Another cool and informative video from Carbonwurks. I jump on these as soon as they are posted. I really need to sort out a visit to you guys to get the springs and spacers upgraded (and now the alignment) but work just keeps getting in the way. I will do it though!
Question: is this the second alignment the i3 has had since installing the springs? How long after the springs were installed did you do the alignment, and then how long between then, and this alignment now? Is there an optimal frequency for undertaking alignment (eg. ASAP after installation, then again 6 months later?)
Ideally you’d allow the springs to settle before undertaking an alignment, as long as the car is in a good drivable state. If on the first test drive the alignment is badly out it should be done straight away. Normally we drive the cars for 10-20 miles to settle the suspension before an alignment is undertaken. How frequent you have an alignment undertaken is very much based on how often the car is driven and the type of roads. Every 5-15k miles is a sensible amount or every tyre change.
I have a 2021 i3s REx with an AC Schnitzer kit in the US. If I would like to get the car aligned what brand of equipment should the shop have to do it as precise as you have?
Ideally you need to be going to a garage that can offer 4-Wheel Alignment. There’s a link in the description with how our system works or if you want to read a bit more about the changes that can be made: carbonwurks.com/vehicle-geometry-explained/?TH-cam&Video&YT-i3Alignment
@@Carbonwurks Can you post the alignment specs you were aiming for in text? Were these adjustments largely based on the lowered stance, or would you advise the same for a stock i3 Rex at normal ride height as well? I guess I can take a screenshot of the end result and show that to the techs at Firestone… hopefully they can get it close-ish.
The issue is every car, suspension setup (hardware) and country may differ which will alter the way in which the i3 should be setup. We can’t give our specific setups as it’s not completely relevant and is case by case basis. As a whole, we setup close to manufacturer setup with a little bit of extra stability.
Hi I have an i3S 120ah with AC Scnitzer body kit and 12mm spacers but not (ACS suspension) would you recommend different alignment settings than standard because of the spacers? Many Thanks
Checking the alignment out even on cars that are not modified periodically is a good thing. But in short, for installing wheel spacers you don’t specifically need to check the alignment as it won’t change the physical suspension geometry like a spring would or if you remove components that may change their position slightly.
Hey, can I ask.... Does your steering feel stiff compared to 'normal' cars? Does it self centre properly? I and many others have noticed that their i3 steering will stick wherever you leave it within 10 or 20 degrees from straight. Big discussion going on about whether it's just a characteristic of the car or if there's a problem. Makes motorway driving tiresome and it doesn't go straight on its own and needs constant correction.
Steering wheels pretty normal in terms of weighting. If the wheel isn’t re-centering it can be down to the alignment is out, these cars are super sensitive to change.
@@dopiaza2006 I have the same steering-not-self-centering issue on mine. I’ve especially noticed it since I dropped the front of the car the last 4-5 inches off a tiny jack last year. Afterwards I immediately got a lifetime alignment at Firestone (so there’s no cost for future alignments), which helped with getting the car to go in a straight line again… but it still doesn’t self center. Honestly I can’t remember if it did auto center before the drop, since it was on jack stands for several weeks. Adding 20mm spacers to the front wheels helped tremendously with highway steering and stability. This weekend I swapped the front struts & springs on my 2014 Rex with those from a 2017 Rex that only have 20k miles on them, plus brand new mounts boots + boots + bump stops + top nuts. The handling is better, smoother, and a bit easier to control… but still doesn’t self center. I’m going in for another alignment today and hoping it will help.
er, you can't set any car up in terms of wheel alignment for both optimium consumption (lowest drag & hysteretics) AND optimum handling (best grip and/or most linear response)! It's a compromise, which is why if you adjust for better grip, you'll burn more energy because you have created more drag. After 5 years in a 2019 BMW i3s my car runs std spring and dampers, but has 8mm spacers on the rear only (to increase the rear cross axle effective stiffness and hence to move some of the conering loads rearwards a touch more than bmw intended) and has some mods to the front damper / uprights to increase camber (which makes a MASSIVE difference to front end grip because it better controls the tyre effective centre of pressure). Both of those however increase rolling drag and tyre carcass hysteretics, and hence increase consumption (by a small amount, looks like about 2 to 3% so far)
@@Carbonwurks One of the reasons the i3 has such a low rolling resistance is precisely because it is tracked so "square" as standard. Tyre hysteretics are a large proportion of rolling drag, typically as much as 50% so avoind deforming your sidewalls and tread carcass each time the tyre revolves is critical. As you say, adding a bit more toe does of course stabilise the vehicle, but that toe is preloading the carcass and increasing hysteritics. 🙂
I know it’s not an i3 channel, but I love following this little bumblebee! Looks like it should have done out of the factory
Glad you are liking the content, thanks for your comment 😀👍🏻
Another cool and informative video from Carbonwurks. I jump on these as soon as they are posted. I really need to sort out a visit to you guys to get the springs and spacers upgraded (and now the alignment) but work just keeps getting in the way. I will do it though!
Glad you’re enjoying the i3 content! We enjoy changing things with our i3 and documenting it!
Yes, let’s get that sorted soon!
Question: is this the second alignment the i3 has had since installing the springs? How long after the springs were installed did you do the alignment, and then how long between then, and this alignment now? Is there an optimal frequency for undertaking alignment (eg. ASAP after installation, then again 6 months later?)
Ideally you’d allow the springs to settle before undertaking an alignment, as long as the car is in a good drivable state. If on the first test drive the alignment is badly out it should be done straight away. Normally we drive the cars for 10-20 miles to settle the suspension before an alignment is undertaken.
How frequent you have an alignment undertaken is very much based on how often the car is driven and the type of roads. Every 5-15k miles is a sensible amount or every tyre change.
I have a 2021 i3s REx with an AC Schnitzer kit in the US. If I would like to get the car aligned what brand of equipment should the shop have to do it as precise as you have?
Ideally you need to be going to a garage that can offer 4-Wheel Alignment.
There’s a link in the description with how our system works or if you want to read a bit more about the changes that can be made:
carbonwurks.com/vehicle-geometry-explained/?TH-cam&Video&YT-i3Alignment
@Carbonwurks you adjusted everything to BMW standard specs on your i3s?
No we went with our own specification as we wanted the i3 to react a certain way when driven.
@@Carbonwurks
Can you post the alignment specs you were aiming for in text?
Were these adjustments largely based on the lowered stance, or would you advise the same for a stock i3 Rex at normal ride height as well?
I guess I can take a screenshot of the end result and show that to the techs at Firestone… hopefully they can get it close-ish.
The issue is every car, suspension setup (hardware) and country may differ which will alter the way in which the i3 should be setup. We can’t give our specific setups as it’s not completely relevant and is case by case basis. As a whole, we setup close to manufacturer setup with a little bit of extra stability.
Hi I have an i3S 120ah with AC Scnitzer body kit and 12mm spacers but not (ACS suspension) would you recommend different alignment settings than standard because of the spacers? Many Thanks
Checking the alignment out even on cars that are not modified periodically is a good thing. But in short, for installing wheel spacers you don’t specifically need to check the alignment as it won’t change the physical suspension geometry like a spring would or if you remove components that may change their position slightly.
Hey, can I ask.... Does your steering feel stiff compared to 'normal' cars? Does it self centre properly? I and many others have noticed that their i3 steering will stick wherever you leave it within 10 or 20 degrees from straight. Big discussion going on about whether it's just a characteristic of the car or if there's a problem. Makes motorway driving tiresome and it doesn't go straight on its own and needs constant correction.
Steering wheels pretty normal in terms of weighting. If the wheel isn’t re-centering it can be down to the alignment is out, these cars are super sensitive to change.
@@Carbonwurks Aparently in my case it's down to the rack rod seizing in the bushings. Getting it sorted soon.
@@dopiaza2006
I have the same steering-not-self-centering issue on mine.
I’ve especially noticed it since I dropped the front of the car the last 4-5 inches off a tiny jack last year.
Afterwards I immediately got a lifetime alignment at Firestone (so there’s no cost for future alignments), which helped with getting the car to go in a straight line again… but it still doesn’t self center.
Honestly I can’t remember if it did auto center before the drop, since it was on jack stands for several weeks.
Adding 20mm spacers to the front wheels helped tremendously with highway steering and stability.
This weekend I swapped the front struts & springs on my 2014 Rex with those from a 2017 Rex that only have 20k miles on them, plus brand new mounts boots + boots + bump stops + top nuts.
The handling is better, smoother, and a bit easier to control… but still doesn’t self center.
I’m going in for another alignment today and hoping it will help.
er, you can't set any car up in terms of wheel alignment for both optimium consumption (lowest drag & hysteretics) AND optimum handling (best grip and/or most linear response)! It's a compromise, which is why if you adjust for better grip, you'll burn more energy because you have created more drag. After 5 years in a 2019 BMW i3s my car runs std spring and dampers, but has 8mm spacers on the rear only (to increase the rear cross axle effective stiffness and hence to move some of the conering loads rearwards a touch more than bmw intended) and has some mods to the front damper / uprights to increase camber (which makes a MASSIVE difference to front end grip because it better controls the tyre effective centre of pressure). Both of those however increase rolling drag and tyre carcass hysteretics, and hence increase consumption (by a small amount, looks like about 2 to 3% so far)
You can however obtain a good set-up that manages stability and minimal increase in drag/scrub on the tyres 👍🏻
@@Carbonwurks One of the reasons the i3 has such a low rolling resistance is precisely because it is tracked so "square" as standard. Tyre hysteretics are a large proportion of rolling drag, typically as much as 50% so avoind deforming your sidewalls and tread carcass each time the tyre revolves is critical. As you say, adding a bit more toe does of course stabilise the vehicle, but that toe is preloading the carcass and increasing hysteritics. 🙂
A petrol engine swap? 😂
Combustion engines! Too much lag 😉