M4 CARFAX shows an alignment at 15k miles... concerning?

[FRZN CS]

A clean CARFAX is like a unicorn, but I found an M4 that looks good on paper except for a couple... yellow flags.

One is that it had an alignment at 15,000 miles. I contacted the (non-BMW) shop who did the work and asked for context. They said all four corners were out of spec and it was realigned, that's it.

Is it just me, or does that seem really odd for a two year old car, at such a low mile interval? It was a lease, so bad camber plate mods seems unlikely.

Anything specific I should look for / ask from the selling dealer? The car was a lease, returned to a different BMW dealer out of state, sold as CPO, then traded in to a BMW dealer in a third state after 500 miles. Unfortunately, it's out of state for me, 1200 miles away. Seems like the CPO inspection after the first owner would have caught anything major??? Maybe...

This will be my first BMW, so I'm a bit unsure what to be on the lookout for, and I appreciate any help.

[henrylee]

Was the car ever lowered?

[FRZN CS]

Originally Posted by henrylee

Was the car ever lowered?

I can only guess not, since it was a lease... but maybe a possibility if the owner put it back to stock before returning it. I assume if it had any mods, it wouldn't qualify to be sold as CPO.

[Theruleslawyer]

Originally Posted by burnoutbird

I can only guess not, since it was a lease... but maybe a possibility if the owner put it back to stock before returning it. I assume if it had any mods, it wouldn't qualify to be sold as CPO.

I wouldn't assume anything because its a lease or CPO other than it was put back to stock to a fairly high level. Mine was CPO and had small traces of mods. Its not like dealers are CSI-BMW.

[FRZN CS]

Originally Posted by Theruleslawyer

I wouldn't assume anything because its a lease or CPO other than it was put back to stock to a fairly high level. Mine was CPO and had small traces of mods. Its not like dealers are CSI-BMW.

Haha, good point. I was thinking more like obvious mods would prevent CPO. But then again, like you said, what's obvious to someone who knows what they're looking at may not be to others.

[TTM0TION]

I’m not sure where you live but it’s pretty standard to get an alignment almost every year where I live And I drove like 6k a year. So I’d have done at least one by then. This goes for daily’s too.

[MDR629]

Wouldn't worry about it. I've aligned a 3 month old Z4 with 1200 miles and it was out of spec. They don't come that well aligned from the factory... Or maybe they do and all the shipping tied downs, etc. changes things.

[Info@mad-us.com]

In my experience bmw alignments are pretty trash. I had to get an alignment miles after having one performed at bmw at their recommendation.

I also wouldn't assume anything because its a lease as our car was full bolt on tuned and full e85.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

this thread is fucking headscratcher.

concern for a alignment.

[N1rve]

Maybe they were taking care of the car and got it aligned? (shrugs)

[ClampThurst]

Originally Posted by Info@mad-us.com

In my experience bmw alignments are pretty trash. I had to get an alignment miles after having one performed at bmw at their recommendation.

I also wouldn't assume anything because its a lease as our car was full bolt on tuned and full e85.

Same experience here, the alignment is usually worse when it comes out of a BMW dealer, particularly when it comes to a centered steering wheel.

[Info@mad-us.com]

Originally Posted by ClampThurst

Same experience here, the alignment is usually worse when it comes out of a BMW dealer, particularly when it comes to a centered steering wheel.

100% find a local place that does alignments for track cars.

[pshep138]

Some shops also align cars whenever tires are put on, or at least try to upsell customers into doing it.

I wouldn't lose sleep.