On 29 Jul 2018 08:53:43 GMT, Scott Dorsey wrote:

And this, in short, is why you go to an alignment shop with an alignment expert
instead of to the tire store.

This is good advice.
I think Vic Smith said it well when he said not to go to the "franchises".

The problem, for a kid, like I was, is that the franchises are what are
advertised the most. For example, I can still rehears the AAMCO advertising
jingle even today, almost 40 years later.

I have to admit the only three franchises (is Sears a franchise? Probably
not.) that screwed me a
a. AAMCO (they had to be liars because it was motor mounts)
b. MIDAS (they literally did everything wrong on mounting tires)
c. Sears (they charged me for an alignment they never did)

You can't really blame me for *trusting* them, since I'm sure millions of
people trust them (I mean, it's not like I went to a local crack dealer to
get my car fixed, nor that I went to a tire shop to get a transmission
replaced).

But your advice is still valid not to trust them.

You are lucky that they didn't do the alignment, because the tire store has
some high school kid who has been given basic directions to put the car up
on the machine and follow the directions the machine gives him.

I agree with you that they don't even ask how you drive when you ask for an
alignment, where, for example, I have to tell them to decrease the rear
camber from negative 2 degrees to as close to zero as they can get - which
is based on my driving style (I drive like an old man) and my care about
tire wear (I rotate bimmer tires even though BMW doesn't recommend it).

He really
doesn't know anything about the suspension geometry, but relies entirely on
the machine to do the job. He doesn't check anything for wear, he doesn't
check anything for damage or being bent, he just follows the machine.

I agree with you also, in that *most* alignment shops, even today, that I
called, do NOT add the 500 pounds of weight that BMW says is needed to set
the ride height to the "normal" position (lots of detail I'm omitting).

The only shop that I called, out of something like a dozen, that does use
the weight, is the dealer themselves, and they do use the weight every time
(it's not exactly 500 pounds but it's close enough because you put about
that much in the vehicle until you get the ride height to the "normal"
number of inches).

Only then are the numbers that BMW provides accurate.

NOTE: I don't know if Hunter *compensates* for lack of ride height or not.
(Clare might know more.)

If nothing is damaged, loose, bent, or worn, you drive away with the alignment
better than it was when you drove in. If that's not the case (and it likely
isn't, otherwise you wouldn't be getting an alignment anyway), then you drive
away with the alignment made worse.

I agree that alignment has two different situations:
a. When you suspect something is 'bent, and,
b. Just checking periodically (to ensure nothing got loose).

Next on my list is alignment at home, where I'm only talking the very few
things you can change by simple adjustment, which, for example, on the
bimmer, is front toe and that's it for the front (sans adding aftermarket
camber plates).

For the rear, it's toe and camber and that's it.

IMHO, after having thought of this problem for years, the real issue is the
mental effort of figuring out how to convert BMW degrees of toe to
centerline to something that you can measure in inches.

Camber, on the other hand, is easy to measure, but you need to get your
level away from the tire bulge, which you *can* measure in degrees, but
only if you can reliably keep the level away from the sidewall bulge and
still perfectly parallel to the wheel.

If you measure by inches, e.g., if you use a plumb bob, then you're stuck
doing trig again.

So of the six jobs almost nobody does at home, the alignment check is the
one that makes the brain hurt the most - which is why - I think - nobody
does it at home. (I could be wrong - but that's what I think unless someone
can give me their reason - which can't be that you need $100K of equipment
so please do not say that because it's just dead wrong and yet I've heard
it a thousand times).

Why don't most people periodically *check* their alignment at home?
(I think the answer is that it makes the brain hurt to figure out how.)