Common Signs of Misalignment in Your BMW

Your tires are what connect your car to the road. No matter how advanced and well-tuned a car is, if something’s wrong with the wheels, it won’t handle properly. One common issue BMW drivers experience is tire misalignment. Keep reading to learn the signs of such a problem, the potential damage it can lead to, and why you need to seek out BMW service in Houston, TX, as soon as possible.

Common Signs of Misalignment

The most noticeable sign that your BMW’s tires are misaligned is drifting. When driving, you’ll have to use considerable effort to simply keep your car in a lane, and you may even feel like you have the wheel constantly turned to one side when driving on a straight road.
You can confirm that your car is drifting by performing a test in a safe, sparsely used area, such as an empty parking lot. Drive at a low speed in a straight line, then take your hands just slightly off the wheel. If your BMW begins to drift to one side substantially, then your wheels are misaligned. It is important to note that even properly aligned tires will drift slightly from time to time due to imperfections in the roads, so what you’re looking for is a consistent, highly noticeable drift in one direction.
You can also check the wearing on your tires for signs of misalignment. When your vehicle is misaligned, your car’s weight sits more heavily on one side, putting more weight on 1 or 2 of your tires. This will cause those tires to wear out more quickly. If you notice this, your car has been misaligned for some time and needs to be serviced.

Potential Damage from Misalignment

As we’ve already mentioned, misaligned tires can cause the tires on your car to wear out unevenly. The wheels that are bearing more of the car’s weight will wear down the treads much more quickly than they should, which means more frequent, costly tire replacements.
Because misaligned tires essentially work against each other when you’re driving, you can also experience increased vibrations throughout the vehicle. Vibration is always something you want to minimize while driving, as it can lead to damage to other parts of the car. Excessive vibration can rattle nuts and bolts loose, cause parts to rub against one another, and ultimately lead to unnecessary damage to your vehicle.

What Caused the Misalignment?

So what caused this problem in the first place? Misalignment generally isn’t something that happens gradually. Rather, it can happen quite suddenly, usually from a sudden, uneven force on your tires. The most common sources of misalignment are hitting a curb, driving over a pothole, or striking something in the road. A minor accident with another vehicle can also lead to misalignment.

Getting It Fixed

The only fix for misaligned tires is to take your car to an auto body shop in Houston. If you’ve noticed any signs of misalignment in your vehicle, bring it into Bemer Motor Cars today. We accept service appointments and walk-ins alike, and we specialize in servicing BMWs and other luxury vehicles.