[O HELLA BMW]

hey everyone, i have a 2008 335I E93 with active steering. i purchased a brand new set of KW V2 coilovers and will be getting them installed soon. My question is after i get the coilovers installed and let them settle for a week or two. im hearing that i need to go to a bmw dealership to get it aligned properly? meaning they have to use special equipment most indy shops wont have.. is this true?


any feedback is appreciated!!

[Hooy]

Suscribed. I need to know too.

[O HELLA BMW]

i know someone has to have answers lol

[TurboBimmer]

Hi,

Your car will need to be realigned immediately after the coilover install. That has nothing to do with active steering (which I have on my car).

However it's not necessary to have the suspension aligned one more time after the suspension has settled a few mms.

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by O HELLA BMW

hey everyone, i have a 2008 335I E93 with active steering. i purchased a brand new set of KW V2 coilovers and will be getting them installed soon. My question is after i get the coilovers installed and let them settle for a week or two. im hearing that i need to go to a bmw dealership to get it aligned properly? meaning they have to use special equipment most indy shops wont have.. is this true?


any feedback is appreciated!!

The alignment is one thing - any competent suspension shop can do that and it should of course be done after installing a completely new suspension.

However, the second question is whether the lowering of the car due to the coilover has put the steering wheel sensor out of whack (which is not particular to active steering). That happened to me and some others here on the forum - that means that after the install and upon firing up the car again, all traction control, power steering, active steering and ABS will not be working and you get a whole christmas tree of warning lights on the dashboard and the nav screen. The only remedy (to my knowledge) to that is to have a BMW dealer recalibrate this sensor (costs a couple hundred EUR).

However, this does not happen systematically so you may be lucky and won't have to do that, if the lowering of the car is still within the tolerances of the steering wheel sensor.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[domrep]

Definitely don't need to get an alignment from BMW. ^sensors is another story like Alpina said, but it's pretty rare that it will happen.

[dyezak]

I would actually advise against going to any dealer EVER for any alignment. The reason is that dealers do an "In the green..." alignment. What that means is that they put the car into factory specs which includes alignment slop. So on an e92 for example the front camber has a factory spec of +.25deg down to -.25deg of camber. A sloppy dealer could give your car back with camber being missmatched by up to .5deg. Since it's still within factory parameters it's a "good" alignment.

Second, dynamic weight has a major effect on your alignment. I went to get my last car aligned after my new suspension went on it and the shop I took it to was kind enough to show me this on their Hunter Laser alignment system. They set the car on the rack, hooked everything up, and showed the current alignment on the screen. They then gave me a 5lb weight to go sit on my driver's seat and come back and look at the screen. Camber and Castor both changed...FROM 5lbs!!

So they had me sit in the car during my alignment so my weight was taken into consideration, they also had me bring the car in with exactly 1/2 tank of gas too for this reason. Then after 1.5hr on the rack I had a perfect alignment, no slop on any measurement and accounting for my weight.

I got out of the car, and my 170lb self leaving the driver's seat caused the alignment to change +1.1deg of camber on the front left and -.6deg camber on the front right.

Go to a real alignment shop...they will do it right.

[O HELLA BMW]

Crap now I'm rethinking if I want install my coils!!!

[dyezak]

Originally Posted by O HELLA BMW

Crap now I'm rethinking if I want install my coils!!!

Why? Just get it aligned after the install.

[O HELLA BMW]

bump

[ShyGuy]

Does active steering need to be reset after alignment? When I lowered my car, prior to alignment the steering was actually pretty tight and solid. However after doing the alignment, steering input seems to be delayed. During high speed corners the car is very floaty and there is a delay before the car reacts to my steering inputs.

[subieworx]

Originally Posted by dyezak

I would actually advise against going to any dealer EVER for any alignment. The reason is that dealers do an "In the green..." alignment. What that means is that they put the car into factory specs which includes alignment slop. So on an e92 for example the front camber has a factory spec of +.25deg down to -.25deg of camber. A sloppy dealer could give your car back with camber being missmatched by up to .5deg. Since it's still within factory parameters it's a "good" alignment.

Second, dynamic weight has a major effect on your alignment. I went to get my last car aligned after my new suspension went on it and the shop I took it to was kind enough to show me this on their Hunter Laser alignment system. They set the car on the rack, hooked everything up, and showed the current alignment on the screen. They then gave me a 5lb weight to go sit on my driver's seat and come back and look at the screen. Camber and Castor both changed...FROM 5lbs!!

So they had me sit in the car during my alignment so my weight was taken into consideration, they also had me bring the car in with exactly 1/2 tank of gas too for this reason. Then after 1.5hr on the rack I had a perfect alignment, no slop on any measurement and accounting for my weight.

I got out of the car, and my 170lb self leaving the driver's seat caused the alignment to change +1.1deg of camber on the front left and -.6deg camber on the front right.

Go to a real alignment shop...they will do it right.

I have never seen more than .2* change upon adding weight to any car. Typically on a right hand drive car there will be a .1* increase in neg camber on the right front and .1* decrease in neg camber on the left. The rear is often unaffected. If your car changed 1.1* something is wrong.

[Dinan_Bimmer]

Originally Posted by O HELLA BMW

hey everyone, i have a 2008 335I E93 with active steering. i purchased a brand new set of KW V2 coilovers and will be getting them installed soon. My question is after i get the coilovers installed and let them settle for a week or two. im hearing that i need to go to a bmw dealership to get it aligned properly? meaning they have to use special equipment most indy shops wont have.. is this true?


any feedback is appreciated!!

PerBMW:

On cars with active steering (AFS) the steering angle sensors must be aligned using the BMW diagnostic
system via the service function (SBT)
has to be done.

[nitehawk]

Originally Posted by ShyGuy

Does active steering need to be reset after alignment? When I lowered my car, prior to alignment the steering was actually pretty tight and solid. However after doing the alignment, steering input seems to be delayed. During high speed corners the car is very floaty and there is a delay before the car reacts to my steering inputs.

Bumping this.
Wondering if anyone with active steering has had their car aligned at an indy shop without issues?
Can active steering be reinitialized/reset with INPA?

[blacknbean]

Originally Posted by nitehawk

Bumping this.
Wondering if anyone with active steering has had their car aligned at an indy shop without issues?
Can active steering be reinitialized/reset with INPA?

havent had my active steering done at a non dealer yet, but INPA can reset/reinitialize the sensor setting.

[Projekt_BooGie]

I was told, by the bmw tech, the AFS automatically adjust once you lower or raise the vehicle. The movement of your headlights is determined by the steering angle sensor. So any COMPETANT shop can do your alignment, there is nothing that have to be reset.

[MrRager]

Originally Posted by Dinan_Bimmer

PerBMW:

On cars with active steering (AFS) the steering angle sensors must be aligned using the BMW diagnostic
system via the service function (SBT)
has to be done.

if you think BMW dealerships do this for every alignment they do your smoking. trust me, i used to be a bmw tech. only time you reset the steering angle sensor is if you replace it or the car loses the center point and throws a light for it

[nitehawk]

Originally Posted by MrRager

if you think BMW dealerships do this for every alignment they do your smoking. trust me, i used to be a bmw tech. only time you reset the steering angle sensor is if you replace it or the car loses the center point and throws a light for it

Some have also reported to they were able to get rid of the codes/lights by turning the wheel lock to lock several times.

[Red_Bean_Bun]

Really ? .................

[MrRager]

Originally Posted by nitehawk

Some have also reported to they were able to get rid of the codes/lights by turning the wheel lock to lock several times.

this is true. but it doesnt always work that way