Full or Empty Tank for Wheel Alighnment
- Thread starter chefwong
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For BMW, it's supposed to be FULL.
JHZR2
Staff member
yep, for BMW its full and weighted in the front, back seat and trunk.
Makes sense... any car is going to have different suspenson geometries when loaded vs. unloaded... perhaps the other OEMs take this into account, for at least as-new suspension parts, and set allignment specs accordingly - I don't know...
But it makes sense that as a generalized worst-case scenario, the tank should be at least half full, and Id set mine completely full, and with whatever general junk I usually carry around, if it so applies.
JMH
Makes sense... any car is going to have different suspenson geometries when loaded vs. unloaded... perhaps the other OEMs take this into account, for at least as-new suspension parts, and set allignment specs accordingly - I don't know...
But it makes sense that as a generalized worst-case scenario, the tank should be at least half full, and Id set mine completely full, and with whatever general junk I usually carry around, if it so applies.
JMH
definatly prefer having cars with full or close to full tanks. also i prefer to have the vehicles loaded down as they are normally being driven. basically if you have a work truck that you have loaded down with 3000lbs of stuff in the bed all the time during the week, dont bring it to me on saturday completely empty.
In my mind, why align to a load you don't run on a daily basis? If engineering specs have a min and max, you would ask for nominal. For me, a nominal alignment for a daily driver is 1/2 tank + driver and anything else carried on a daily basis.
It depends on what you normally drive with.
I'd use 1/2 tank as a compromise, with a driver seated [unless you normally have two people in the car].
I'd use 1/2 tank as a compromise, with a driver seated [unless you normally have two people in the car].
Dang, you learn something new here everyday. Who would have thought about putting sand bags in the chair to mimic a driver. Full tank of gas vs. no gas. Man oh man. Good stuff.
3/4 tank of fuel because you normally don't run to empty. Approximate weight of driver & passenge? for most driving.
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When I was taking alignment class, the teacher told us to account for any "unusual load". If the driver was BIG (more like typical for our demographics NOW) he recommended putting weights in the driver seat to compensate for the excess. On pickups, you measured riding height with the typical load. If it towed, you had to simulate the tongue weight of the trailer.
On my BMW it didn't appear to matter. If you loaded the truck ..you got inside camber wear in the rear ...and outside camber wear on the front. Rotation typically balanced out the wear. Stock settings were fine for me in the driver seat @ (at the time) a svelt 230 lb.
On my BMW it didn't appear to matter. If you loaded the truck ..you got inside camber wear in the rear ...and outside camber wear on the front. Rotation typically balanced out the wear. Stock settings were fine for me in the driver seat @ (at the time) a svelt 230 lb.
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