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Thread: Shop drilled out suspension alignment pin hole

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    118
    My Cars
    E91 335i

    Shop drilled out suspension alignment pin hole

    Hello everyone,

    I drive a lowered e90 BMW 335i. I have about 13.0 inches from wheel center to top of front fender. I tore through some DWS06 rear tires in 16K miles of not-so-aggressive driving, so I moved to a square setup to reduce my tire cost and get a wider contact patch in the front. I installed 245/40/18 BFG Sport Comp 2 AS after purchasing wider 18x8.5" style 162's for the front.

    On the drive home from the tire shop I realized that just the front right side rubbed against the fender. I raised the front of the vehicle to 13.25 inches (center to fender) and took it to a Firestone to get another lifetime alignment. I wanted to see if more camber would get the rubbing to stop.

    I go to school hundreds of miles away from home, and have had no problem with the Firestones up there. They take my lowered vehicle in without a fuss and don't have any issue with requests. I don't ask for specific values, just something like "I'd prefer more camber than before this time." They've always been happy to do so and provide me with a report that matches what I ask for.

    These tires got installed at home, so I could not go to my usual place. This first Firestone told me they could not get their alignment machine to fit my car. The machine grabs around the tire and won't fit through the gap, so they suggested I find a Firestone with the old alignment fixture. I found another Firestone that had a Hunter alignment machine and the old rim-style mounting points.

    The service manager was very nice and pleasant, but was not sure if they would be able to accommodate the custom request. He brought the technician out to talk. The tech initially objected. He claimed that people that get lifetime alignments are the kind of people that slam their cars into walls in *local city that has a race track* and come back to get more alignments. He went on about he once did a Maserati that took him 5 hours. He was pretty adamant that if I wanted a custom alignment the service manager should charge me for 3.8 hours of labor and make it a one time thing. After the tech left the service advisor apologized and noted that he saw that a different Firestone did it for me. I told him that the other alignments I got took fewer than two hours from drive in to drive out. The service manager said he would call my usual Firestone to "See how they dealt with it" and would honor the lifetime agreement if he didn't expect any issues. I left the car with them and got a call about two hours later that the car was ready for pickup. In retrospect, I probably should not have left the car with that tech, but I needed to drive about 1000 miles the day after and didn't want to ruin my new tires or my fender.

    I came back and the tech tells me that the alignment pin got stripped and he had to drill it out. This doesn't make too much sense to me because front strut mount was replaced this year when the coilovers were installed. I hate the sound of drilling things out, but I wanted to be informed before I start complaining. The hole for the pin in the chassis is no longer round. I think anyone drilling out an aluminum pin in an attempt to remove it should know to use a small drill bit and an extractor instead of damaging the frame. How bad is this? What should I do next? I'm about to drive a thousand miles in this thing. If I have access to another car, is there a reason I shouldn't take my BMW?
    pin1.jpgpin2.jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    ATL
    Posts
    164
    My Cars
    '91 325i
    Aside the fact that he did a shit job of drilling, there is absolutely nothing wrong with removing the alignment pin. Its there for the factory to do a nicer job, but as you lower or modify the car, they often are required to be removed to get a nicer alignment.
    Also, it can almost always be either broken off with pliers or knocked down with a punch.
    Harrison Motorsports
    Motion Control Suspension
    Daytona M3

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