Hi peeps!
I hesitated a long time before creating that post because I wanted to have as much information as possible before starting the guessing game. I still can't find a satisfying conclusion, so here is the story:
'04 BMW M3 e46 convertible, got it at 110k miles roughly with stock suspension. When I drove it back home, there was a shacking in the wheel at 65mph+ and it felt like it pulled to the right.
1 - Went for a tire balancing, realized the front left tire irregular wear (spotted during PPI) created the shacking and impossible to correct with a balancing. Bought two new front tires, matching the rear: Continental ExtremeContact DWS. This fixed the shacking problem but didn't change much to the pulling to the right.
2 - Went for an alignment after that to a reputable shop in LA (The M Shop), and the shop struggled with the caster on the front right. Obviously you can't adjust that with a stock setup so what you have is what you get. The mechanic didn't find any damaged part that could explain that and brought up the idea of a hit on the car that could do that. It did fix the pulling at fairly low speed, but not at a higher speed. For the first time though, I started feeling like on some highway segments, the pull would be to the left which lead me to wonder if the setup wasn't just overly sensitive to the road camber (tram lining I believe it's called).
3 - Called the previous owner (who was the first and unique owner until I bought it) to see if he forgot to say something. He told me he did encounter a fender bender and to look at the documentation he gave me - which indeed mention the work from a body shop, except that it was for the rear part of the car, not the front. He said recalling someone pulling back into the front of his car at some point over the 16 years of ownership, which he says was minor but couldn't remember much more. I also found while looking into the documentation the last alignment he did in 2016 and it showed very similar results as the work done by the M Shop.
5 - Had the car checked by a detailing guy to bring back it's former glory, and he did notice the front right looks redone - inconsistent paintwork quality from hood to quarter-panel, guessed new front bumper and headlight. That confirmed a hit, but hard to really say what consequences it could have had/may have.
4 - Changed the full suspension because it was old and shot (switched to Koni front and rear + Eibach springs), work being done by Kaiv in SD who also checked the front to see if visually anything would come out as damaged, explaining the pull. The suspension got upgraded and while doing so, nothing abnormal came out of the visual inspection.
5 - Brought the car for another alignment, this time to Bavarian Workshop in LA area. They worked on alignment to match the lowered setup and apart from the rear trailing arms being out of adjustment, they told me it was good to go. I took the car a ride and still noticed the pull to the right, but on the rare segments where the road camber is to the left, I'm pretty sure it pulls left too. I called to ask a bit of feedback and they believe the tires are most likely the reason why the car is tram lining so much.
At this point, it can quickly become a money pit if I keep chasing it, and maybe it isn't even anything to "fix" and just a feature of the tires or else. But I'm left guessing and unsatisfied. Maybe that will ring a bell for some of you who use the same tires or setup, or maybe it'll bring some ideas about where to look. Either way, I'd appreciate some feedback!
Cheers and stay safe during the craziness going on!
I hesitated a long time before creating that post because I wanted to have as much information as possible before starting the guessing game. I still can't find a satisfying conclusion, so here is the story:
'04 BMW M3 e46 convertible, got it at 110k miles roughly with stock suspension. When I drove it back home, there was a shacking in the wheel at 65mph+ and it felt like it pulled to the right.
1 - Went for a tire balancing, realized the front left tire irregular wear (spotted during PPI) created the shacking and impossible to correct with a balancing. Bought two new front tires, matching the rear: Continental ExtremeContact DWS. This fixed the shacking problem but didn't change much to the pulling to the right.
2 - Went for an alignment after that to a reputable shop in LA (The M Shop), and the shop struggled with the caster on the front right. Obviously you can't adjust that with a stock setup so what you have is what you get. The mechanic didn't find any damaged part that could explain that and brought up the idea of a hit on the car that could do that. It did fix the pulling at fairly low speed, but not at a higher speed. For the first time though, I started feeling like on some highway segments, the pull would be to the left which lead me to wonder if the setup wasn't just overly sensitive to the road camber (tram lining I believe it's called).
3 - Called the previous owner (who was the first and unique owner until I bought it) to see if he forgot to say something. He told me he did encounter a fender bender and to look at the documentation he gave me - which indeed mention the work from a body shop, except that it was for the rear part of the car, not the front. He said recalling someone pulling back into the front of his car at some point over the 16 years of ownership, which he says was minor but couldn't remember much more. I also found while looking into the documentation the last alignment he did in 2016 and it showed very similar results as the work done by the M Shop.
5 - Had the car checked by a detailing guy to bring back it's former glory, and he did notice the front right looks redone - inconsistent paintwork quality from hood to quarter-panel, guessed new front bumper and headlight. That confirmed a hit, but hard to really say what consequences it could have had/may have.
4 - Changed the full suspension because it was old and shot (switched to Koni front and rear + Eibach springs), work being done by Kaiv in SD who also checked the front to see if visually anything would come out as damaged, explaining the pull. The suspension got upgraded and while doing so, nothing abnormal came out of the visual inspection.
5 - Brought the car for another alignment, this time to Bavarian Workshop in LA area. They worked on alignment to match the lowered setup and apart from the rear trailing arms being out of adjustment, they told me it was good to go. I took the car a ride and still noticed the pull to the right, but on the rare segments where the road camber is to the left, I'm pretty sure it pulls left too. I called to ask a bit of feedback and they believe the tires are most likely the reason why the car is tram lining so much.
At this point, it can quickly become a money pit if I keep chasing it, and maybe it isn't even anything to "fix" and just a feature of the tires or else. But I'm left guessing and unsatisfied. Maybe that will ring a bell for some of you who use the same tires or setup, or maybe it'll bring some ideas about where to look. Either way, I'd appreciate some feedback!
Cheers and stay safe during the craziness going on!
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