Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Charlotte, NC
    Posts
    51

    Alignment suggestions

    To align one of these cars to BMW spec you must have 150 lbs. in the drivers seat, passengers seat, in the rear seat, 46 lbs. in the trunk and a full tank of gas. I have lifetime alignment through Firestone and they don't have the weights. Prior to my ZHP I would normally just have a full tank of fuel since it is normally just me in my car but I kinda want to do it the right way. Thoughts? Should I worry about all the weights?

    Also, I was going to buy all the weights for him in exchange for the free lifetime service. True weights are tough to find for anything less than $.50/lbs even on craigslist. Any other suggestions? I obviously want something that is not messy as I am pretty particular about my car and what it may be exposed to. I have thought of sand bags (leaks), 5 gal bucket with concrete (too bulky). I have also though about tractor weights which are kind of tough to find around Charlotte as it is relatively commercialized.

    Thanks

    Edit: Weights stated are approximate as they are being recalled off the top of my head.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Ocean County, NJ
    Posts
    7,273
    If a place doesn't have the equipment/ballast to do it the right way, I would personally just take the car to a dealer or indie who does.

    If you're going to be paying either way, I'd rather take it to a place that aligns Bimmers the right way on a regular basis.

    Moving this over to the Maintenance Forum.
    -Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
    ZHP Pre-Ride Briefing

    2005 ZHP, Alcantara, Silver Cube, Nav, Sharked, BMW Perf Intake, BMW Perf CF Strut Brace, CF Valve/Fuel Rail Covers,
    Shadowline Grills, CF Splitters, Fog Light Inserts, Euro-mirrors, CDV Delete, Beisan vanos, GAS DISA, BP Coded

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Liberty Township, OH
    Posts
    37,935
    I took my car to the dealer and the did not ballast the vehicle.
    Call Me Dane l 2/2004 330i ZHP l 18x8 ET45 BBS CK's wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ @ 245-40-18 l KW V1 Coilovers in front l KW V1 springs w/ Bilstein B8 dampeners in rear l BMW Performance Rotors l UUC StrutBarbarian l Racing Dynamics Rear Strut Bar l Jim Conforti Shark Injector l Light Birch Interior Trim l Bimmian Celly Mount l M3 Trunk Mat l l e90 Performance E-Brake & Shift Knob l M3 Tri-Stitched Boots l AL Headlight Retrofit with ZKW Lenses l CobyWheel Wrap w/M3 Stitching l LCM sw 4.5 triple blink and rear fogs l Maple Interior Trim

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Ocean County, NJ
    Posts
    7,273
    Quote Originally Posted by danewilson77 View Post
    I took my car to the dealer and the did not ballast the vehicle.
    Which leads me to my next question-- why would they have to ballast the vehicle? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to put 600 pounds of ballast in a car to align it, if most of the time there's only one or two people in the car.

    Sorry.
    -Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
    ZHP Pre-Ride Briefing

    2005 ZHP, Alcantara, Silver Cube, Nav, Sharked, BMW Perf Intake, BMW Perf CF Strut Brace, CF Valve/Fuel Rail Covers,
    Shadowline Grills, CF Splitters, Fog Light Inserts, Euro-mirrors, CDV Delete, Beisan vanos, GAS DISA, BP Coded

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Charlotte, NC
    Posts
    51
    As I stated above, I always just threw a full tank of gas in my e46 325i before alignment and it always felt tight and balanced. They have a 1 year Hunter alignment machine/rack, just not the weights. I'm not even sure it the stearlership here "ballast" the vehicle.

    I got lifetime alignment for $100 which i use every 4-5k vs. paying $130 every time if I went to the Dealer.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Charlotte, NC
    Posts
    51
    After a quick search I found one of Dane's threads and the shop I use basically has the same machine that was used on his car.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Ocean County, NJ
    Posts
    7,273
    Hmmm.

    Anybody here actually have their car ballasted for alignment? Chime in peeps.
    -Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
    ZHP Pre-Ride Briefing

    2005 ZHP, Alcantara, Silver Cube, Nav, Sharked, BMW Perf Intake, BMW Perf CF Strut Brace, CF Valve/Fuel Rail Covers,
    Shadowline Grills, CF Splitters, Fog Light Inserts, Euro-mirrors, CDV Delete, Beisan vanos, GAS DISA, BP Coded

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Posts
    15,433
    Quote Originally Posted by kayger12 View Post
    Hmmm.

    Anybody here actually have their car ballasted for alignment? Chime in peeps.
    Never ballasted. On BMW number 6.

    Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Liberty Township, OH
    Posts
    37,935
    LOL......could be an "old wives tale"? I have always heard it was supposed to be ballasted...but damn....if the BNW dealer doesn't dhu eeeeeeeeet, you would think that's right. IDK.
    Call Me Dane l 2/2004 330i ZHP l 18x8 ET45 BBS CK's wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ @ 245-40-18 l KW V1 Coilovers in front l KW V1 springs w/ Bilstein B8 dampeners in rear l BMW Performance Rotors l UUC StrutBarbarian l Racing Dynamics Rear Strut Bar l Jim Conforti Shark Injector l Light Birch Interior Trim l Bimmian Celly Mount l M3 Trunk Mat l l e90 Performance E-Brake & Shift Knob l M3 Tri-Stitched Boots l AL Headlight Retrofit with ZKW Lenses l CobyWheel Wrap w/M3 Stitching l LCM sw 4.5 triple blink and rear fogs l Maple Interior Trim

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    2,003
    Autozone.com
    I think it becomes more important on coilover setups where you can get the corners balanced perfectly. This is the protocol for track setups, though I've never heard of it for street only cars.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    - Marc

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