Help with Alignment Issue

[markdas]

I have an E46 2003 325i which I bought 18 months ago and although I don't know when the last alignment was done, the previous owner seemed to take pretty good care of it.

I brought it in for an inspection at the end of January and the mechanic had to replace the right lower control arm. Not long before the inspection, the front end of the car would shake when turning slightly at high speeds and this no longer happens after the replacement.

The mechanic didn't do alignments and when I picked up the car, he told me I would need one. My steering wheel was now off center (wasn't before) and my DSC and yellow Brake lights are now always on and as I understand it, the need for an alignment can set these off.

I brought the car in to another indie mechanic that comes very highly recommended and does work on BMW's but he doesn't specialize in them.

After spending about 40 minutes with the car, he called me back and said that there was a problem. He said that he couldn't move the tie rod any further and the alignment was still far off. He was surprised that the steering wheel was off considering that only the control arm was replaced. He said that the tie rods had to have heat applied them to move since they were original so he didn't suspect the previous mechanic touched them.

He told me there was no way to get it aligned the way it was. He said that the inner and outer tie rods needed to be replaced before anything else could happen. He wasn't entirely sure what he would need to do or if replacing them would lead to a proper alignment. After replacing the tie rods he may have to check a bunch of other things before knowing if it worked. His estimate would be about 4 hours of labor and parts (a little over $600).

Has anyone had anything similar happen to them? From reading forums I've seen people have problems somewhat similar but I haven't seen anything where the lights come on, wheel is off center AND tie rods wouldn't screw in further (I know there's a name for this but I forgot -- top out?). If this is what needs to happen, then I'll do it but I'm concerned that the mechanic seemed really puzzled by why the steering wheel was off center and why the alignment was so far out.

If you've run into something similar and have any thoughts, let me know.

Thanks!
Mark

[Joehinvt]

Yes...changing the control arms will ABSOLUTELY change your alignment... AND your steering wheel can be off... I do alignments every day and I recently changed both my lower control arms my alignment was WAYYYY out after.... You're in Buffalo so yea... Your tie rods could be seized... I'm in Vermont and had to heat the hell out of my tie rods to fix my alignment after changing the control arms.... Luckily no lights for me but I aligned it the second the arms were changed....

[jclausen]

Replace the tie rods initialize the steering angle sensor and do the alignment,

[Sapote]

I don't get this. The new control arm should have the same dimension as the stock unit. This means with the new control arm the distance (toe-in and toe-out) from two front wheels at ground touch points should be very much the same as before the replacement. And so after the replacement the thread adjustment on the steering tie-rod should be more than enough to get the toe back to spec. Why the 2nd mechanic said the tie-rod don't have enough thread adjustment and needed to be replace?

Something was not done properly and the suspension geometry had been changed too much.

[jclausen]

You would replace the tie rod if it was frozen and could not be adjusted or the joints were loose. I was under the impression that the tie rods were frozen, is the tie rod frozen? Meaning it can not be adjusted. If you don't know the answer ask then shop. You cant get a longer tie rod assy then what came with the car. If the tie rods are ok and can be adjusted then something is bent in the front end and the alignment numbers would show that