car sways

[funtoos]

hey all,
i just bought stock style 54 rims from a guy on this forum.. they are 16'... i have a 92' 325i which had 15s.. yesterday i replaced the rims with the 16s... since they had tires on them i simply took mine old ones out and put the new ones on.... however when i was driving to work today, the car felt like it was swaying from side to side... meaning if i m going on a straight road, the car would move left to right like sideways while still going straight... the tires don't have a much thread left on them but its not like they are bald....

what do u think is the problem? is it the tires? the rims? or suspension? it don't think its the suspension bcuz it didn't do that yesterday when i had the old rims on...
lemme know your thoughts...
thanx

[BMWBeauty416]

only time I had anything like that was in my land rover and on one of the wheels the lug nuts weren't torqued down all the way and were letting the wheel wobble
hope maybe that helps, thats a really sucky feeling in a car I know!

~*Teg*~

[Cruzin 323is]

its your allignment!!! or the thred left on the tires... check to see if the tread wear is unusuall... its 1 of the 2... get the allignment changed first.. then new tires!!

[mankiks323i]

ahhh when you replace tires from another persons car the tires are worn to a point were they are set with the alignment on the other persons car because your car alignment is set differently and the tires are not put on the correct sides this will cause your car to behave in a manner were it will "track" or "Sway" every way except straight. Buy yourself some new tires.

[funtoos]

thanx guyz... sort of a relief to know thas what it is... had my tie rods recently replace and cost me a good 300... i didn't want something similar again... tire rack has contis for 260/4... so thas not bad...
thanx again

[Delmarco]

Originally posted by Cruzin 323is@Aug 27 2004, 11:47 AM
its your allignment!!! or the thred left on the tires... check to see if the tread wear is unusuall... its 1 of the 2... get the allignment changed first.. then new tires!!

I think I have a problem with my alignment. The guys at Strauss Auto Zone told me that my wheels were slanted-bottoms outward/top inwards and they couldn't do an alignment only BMW dealerships/specialists can align the E36 cars. It sounds expensive. But are the telling the truth or should I risk alignment elsewhere?

[bitcore]

Originally posted by Delmarco+Aug 28 2004, 06:40 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Delmarco @ Aug 28 2004, 06:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Cruzin 323is@Aug 27 2004, 11:47 AM
its your allignment!!! or the thred left on the tires... check to see if the tread wear is unusuall... its 1 of the 2... get the allignment changed first.. then new tires!!

I think I have a problem with my alignment. The guys at Strauss Auto Zone told me that my wheels were slanted-bottoms outward/top inwards and they couldn't do an alignment only BMW dealerships/specialists can align the E36 cars. It sounds expensive. But are the telling the truth or should I risk alignment elsewhere? [/b][/quote]
this is bullshit. My mechanic did my alignment just fine.... They probably dont have a manual for BMW's so they dont want to bother with them. Go to a shop you can trust. Otherwise, you can just go to the dealership.
If they say they can't do it, then forget them and look for another mechanic.

[funtoos]

yeah... those guy r bullshitting u... when i had my tie rods replaced, my mechanic did the alignment for me...
also i see that u r in the ny/nj tristate area... if you have time try autosport in englwood... these guyz know their stuff... all the cars in their garage seem to be worth a total of 2 millions dollars... like four 911 and an audi rs6 and buncha a mercs and beemers...
their number is 2018160911...
they charge about $125 for a four wheel alignment on a e36 and the dealer by my place charges about $140... no matter where u go, make sure not to get it done at strauss auto... they suck....

[VeLoCiTy318]

Originally posted by Delmarco@Aug 28 2004, 03:40 PM
I think I have a problem with my alignment. The guys at Strauss Auto Zone told me that my wheels were slanted-bottoms outward/top inwards and they couldn't do an alignment only BMW dealerships/specialists can align the E36 cars.

r u saying u have negative or positive camber on ur tires? if u hav either, no shop wil be able to properly align your car if u hav any camber.

[rmxpete]

As I found out this is called tramlining!, definatly do a realinment, but if that doesn't change anything, how wide are your tyres? wider than 225/45, even some BMW will still tramline with these tyres i would probably go for a really good 215/45
that is if the alinment doesn't work

[Delmarco]

Originally posted by funtoos@Aug 28 2004, 11:28 PM
yeah... those guy r bullshitting u... when i had my tie rods replaced, my mechanic did the alignment for me...
also i see that u r in the ny/nj tristate area... if you have time try autosport in englwood... these guyz know their stuff... all the cars in their garage seem to be worth a total of 2 millions dollars... like four 911 and an audi rs6 and buncha a mercs and beemers...
their number is 2018160911...
they charge about $125 for a four wheel alignment on a e36 and the dealer by my place charges about $140... no matter where u go, make sure not to get it done at strauss auto... they suck....

Thanks. I'll check them out.

[funtoos]

the new wheels i put on are 16"... the tires came with it and they r old.. the tire size is 205/55 contis...
this started happening after i put them on...

also i other thing i noticed was that every time i hit a bump or so when i m goin 50+ the steering moves like as if i have no control... the wheels seem to be ok in that they are better than what i had before as far smoothness goes... but then this freakin sway thing and now the control loss when goin on bumps is kinda scarying me...