Alignment After KW Install

[x5joe2013]

Is it a must to get an alignment after a Coilover install?

Interested in your thoughts as I've seen conflicting info on this.

Thanks!
Joe

[RaceTruk]

it is 100% a necessity

[x5joe2013]

Originally Posted by RaceTruk

it is 100% a necessity

Do you know this from experience?

I've heard some say alignment could get way out of sack and others say it's a very minimal issue.

[RaceTruk]

it will 100% be way out of wack.
when lowering you toe will always be different.
you will get excessive inner wear.
i put on springs and didnt even unhook much in the rear, and the toe was very off.
you are unbolting everything in the front.
it will be very out of wack

[mitch808]

When you lower a car, not only will you get negative camber (tops of tires tip inward), the tires will also toe-in, (point inward). At least for the front end. The rear end is simply camber in most cases.

Toe is the biggest killer of tires. Not camber. I could run 3 deg of negative camber and my tires when properly rotated, would still last a very long time. But .5 deg of toe, I'll probably kill half the life of my tires if not more.

That said on an X5, you can adjust camber in the rear, you can adjust toe up front, but you will require parts up front IIRC to change camber. However, camber is a good thing, and under -2.0 on a street car, is just fine. Shoot for 0.0 toe on both sides.

[upstate650]

Originally Posted by joseh_liu

Is it a must to get an alignment after a Coilover install?

Interested in your thoughts as I've seen conflicting info on this.

Thanks!
Joe

you just spent 3K on coilovers. Don't cheap out on a $100 alignment and destroy $1500 in tires in the process.

[x5joe2013]

Originally Posted by upstateX5M

you just spent 3K on coilovers. Don't cheap out on a $100 alignment and destroy $1500 in tires in the process.

Agreed, thank you for the thoughts guys.