. Hopefully bringing my alignment closer to neutral.

I am tempted to do both front left & right at the same time because I wouldn't mind having slightly more negative camber and more positive caster on both front wheels. Seems like the car would be more stable that way. Track straighter without as much input from me, better in turns, etc.

Also I found a good simple explanation of all this stuff that helped me understand a little better what I'm dealing with. http://www.souzastireservice.com/tir...icle-pull.aspx

If you read the first link I posted it looks like some BMW owners discovered that the pin on one side of their car had been removed, but not both. I wonder if this is more of a common problem than we think and the solution is to remove one pin or the other to balance the car out. Anyone else have just one alignment pin removed on their car?

[fiehlsport]

Based on the printout above, I don't think you need to touch the camber at this point. I'd avoid it for now, just to change only a single variable at a time.

You need to see if you can adjust the caster, moving the strut towards the front or rear of the car, to match the right side. ~6º caster is correct, the 4.2º on the front left is your issue. Get rid of the pull, then have a shop tweak the rest on an alignment machine if you want to tinker afterwards.

If you can add some caster in your garage on the front left and the pull goes away, you know 100% that the front left caster was the problem.

[tony3series]

Originally Posted by burnout8488

Based on the printout above, I don't think you need to touch the camber at this point. I'd avoid it for now, just to change only a single variable at a time.

You need to see if you can adjust the caster, moving the strut towards the front or rear of the car, to match the right side. ~6º caster is correct, the 4.2º on the front left is your issue. Get rid of the pull, then have a shop tweak the rest on an alignment machine if you want to tinker afterwards.

If you can add some caster in your garage on the front left and the pull goes away, you know 100% that the front left caster was the problem.

Thanks burnout8488, I guess I was thinking caster/camber were inversely related.

When I get a chance I'll try to remove the pin and push the top of the left front strut backward and see what happens.

Thanks again everyone!

(Another useful suspension/alignment info link) https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...e.jsp?techid=4

[fiehlsport]

I really hope it works, looking forward to the result!

[tony3series]

So I finally had the chance to remove the pin and mess with the strut. There is actually a pre-existing slot for each bolt where you can adjust camber but to adjust caster I had to drill some holes. I was conservative with how far I went moving things. Drilled a hole for each bolt and shifted the top of the left front strut back probably just under 1/4". It seems like it helped as the car doesn't pull as hard to the left but it is still pulling a bit to the left. I might have to take things apart again and be more aggressive

[thestimp]

I think uneven tire wear can cause this as well, if the problem has been existing, you've been working one tire more than the other.

[tony3series]

Originally Posted by thestimp

I think uneven tire wear can cause this as well, if the problem has been existing, you've been working one tire more than the other.

The tires were brand new when I bought it and they surprisingly look pretty even all the way around. It's weird. When I get time I'll try and tweak a little more to see if it helps. After that I might end up buying some adjustable camber/caster plates

[nicknaz]

hi, OP, I would check for bent suspension components or worn bushings and other wear/damage before drilling the suspension to move things around to change the caster..... That could have unintended consequences in the future (e.g. introducing weakness into the suspension components)

I would also check for basics like damage to the front left wheel, or missing wheel weights

[tony3series]

Originally Posted by nicknaz

hi, OP, I would check for bent suspension components or worn bushings and other wear/damage before drilling the suspension to move things around to change the caster..... That could have unintended consequences in the future (e.g. introducing weakness into the suspension components)

I would also check for basics like damage to the front left wheel, or missing wheel weights

Yeah you're probably right. Should probably just bite the bullet and take it in one of these days. I had the car inspected by a BMW dealership before I bought it and everything. It's a bummer they didn't catch any problems.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by tony3series

Yeah you're probably right. Should probably just bite the bullet and take it in one of these days. I had the car inspected by a BMW dealership before I bought it and everything. It's a bummer they didn't catch any problems.

Was it the same BMW dealership that was trying to sell you the car?

Regardless, I personally think that most dealer techs breeze through a PPI (similar to what they do to CPO a car?) and don't take the time to really go through it thoroughly, so I'm not surprised that this type of thing went unnoticed, especially if the damage was slight

(similar thing happened recently, when a friend bought by brother's E63... car was pulling a bit, and another shop diagnosed a bend in one of the front control arms... hard to say if that was damage from improper loading by the shipper, or damage that went unnoticed... my guess is that it was missed during inspection)

[tony3series]

Bought it from a non-BMW dealer and paid out of pocket to have a BMW dealership inspect the car. I didn't even notice the pull until I had the car on the highway a few times. So I guess I can't blame them for missing it too. I'll probably take the car to the indy shop I use near me. They usually do a pretty good job