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      04-20-2021, 11:10 AM   #1
LYTSOUT
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Weighted alignment...is this important?

I'm getting my F80 aligned this week following installation of the MP HAS. The indy Bimmer specialty shop owner (who used to work at a dealership) claims that BMW specs require weights in the car during alignment. Something like 150 lbs in each front seat and 100lbs in the trunk. I've never heard of this and I couldn't find much about it when I searched.

Is this really a thing that's important, noticeable, necessary, etc? Common sense suggests to put 150lbs in the driver seat only and then adjust ride height, and then align it like that b/c most of the time I'm driving by myself. But if there's solid rationale to do it with all that extra weight I guess I can be talked into doing it that way.

So are y'all doing weighted alignments or not? And if you do, how much weight and where in the car??

This the most comprehensive answer I found on the subject, but honestly the importance and results of this seems a little exaggerated.
https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/t...-think.527028/
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      04-20-2021, 12:37 PM   #2
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I was told they put 200 lbs in the drivers seat for the alignment.
Might be one of the techs taking a break.
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      04-20-2021, 01:04 PM   #3
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Yes, the dealership should put weights when performing alignment. They can also stipulate a full tank of gas too. They can also do it without any weights. Its just a selectable setting on the alignment machine.

Now the most important thing is how much work the technician wants to put into the alignment. The ranges are pretty wide. You can have one side thats -1.2 camber and the other side can be -1.6 and it will be green(within spec). A good alignment would be to match the camber/toe so both sides have the same or close to the same measurement(depending on adjustability).

Matching each side is much more important than performing the alignment with weights.
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      04-20-2021, 03:39 PM   #4
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IIRC our hunter alignment machine specifies to put weights in the front seats/back seats/trunk(close to 400 lbs total I believe). I’m sure most Indy/dealers don’t do that.
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      04-20-2021, 08:05 PM   #5
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Well, it is an indy shop and he's doing it. He's also aligning everything individually as I specified (-2.5 camber each side with zero toe in the front, etc).

The questions I'm really wondering about are:
1) Does this [seemingly counter-intuitive] addition of multiple weights throughout the car really matter and/or is it really ideal?
2) Is there any downside to not doing it, i.e., should I just have him put 150lbs in the driver's seat only and go from there?
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      04-21-2021, 02:09 AM   #6
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Weights are used to “simulate” the suspension dynamics at high speeds. We’ve had customers request to sit in the driver seat while we align their vehicle so you could do that. 0 toe in the front is fine if you don’t mind tracking on the highway.
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      04-21-2021, 07:53 PM   #7
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Yes, it's recommended to do... will you probably notice if it's not done? prolly not...

The previous comment about how much effort the shop will put into the alignment is a totally valid point. I've started to DIY my own alignments at home and boy is it a major pain in the ass. I totally get why some shops will just 'get it close' cuz sometimes it feels like you're chasing your tail.
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      04-22-2021, 04:28 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LYTSOUT View Post
I'm getting my F80 aligned this week following installation of the MP HAS. The indy Bimmer specialty shop owner (who used to work at a dealership) claims that BMW specs require weights in the car during alignment. Something like 150 lbs in each front seat and 100lbs in the trunk. I've never heard of this and I couldn't find much about it when I searched.

Is this really a thing that's important, noticeable, necessary, etc? Common sense suggests to put 150lbs in the driver seat only and then adjust ride height, and then align it like that b/c most of the time I'm driving by myself. But if there's solid rationale to do it with all that extra weight I guess I can be talked into doing it that way.

So are y'all doing weighted alignments or not? And if you do, how much weight and where in the car??

This the most comprehensive answer I found on the subject, but honestly the importance and results of this seems a little exaggerated.
https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/t...-think.527028/

Probably doesn’t make an enormous difference.
However, the fact that this shop is “doing it by the book” indicates that they are going to take the time and effort to do things properly. So IMHO you are likely to get a good result. Probably going to put more effort into it than 99% of shops out there.
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