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[SAC335i]

I recently upgraded to 20" wheels. Car seems to pull a little bit to the right. I had an alignment done at Les Schwab. Car seems to pull right if not more than before. WTF! Is thus normal with upgraded wheels or Les Schwab didn't do their job right. I've been so busy at work I had the wife bring the car in and she didn't check the car afterwards. Just wondering if I need to call and have them take a look at it again. Thanks for any feedbacks guys.

[VMRWheels]

It could be the compound/tread design of the tire, tire pressures, or alignement of the vehicle.

I would play around with pressures first to see if it helps.

-Charles@VMRWheels

[335okc]

i got the same problem. although i only got 18" wheels. new wheels + new tires.
my mechanic test drove it after alignment, he said the alignment is perfect now, but tell my tire shop to check the tires with road force "straight-track" feature.
so i went to the tire shop, my tire shop claims that "straight-track" feature is not really a real feature OR that they did it already when they road-forced it. wtf?

anybody familiar with the hunter road force balancer? i watch them do the road force, they rotate 1 tire 180' from the wheels as a result. but is there a straight-track feature that they didn't do?

could it be suspension? struts?

[krnboy817]

steering wheel sensor reset is needed... only dealer does this.

[kevin@bavarianx]

Originally Posted by 335okc

i got the same problem. although i only got 18" wheels. new wheels + new tires.
my mechanic test drove it after alignment, he said the alignment is perfect now, but tell my tire shop to check the tires with road force "straight-track" feature.
so i went to the tire shop, my tire shop claims that "straight-track" feature is not really a real feature OR that they did it already when they road-forced it. wtf?

anybody familiar with the hunter road force balancer? i watch them do the road force, they rotate 1 tire 180' from the wheels as a result. but is there a straight-track feature that they didn't do?

could it be suspension? struts?

We use the Hunter Road-force balancer and it just applies load to the wheel like it would be on the road and does a rotation to measure run out with the wheel and tire. It helps determine the # of weights to put onto the wheel for it to drive straight without any vibrations.

[SAC335i]

Originally Posted by krnboy817

steering wheel sensor reset is needed... only dealer does this.

Thanks for the reponses. I will call the dealership and ask about the steering wheel sensor reset.

[335okc]

Please keep us updated with your result

[BimmerGuyFL]

I have the same issue. I had the original Bridgestone RFT on my 2010 328i sport untill 17k Miles. I just replaced the tires with Continentals non runflats. Before I had many alignments done and the car seemed to always want to track to the right and I had to keep pressure on the steering wheel more to the left. Even with new tires and a "perfect alignment" The car still has a tendancy to want to drigt/pull to the right. I still have to keep more pressure on the steering wheel to the left. Seems to be easier to turn to the right and steer less and harder to turn to the left with more angle applied to make the car move.

Most 3-series I have driven do this. SUCKS!!

[335okc]

i got the conti non runflats too. i wonder if this is a problem with non rft in rft designed car?
maybe it's stickier (mine is 10% wider than stock) ?

[anatoly]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I had the same problem on my 335i.
I have checked the alignment at the BMW dealership, and dealership said it is the tires.
I have replaced the front tires, and - magic - the car is going in a straight line and the pull is gone.
Apparently, it is a known and frequent problem with low-profile tires.

PS: make sure you test your car on the even part of the road. Tilted road would naturally pull your car to the side.

[SAC335i]

Didn't get a chance to call BMW today. But it seems like I'm not the only one wih this issue whether it's on RFTs or not. I didn't pay too much attention to it till I swapped out the wheels. Ill call BMW tomorrow anyways to see what they'll say.

[335okc]

Op, any update?

[SAC335i]

I called and s/w someone at my local dealership and he said he's not sure and will find out and call me back. Haven't received a call yet so I will drive down there tomorrow sine I'm off and find out. Will post once I get an answer from BMW.

[SAC335i]

Just got back from the dealership. They said I would only need to reset my steering sensor if I have active steering option. They can try to calibrate it but it will change my alignment settings so it could be worse. So basically what he's saying is we would have to redo the alignment our way for $180 and it should correct it. I'll take it back to Les Schwab and have then recheck it since they warranty their alignments. We'll see what happens.

[335okc]

i had my alignment done at an indie shop too. they do bmw and they showed me before and after result. i wonder if there is a special spec they're missing?
i did have the dealer align the car 6 months ago, but on old tires and old wheels. i didn't notice the pull then. ( didn't mean it wasn't there, maybe i'm hyper critical at this point )

[335okc]

Op, any luck with the pulling? Good news or bad news?

[Norcal_335i]

Dont let anyone but BMW dealer do a alignment on ur car....trust me on this

[SAC335i]

Originally Posted by 335okc

Op, any luck with the pulling? Good news or bad news?

No updates. Been so busy at work I haven't had time to take it back to les schwab. Will do it today and post updates. Hopefully they can get it fixed. Most likely they're gonna blame the wheels.

[SAC335i]

Well after bringing back to Les Schwab, they checked alignment settings and also x-balanced the front wheels and now it drives fine and hardly pulls right anymore.

[335okc]

Good to hear, did they use weights when they align it? what is x-balanced?

[SAC335i]

They didn't use weights. Guessing they swapped the front wheels.