After installing H&R sport springs with Koni's its time for a 4 wheel alignment. So here are the quotes thus far:

$tealership: 169.00
Independent: 240.00
Estimated Cost from BMW Buddies: ~100.00

I haven't paid for one of these before. What should this cost? I"m pretty pissed at my independent for quoting it so high. Any help would be great thanks!

Damn! Lisa's 318ti is over at the local $tealer getting an alignment done right now, $79.

NTB is $89.99 with a 6 month warranty

80 to 120 is a fair rate.

240 is insane. . . I can almost get my car aligned and cornerbalanced for that.

Originally posted by Ryan325i
After installing H&R sport springs with Koni's its time for a 4 wheel alignment. So here are the quotes thus far:

$tealership: 169.00
Independent: 240.00
Estimated Cost from BMW Buddies: ~100.00

I haven't paid for one of these before. What should this cost? I"m pretty pissed at my independent for quoting it so high. Any help would be great thanks!

I just paid $230 at the dealership for an alignment, and the car is still not right!:dunno

that is a lot of money. i can see the stealer being a lot, but if bimmer95 can get it for 79, i cant see y u cant either. most places are around the 90 mark and under

right after i put on the bilsteins and springs.....for $60 bucks and they didnt do it right......i know that cause when i got BBS RK's i had it aligned at the stealer for $90 and they did it perfect.....the car tracked perfectly straight.......and felt great.....

i say go stealer for alignment....esp if you car is lowered

I called another $tealer in the area and they quoted me the exact same price. I am gonna call another place. I would rather pay full price and have it done right once. But I still feel that much over $100 is just stupid.

EDIT:

Toledo BMW will do it for $125 but its 45 min each way :(

mine was $99 for 4 wheel.
that's about right...somewhere in that price range.
what you were quoted is crazy:eek:

Be carefuly with indepedent shop because they may not have the right set-up for alignment.
I heard that the BMW alignment can't be done by any shop. BMW has set-ups such as adding weights to the driver/passenger/rear seats ... I can be wrong but I heard it from a guy at Sears who refused to do it when I purchased/installed 4 new tires for my 87' 325 bimmer.

most dealers don't do it that way either.

I know the dealers around here do it for 129-100 for any bimmer.

consider that when I go to most a-hole private shops, they look at the car and say, I'll have to bill you by the hour for that. It's a custom Job."

F- That!

Dealer, they'll do it right...if not, you can pester them to do it again. Private shops will give you the run around.

beware that some dealers don't do their own alignments but send them out to those same private shops.

-Ron

i failed to get an alignment after my suspension upgrade and my front tires took the hit. i dont see just because its a bmw that specialty shops can only get it done.

i just called John roberts BMW in dallas and they quoted me $149 +tax, another european speciality place by the name Autoscope quoted me $113.

Thanks for all the great feedback!!

Rahul - get ready for a new car after your weekend. Bimmer95 and Oxcart installed my xbrace and suspension with as much help as i could provide. All I can say is the car eats corners for dinner.

i went to wheel works...asked for a front end alignment, he said "70, where is ur car?" i pointed at my car, he was like "oh wait..thats gonna be 80" :complain

Originally posted by Ryan325i


Rahul - get ready for a new car after your weekend. Bimmer95 and Oxcart installed my xbrace and suspension with as much help as i could provide. All I can say is the car eats corners for dinner.


i can't wait till i get the suspension done !!!!! i have an autoX on saturday and if i have the shocks/springs/alignment done b4 that i hope to kick a$$ in the autoX :D . plan to do X-brace on sunday as my friend is gonna help me do it, he has a 95 M3 and we ordered the x-brace together - $110 from pacificbmw :)

can't wait !!!!!!!!!!!!!

:stickoutt

later....

Wow here it costs $35 for a two wheel alignment and $45 for a 4 wheel! I guess living in the boonies has some advantages after all. :D Same place also installed my coilovers for $200 for several hours worth of work (and an alignment).

Originally posted by Ryan325i
After installing H&R sport springs with Koni's its time for a 4 wheel alignment. So here are the quotes thus far:

$tealership: 169.00
Independent: 240.00
Estimated Cost from BMW Buddies: ~100.00

I haven't paid for one of these before. What should this cost? I"m pretty pissed at my independent for quoting it so high. Any help would be great thanks!
Call a couple of Auto Repair shops (out of Yellow Pages). Without telling them, what kind of car you got, just ask them- "how much is the 4 wheel alignment".

You CAN deffinetelly find a place for $100 or less.

Originally posted by jb325
NTB is $89.99 with a 6 month warranty


is it OK to get the wheel alignment at places like NTB ??? i dont want to mess up my car just save $40-$50 !!!

Originally posted by Rahul325



is it OK to get the wheel alignment at places like NTB ??? i dont want to mess up my car just save $40-$50 !!!

there's nothing special about an alignment for a bimmer, it's just the quality and accuracy of the work involved. Would you want a BMW trained tech to work on it or a $5 per hour grease monkey?

Originally posted by cly325i
Be carefuly with indepedent shop because they may not have the right set-up for alignment.
I heard that the BMW alignment can't be done by any shop. BMW has set-ups such as adding weights to the driver/passenger/rear seats ... I can be wrong but I heard it from a guy at Sears who refused to do it when I purchased/installed 4 new tires for my 87' 325 bimmer.

This is true, however, other places can still do it. Some of the shops in my area refuse to align BMWs. I have always gone to NTB for new tires and an alignment. They do an awesome job and the car drives great. I can cruise on the highway and take my hands off the wheel and it will go perfectly straight in the lane. Over 120 is just unreasonable.

Alignment is almost an art. Someone could do it and see that numbers are more or less within specs and say it's aligned, or you could spend days on it trying to get the 2nd decimal place balanced between left and right caster, for example. I would suggest going into a few places and talking to them to see how much they really know, how much time they're willing to put in, etc. Of course, if you only care about more-or-less even tire wear, then you can go take it to any inexpensive shop. But the guy might tell you that they couldn't get the car to spec because it's not adjustable...

well i'm going to the $tealer on Monday. I got them to take 10% off. I told them their prices are outrageous based on feedback from around the country. Their response was basically "we don't give a shit." I called 3 other places. Most replied that they didn't have the correct data to do it --- or that they could do camber but not toe.

At least i got my MP3 player installed today :buttrock :redspot

or that they could do camber but not toe
I think more likely, they said they coudl adjust toe but not camber? If they really said camber but not toe, then I definitely wouldn't go to them.