Alignment question

[Leafsrule531]

Hey guys - sorry this might seem like a basic question but I just changed my stock shocks and struts to kw coilovers. Do I need an alignment even if my car is driving straight with no issues ? Don’t want to spend extra money if it’s not needed.


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[oceansize]

Hey guys - sorry this might seem like a basic question but I just changed my stock shocks and struts to kw coilovers. Do I need an alignment even if my car is driving straight with no issues ? Don’t want to spend extra money if it’s not needed.


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You need an alignment as much as it stinks to spend that money. Toe could be such that in a week or a month you have no tires which is even worse.

[DoubleSidedTape]

Your camber is likely different because your ride height and possibly front top hats have changed. You can check that to a reasonable degree of accuracy with a smartphone app.

Toe is the important measurement as mentioned, it probably hasn’t changed much, but it’s also not that hard to measure that yourself with some pvc pipe and strings. FCP Euro has a great video on doing a diy alignment: https://youtu.be/IxnK1XE6ZAA

[Tbonem3]

The car going straight is not an indicator of a good alignment.

[Casa de Mesa]

Yeah, as others have said, you absolutely need an alignment.

[jet_dogg]

If you think an alignment is expensive boy are you in for a treat!

[Leafsrule531]

If you think an alignment is expensive boy are you in for a treat!

I’m not saying it’s expensive. I’ve owned m cars all my life and I’m aware of how much maintenance they require and I budget for that. That’s why I was wondering if I could save a few bucks for maintenance in the future. Sounds like I’ll def need an alignment so thanks for everyone’s help and insight!


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[Kdubski]

Yes, you should do an alignment in every car following a repair/mod as such. The entire geometry of the car can change with a slight increase/decrease in height from a worn out component or modification. That means compromised handling, but also expensive tires can wear out quickly!

Go to a good alignment shop that will set camber, toe, and castor. The cheap places (Town Fair Tire) only adjust toe, which is NOT a proper alignment. Camber is significantly affected by ride height differences.

[fattycharged]

^^^ this, you need to go somewhere that will actually make adjustments other than toe

[bigjae46]

If you are at a similar ride height and front camber then you didn't change the alignment much. The front strut mounts aren't as sensitive to adjustment as the rear trailing arm.

Driving straight is a poor indicator. I can make the car drive straight by adding a bunch of toe in which will also kill the tires.

[cobra]

I think alignments are a bit overdone. You can measure camber with your phone. Toe shouldn't change with shock changes?

[FBloggs]

The OP has lowered the car.
camber is now more negative at each corner.
Alignments performed on the E46 attempt to correct camber and toe to factory spec for the best compromise all weather traction, tire wear, and feel for the average punter.
Caster is not adjustable in this scenario.
one cannot adjust any one of the three attributes without having to readjust camber or toe back to the norm.
So the alignment sets this back to an acceptable range.
when you lower the car, you have "adjusted" the camber, so you need to correct the toe, and correct the camber back to spec range if your car is road only and you care about tire wear.

[Casa de Mesa]

I think alignments are a bit overdone. You can measure camber with your phone. Toe shouldn't change with shock changes?

I very respectfully disagree, specifically as it relates to toe. I suppose it all boils down to what your goals are with alignments, but my counterpoint:

There is a sizeable difference in the way the car handles, feels and performs between 0mm total toe, 1mm total toe and 3mm total toe (for example). In degrees, that's respectively 0°, 0.1172° and 0.3222° total toe. Super small variations. But those small variations can absolutely be felt. At 0°, the car will be twitchy. At 3°, the car will be rock solid stable.

Couple that with the heavy lean towards negative camber that most people seem to be running on this forum, the wrong toe will also have a noticeable impact on wear.

[bigjae46]

BMW specs toe in to help the car track straight at the expense of tire wear. You can make the tires last much longer if you put zero toe with stock camber.

Toe creates heat in the tire which is what causes wear. When you add camber, the heat is spread across a smaller area which increases wear.

If there is more camber due to the car being lowered, you get toe out. Unless there is a massive drop in ride height, probably somewhere between zero and Factory toe which IMO is acceptable.

But if it were me, I’d do an alignment after replacing shocks and springs.


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[Tbonem3]

Toe out up front when you go lower and reduce camber, but the rear toes in when it squats.

You set caster first, then camber, then correct toe since camber changes cause toe changes.