Bmw x5 all wheel tracking

[the shreksta]

As I am having 4 new tyres fitted I see it as a good time to get the tracking done.......obviously bmw want an amount for this work that would leave bill gates skint lol

They tell me only they can do it,is this correct?

Thanks in advance

[Greydog]

Simple answer NO BMW are not the only ones who can do it.
Any tyre centre with 4 wheel alignment equipment can do it for you. The X5 can and does suffer with stuck adjustment bolts particularly at the rear. I had read about the issue before taking mine the first time so I got under (well one of my sons did) and gave all the adjustment bolts a good squirt with release fluid 3 times in the week prior. It worked they had no issues and I have had the alignment checked when I change to winter tyres each year.
A note of caution if you have odd tyre wear adjustment may not be the answer I changed the suspension bushes front and rear before the first adjustment as I was seeing the early signs of inside edge wear at the rear.

[Leeg]

Hi, Google "align my car" if you want full alignment, camber/toe/etc, put in postcode and it will give you location of all HUNTER ALIGNMENT CENTRES in your area. You get print out before and after and can see any adjustments made.

[the shreksta]

Thanks guys, just checked and there is a center within 5 miles so will swing round

Cheer

[X5-D-Sport]

Before you spend a small packet doing a 4 wheel alignment, & all the agro involved.
Spend £5 at a motor store & get a digital tyre depth gauge...
Then check all 4 tyres at the    inner-edge / middle / outer-edge...

If the rears are evenly worn.. suggest you leave the adjustments alone.

As per the good posts above, the adjusting of angles at the rear will require lots of bolts & bushes to be swapped out... they will all break as they are adjusted / removed.
If the geometry of the rear is close to nominal or the rear tyres are evenly worn... then I'd leave them alone & just get the front tracking checked only.

[the shreksta]

[quote="X5-D-Sport Salisbury"]
Before you spend a small packet doing a 4 wheel alignment, & all the agro involved.
Spend £5 at a motor store & get a digital tyre depth gauge...
Then check all 4 tyres at the    inner-edge / middle / outer-edge...

If the rears are evenly worn.. suggest you leave the adjustments alone.

As per the good posts above, the adjusting of angles at the rear will require lots of bolts & bushes to be swapped out... they will all break as they are adjusted / removed.
If the geometry of the rear is close to nominal or the rear tyres are evenly worn... then I'd leave them alone & just get the front tracking checked only.
[/quote]

Thanks

It's mainly the fronts I'm concerned about as it pulls slightly to the right and the outer edge is balding. From memory the rear look ok

I will check with a gauge at weekend

[X5-D-Sport]

Shreksta...
Several things worth checking....

Measure the distance from the top of each rear tyre to the arch... it may be that the self levelling is mucking about a bit, causing uneven ground pressure on the opposite diagonal of the Low rear arch side ??

The front camber may me out... its normally set at exactly vertical +/- 1.2 degrees... there is a 1 degree adjustment at the strut top of some models... check for the adjustment by undoing & removing ONE strut top bolt & see if the bolt goes thru a hole or a slot.... if its a slot, then by backing the vehicle on each front corner, loosen the strut top bolts, & ease the strut top bolts in towards the engine to the inner-most position.
This will achieve an additional -1 degrees, leaning the top of the tyre inboard a wee-tad.
It wont effect the drive in any way, but will go a long way to reducing the outer tyre edge getting chewed up.

Tracking is possibly toe-ing in also, and bear in mind that X5's are renowned for shredding the tyre outer edges any way.

I reset the camber on mine AND got a matching set of wider rear wheels/tyres all round...
The tyre scrub ceased & done 25,000 on the current tyre set & still got 5mm all round...
AND
The drive with the matching wheels n tyres is excellent, and much more solid a drive.

PM me for some pictures if you want... and maybe load them on this page ..

[the shreksta]

[quote="X5-D-Sport Salisbury"]
Shreksta...
Several things worth checking....

Measure the distance from the top of each rear tyre to the arch... it may be that the self levelling is mucking about a bit, causing uneven ground pressure on the opposite diagonal of the Low rear arch side ??

The front camber may me out... its normally set at exactly vertical +/- 1.2 degrees... there is a 1 degree adjustment at the strut top of some models... check for the adjustment by undoing & removing ONE strut top bolt & see if the bolt goes thru a hole or a slot.... if its a slot, then by backing the vehicle on each front corner, loosen the strut top bolts, & ease the strut top bolts in towards the engine to the inner-most position.
This will achieve an additional -1 degrees, leaning the top of the tyre inboard a wee-tad.
It wont effect the drive in any way, but will go a long way to reducing the outer tyre edge getting chewed up.

Tracking is possibly toe-ing in also, and bear in mind that X5's are renowned for shredding the tyre outer edges any way.

I reset the camber on mine AND got a matching set of wider rear wheels/tyres all round...
The tyre scrub ceased & done 25,000 on the current tyre set & still got 5mm all round...
AND
The drive with the matching wheels n tyres is excellent, and much more solid a drive.

PM me for some pictures if you want... and maybe load them on this page ..
[/quote]

Thanks buddy, where are you in this great country?

Pics would be great buddy.

What's the widest tyres I can fit front and rear on the std 19 inch rims without spacers or problems etc?

[X5Sport]

Stay with what you have.

[the shreksta]

Yeah think I will stay with std size

[X5-D-Sport]

I think you can go to 325 width in the rears OK as the absolute max on the standard rims...

The advantage of the wider rubber is that you will get to graze the rims... The normal rubber width is 285 I think... which is ideal for this vehicle weight - as X5Sport says - stick with what you have...

You can put matching rear wheels n tyres on the front too, with 8mm clearance of the strut leg & no rubbing on the inner arches...
The drive improves significantly with 4 matching wheels/tyres & you can possible haggle on the price of a full set when you replace the tyres every couple of years.

[Richard137]

[quote="X5-D-Sport Salisbury"]

Tracking is possibly toe-ing in also, and bear in mind that X5's are renowned for shredding the tyre outer edges any way.
..
[/quote]

Thank you for this invaluable piece of information! My LHS Tyre is wearing quicker on the outer tread and I was getting a little worried/paranoid and was seriously considering booking it into my relatively local fout wheel Allignment Centre (Drury Lane Auto £49), I may still book it in, but at least I can put it off whilst I do other jobs on her.