[MaxRulz]

Hi. My steering wheel seems to be off center. I took it to the dealership and they did an alignment on it to fix it. After the alignment it was just as bad as before. They’re telling me it’s normal.
What are your thoughts? And suggestions on a fix.
My car has 2,500 miles.

[GrannyShiftG80]

I had the same thing took it to a dealer they did alignment and no difference

Took it to another dealer told them the first dealer didn't make any difference. The second alignment fixed it except now I'm out 500 bucks out of pocket

[MaxRulz]

Originally Posted by GrannyShiftG80

I had the same thing took it to a dealer they did alignment and no difference

Took it to another dealer told them the first dealer didn't make any difference. The second alignment fixed it except now I'm out 500 bucks out of pocket

Unfortunately I don’t have another dealership around here, but I’ll try an independent shop tomorrow and hopefully have better luck there.
Thanks!

[fanofbmwe46]

Exactly the same with mine. I didn’t notice it at first so I figured it happened when I had front springs installed. I kinda doubt that’s what caused it because so many others have reported this. I had an alignment done (and redone) lol, but eventually they fixed it. Very very slight tie rod adjustment will fix it.

[MaxRulz]

Originally Posted by fanofbmwe46

Exactly the same with mine. I didn’t notice it at first so I figured it happened when I had front springs installed. I kinda doubt that’s what caused it because so many others have reported this. I had an alignment done (and redone) lol, but eventually they fixed it. Very very slight tie rod adjustment will fix it.

Good to know! Cheers!

[kjx]

Alignment doesn’t guarantee that your steering will be perfectly straight. Sometimes alignment causes this problem where none existed before. I’ve seen this on 3 unrelated BMWs - most recently on both my current BMWs at the end of last year. Had to take both in a second time and had the tech drive the cars around with me. Minor tie rod adjustments afterwards perfected the centering. It was very hard for the tech to grasp it while he was driving the M4, but eventually he did sense it very slightly and corrected it within 5 minutes of returning to the dealership.

The follow up checks cost $0 each time as I reported being unhappy with the outcome pretty quickly. It was 2-3 days on the X5. It was some 2 weeks later on the M4 but they didn’t charge me anything for the M4 either (I was prepared to pay). The 2 weeks was because I wasn’t sure myself if there was a problem or not - it took me a while to decide there was.

Also for the M4, the tech told me to ask for him if I wasn’t perfectly happy with it. Didn’t have to go back. Great service.

[anthony16r]

I have the same problem.

I took my 2024 M3 to the dealership at around 260 miles, they performed an alignment and then gave me paperwork that says they made alignment adjustments "to customer satisfaction", even though they did not even have me test drive the car before printing that paperwork and telling me the car was ready. The issue was not fixed.

I reached out and asked for them to let me know in advance what they suspect the problem to be and what the troubleshooting steps would be. All I got was basically "we'll figure it out". I went back around three weeks later to get it looked at again the same day I got my break-in service done. This time the foreman went on a test drive with me. It took a few minutes and some convincing for him to even recognize that there is an issue. He played with the front toe and after two rounds of adjustments it felt mostly fine.

A week later the issue is very apparent again, and I am realizing that the paperwork from the second visit completely omits the work related to this issue, it only mentions the work related to the break-in service.

I am now trying to get paperwork retroactively printed for that second visit and figure out what the long term fix is. This has ruined my new M3 purchase experience to be honest.

Anyone have any insight into the suspension components and whether the toe goes out of alignment easily on these cars?

I am trying to figure where the issue actually lies, i.e. is the toe simply misadjusted, or is it actually related to a different component and we are using toe adjustments to compensate for it.

[MaxRulz]

Update:
I took the car to Big O and had them do an alignment. It’s not 100% perfect, but it is 99.99% and I don’t think they would be able to get it much better.
Here is the printout of the alignment. The top is the alignment when I arrived at Big O and after the dealership did the alignment yesterday, the bottom is after Big O performed the alignment.

[Needsdecaf]

Buddy of mine just got a G87 M2 recently. He had port installed MPerf. HAS. His steering wheel alignment is also off, slightly to the left. He took it in for an alignment and it didn't get fixed. Going to have it looked at again when it goes back for break in.

Is this a common issue?

[SwankPeRFection]

Originally Posted by MaxRulz

Update:
I took the car to Big O and had them do an alignment. It’s not 100% perfect, but it is 99.99% and I don’t think they would be able to get it much better.
Here is the printout of the alignment. The top is the alignment when I arrived at Big O and after the dealership did the alignment yesterday, the bottom is after Big O performed the alignment.

You should take that to the dealership and get your money back for the alignment they performed.


FYI, for everyone else. Dealerships (for these types of manufacturers) now use a level based steering wheel lock for alignment and the problem with that is level based alignment tools like that can be thrown off center by a rack/lift that’s not perfectly level or even, dare I say, a super fat/heavy tech who’s throwing off the measurement as well. Techs are trained to center the wheel by this stupid level instead of using their eyes or even feeling the back of the steering column with their fingers against the back edge of the steering wheel hub cover and centering with that and then also checking against alignment with the wipers/signal stalks, etc. All these things should be checked to make sure the wheel is perfectly center because these guides can be used on some cars, but not all. If I ever get an alignment, I always ask the tech to make sure these things are meticulously checked or to just let me center and lock the wheel in place myself. The techs that actually give a shit and have attention to detail don’t ever miss something like this.

[marashka]

Had the same issue. Took it to a proper alignment shop. They corrected it along with rest of the alignment. These cars come off the boat with terrible alignment.

[forcefed]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Is this a common issue?

There's many incompetent mechanics out there so yes, if they don't centre the steering wheel properly then you'll have this issue.

[calbears]

Originally Posted by anthony16r

I have the same problem.

I took my 2024 M3 to the dealership at around 260 miles, they performed an alignment and then gave me paperwork that says they made alignment adjustments "to customer satisfaction", even though they did not even have me test drive the car before printing that paperwork and telling me the car was ready. The issue was not fixed.

I reached out and asked for them to let me know in advance what they suspect the problem to be and what the troubleshooting steps would be. All I got was basically "we'll figure it out". I went back around three weeks later to get it looked at again the same day I got my break-in service done. This time the foreman went on a test drive with me. It took a few minutes and some convincing for him to even recognize that there is an issue. He played with the front toe and after two rounds of adjustments it felt mostly fine.

A week later the issue is very apparent again, and I am realizing that the paperwork from the second visit completely omits the work related to this issue, it only mentions the work related to the break-in service.

I am now trying to get paperwork retroactively printed for that second visit and figure out what the long term fix is. This has ruined my new M3 purchase experience to be honest.

Anyone have any insight into the suspension components and whether the toe goes out of alignment easily on these cars?

I am trying to figure where the issue actually lies, i.e. is the toe simply misadjusted, or is it actually related to a different component and we are using toe adjustments to compensate for it.

Violet Blue M3, I remember you. I can send you a DM for more details, but we'll make sure you're satisfied with the alignment

[Lupeskew]

Originally Posted by kjx

Alignment doesn’t guarantee that your steering will be perfectly straight. Sometimes alignment causes this problem where none existed before. I’ve seen this on 3 unrelated BMWs - most recently on both my current BMWs at the end of last year. Had to take both in a second time and had the tech drive the cars around with me. Minor tie rod adjustments afterwards perfected the centering. It was very hard for the tech to grasp it while he was driving the M4, but eventually he did sense it very slightly and corrected it within 5 minutes of returning to the dealership.

The follow up checks cost $0 each time as I reported being unhappy with the outcome pretty quickly. It was 2-3 days on the X5. It was some 2 weeks later on the M4 but they didn’t charge me anything for the M4 either (I was prepared to pay). The 2 weeks was because I wasn’t sure myself if there was a problem or not - it took me a while to decide there was.

Also for the M4, the tech told me to ask for him if I wasn’t perfectly happy with it. Didn’t have to go back. Great service.

Good to hear they took care of you. Which dealership did the work for you? In Seattle or Fife?

[kjx]

Originally Posted by Lupeskew

Good to hear they took care of you. Which dealership did the work for you? In Seattle or Fife?

BMW Bellevue because they had service coupons on alignment ($100 or less iirc).

BMW Seattle never messes up alignment but they are super backed up and charge a lot of money ($200 for M4, $400 for X5 - I just said lol, no thank you for the X5).

I moved all my service to BMW Bellevue because they are much closer and I can get an appointment for tomorrow if I wanted. Instead of a month away for Seattle.

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by kjx

BMW Bellevue because they had service coupons on alignment ($100 or less iirc).

BMW Seattle never messes up alignment but they are super backed up and charge a lot of money ($200 for M4, $400 for X5 - I just said lol, no thank you for the X5).

I moved all my service to BMW Bellevue because they are much closer and I can get an appointment for tomorrow if I wanted. Instead of a month away for Seattle.

Bellevue is a nicer area anyways.

[RichardGM4]

I had exactly the same on my G82 M4CX when I collected it from the dealer in Jan 2022. Took it back, they test drive it on the motorway and confirmed it was not aligned / centred and sorted it out there and then.

Also, I was also given a loan car when mine went in for it's RIS (loaner wasn't an M car but a new demo car from the dealership) and that also had a misaligned steering wheel.

Fuck knows what they're doing in the QA department in Germany...too busy playing with their Lederhosen by the look of it.

[vetteflier]

Canted steering wheel is never correct. Any competent alignment shop, dealer or independent, should be able to center it perfectly. Alignment can be correct, but wheel still off center. Wheel can be adjusted without impacting alignment however.

[FC4]

I would never waste my time at a dealer for an alignment, not even with my higher end cars. Find a proper performance shop.

[nalnass]

Same here. 24 G82 with slight alignment issue to the left. Figured it was from being dragged on top of a car truck halfway into the country.
I assumed they tie the car down to the truck via some part of the suspension but I have no clue

[MT6]

Ok I got an alignment today with an oil change and steering is a bit crooked

But the car is driving straight

[SwankPeRFection]

Take it back. They didn’t lock the wheel at the proper location. Again, the tech will probably tell you their steering wheel lock has a level in it. It’s off. Every time they use one of those and not their eyes and brains, it’ll be off.