E85/E86 Steering Problems (Solved)

[wonkydonkey]

The internet certainly has its uses! You're entirely welcome. I'm glad you can enjoy the car again now

Mr Donkey I was wondering if I too could make use of your fix? I am up near Oxford but happy to travel down if you think you can help! Thanks

Hi Karlos. I'm sure that could be arranged. Are you positive that you have sticky steering?

[Karlosfandango]

Not positive but there are a few things recently that have started to sway my decision.

There is a consistent creaking when steering either way that seems to be worse when everything has warmed up.

Occasionally I feel like the steering is fighting me a bit and seems to have sticky and non sticky parts during the turn.

A lot of the comments I have read seem to lead to this fix and there doesn't seem to be a downside to giving it a go!

[wonkydonkey]

Karlosfandango creaking tends to come from the rack itself, I believe. That doesn't mean to say that you don't have sticky steering though. I was only querying the diagnosis to try and reduce the chances of you driving 200 miles (and, I suppose, me spending the time/effort carrying out the work) for no reason I should probably construct a template message to send to people to help with this. I'll drop you a message in a few moments in an attempt to create the template!

[Joycey]

Glad to see this thread is still proving helpful for people

[espender]

Not positive but there are a few things recently that have started to sway my decision.

There is a consistent creaking when steering either way that seems to be worse when everything has warmed up.

Occasionally I feel like the steering is fighting me a bit and seems to have sticky and non sticky parts during the turn.

A lot of the comments I have read seem to lead to this fix and there doesn't seem to be a downside to giving it a go!

I have the same thing, feels dangerous on twisty roads when it changes from a loose feel to deciding to pull to the centre or off the road! Let me know if it solves your issue, I might give it a go too.

[wonkydonkey]

I have the same thing, feels dangerous on twisty roads when it changes from a loose feel to deciding to pull to the centre or off the road! Let me know if it solves your issue, I might give it a go too.

If it feels like the car is changing direction without your input, that's more likely to be tyres or suspension. Karlosfandango never did reply to my PM or bring his car down, so I'm not sure if he fixed his or how. There is no harm in seeing if you can adjust your steering column as per this thread though, just mark it up beforehand so you can return it to where it was if necessary.

[ionofchios]

I have the same thing, feels dangerous on twisty roads when it changes from a loose feel to deciding to pull to the centre or off the road! Let me know if it solves your issue, I might give it a go too.

If it feels like the car is changing direction without your input, that's more likely to be tyres or suspension. Karlosfandango never did reply to my PM or bring his car down, so I'm not sure if he fixed his or how. There is no harm in seeing if you can adjust your steering column as per this thread though, just mark it up beforehand so you can return it to where it was if necessary.

Yeah, get a 4-wheel alignment done, and check suspension bushes and things. The alignment on my car when I got it was way off and it caused odd and quite aggressive behaviour because of tram-lining. I also found that tyre pressure was important - I’m now running 30 PSI all round. This mod also makes a difference, but it won’t fix everything if something else is way off.

[espender]

I have the same thing, feels dangerous on twisty roads when it changes from a loose feel to deciding to pull to the centre or off the road! Let me know if it solves your issue, I might give it a go too.

If it feels like the car is changing direction without your input, that's more likely to be tyres or suspension. Karlosfandango never did reply to my PM or bring his car down, so I'm not sure if he fixed his or how. There is no harm in seeing if you can adjust your steering column as per this thread though, just mark it up beforehand so you can return it to where it was if necessary.

Yeah, get a 4-wheel alignment done, and check suspension bushes and things. The alignment on my car when I got it was way off and it caused odd and quite aggressive behaviour because of tram-lining. I also found that tyre pressure was important - I’m now running 30 PSI all round. This mod also makes a difference, but it won’t fix everything if something else is way off.

Thanks for the pointers! I bought the Z4 to learn more about cars, so far they are a pain in the ass and need tlc to keep sweet.

I had my front shocks and springs replaced and an alignment done, Protyre in Eastleigh did a pretty good job but they said it would get worse due to play in my steering rack.

As I need the rear suspension sorting too, I may as well redo all of it including bushes but it's just very expensive as I don't have the tools to fit it myself. Plus I may as well put an eibach setup on instead of oem.

[wonkydonkey]

Thanks for the pointers! I bought the Z4 to learn more about cars, so far they are a pain in the ass and need tlc to keep sweet.

I had my front shocks and springs replaced and an alignment done, Protyre in Eastleigh did a pretty good job but they said it would get worse due to play in my steering rack.

As I need the rear suspension sorting too, I may as well redo all of it including bushes but it's just very expensive as I don't have the tools to fit it myself. Plus I may as well put an eibach setup on instead of oem.

Good on you. Learning to work on cars has saved me thousands upon thousands of pounds over the last 20 years, and that's on everyday maintenance, let alone all the extensive modifications I've carried out over that time.

So with that in mind, I'm going to oppose your comment about paying other people to do work for you because you don't own the right tools. Very often, you can end up breaking even on a job if you have to buy the tools and do it yourself, when compared to the cost of garage labour. And what's more, you now own the tools you bought, AND you learned something. Yes, taking it to the garage is easier, but if you're keen to learn, you must do the work. Letting someone else do all the work teaches you nothing

The Z4 is a pretty damn good car to learn on. I find them really easy to work on, and parts aren't all that expensive. What's more, you've joined the best forum available for getting advice and learning from other people's mistakes.

With regards to the comment the wheel alignment centre made about your steering rack - is this an issue that has been diagnosed by a mechanic you trust? If so, you need to fix that. There's little point in chasing other potential steering issues if the major component in your steering system is duff.

[espender]

Thanks for the pointers! I bought the Z4 to learn more about cars, so far they are a pain in the ass and need tlc to keep sweet.

I had my front shocks and springs replaced and an alignment done, Protyre in Eastleigh did a pretty good job but they said it would get worse due to play in my steering rack.

As I need the rear suspension sorting too, I may as well redo all of it including bushes but it's just very expensive as I don't have the tools to fit it myself. Plus I may as well put an eibach setup on instead of oem.

Good on you. Learning to work on cars has saved me thousands upon thousands of pounds over the last 20 years, and that's on everyday maintenance, let alone all the extensive modifications I've carried out over that time.

So with that in mind, I'm going to oppose your comment about paying other people to do work for you because you don't own the right tools. Very often, you can end up breaking even on a job if you have to buy the tools and do it yourself, when compared to the cost of garage labour. And what's more, you now own the tools you bought, AND you learned something. Yes, taking it to the garage is easier, but if you're keen to learn, you must do the work. Letting someone else do all the work teaches you nothing

The Z4 is a pretty damn good car to learn on. I find them really easy to work on, and parts aren't all that expensive. What's more, you've joined the best forum available for getting advice and learning from other people's mistakes.

With regards to the comment the wheel alignment centre made about your steering rack - is this an issue that has been diagnosed by a mechanic you trust? If so, you need to fix that. There's little point in chasing other potential steering issues if the major component in your steering system is duff.

I figure that something I use everyday and take great pride in, I should probably learn to look after it!

Oh I agree entirely, not the tools yet and it being expensive is why it's not yet done. I will only go to a garage as a last resort. Good point though, at the end of this I'll have a sweet tool box.

Well it was shown to me when I took it in to Protyre, whilst holding the wheel still they were able to move the steering rack around in its housing which with my currently limited knowledge seemed definitely wrong. Agreed, I just need to find a replacement and figure out how to fit it!

Lastly, totally agreed on the forum comment, part of the reason I bought the Z4, the support on here is amazing.

[wonkydonkey]

espender it's easy for me to forget that not everybody's Z4 is a second car that they can dismantle and leave out of action for days on end if they need to. I know the challenge of having to fix and repair a car that HAS to be available without fail for the working week! It's not always easy, so I can see why you'd take it to a garage for certain jobs.

The rack does sound like it needs to come towards the top of your priority list. Hope you can get it sorted sooner rather than later

[plutot]

Hello, I am very interested in the speech you are addressing here and I congratulate your resourcefulness! I have a 2009 Z4 E86 (one of the last registered, certainly produced in 2008) and I can't say I have the problem of sticky steering, but the vibrations over 70mph yes. So my question is simple, can anyone claim to have definitively solved the problem of vibrations by intervening on the regulation in question? Or ultimately vibrations are resolved only with the adjustments commonly used for such problems?

[wonkydonkey]

plutot sticky steering doesn't cause vibrations. Depending on when the vibrations manifest themselves, they are typically caused by tyres, wheels, brake discs or sticking calipers.

[Johnny B]

The problem I have is that my steering has gone rather heavy. Especially at slower speeds. I don't have the sticky steering thing which Forza GB (Caldecot) tells me can be the worm gear on the steering rack itself which gets hot (so therefore dry) due to its position under the engine bay. Don't have notchiness either. My steering used to be really light and crisp and now it has gone a bit sludgy and heavy. Do people think the eccentric ring trick would work for me. My car is the 2004 2.2 roadster. Very willing to have a go. Don't have a torque wrench? Do the pinch bolts really have to be done up to 30nm of torque as in the BMW instructions? Just had Forza GB reset all the codes as well as had complete alternator failure and so dry steered the car home. Think this might have affected the worm gear in the EPS when it was manhandled like this during dry steering. Any thoughts would be welcome.

[DOOM]

...Learning to work on cars has saved me thousands upon thousands of pounds over the last 20 years, and that's on everyday maintenance, let alone all the extensive modifications I've carried out over that time.

So with that in mind, I'm going to oppose your comment about paying other people to do work for you because you don't own the right tools. Very often, you can end up breaking even on a job if you have to buy the tools and do it yourself, when compared to the cost of garage labour. And what's more, you now own the tools you bought, AND you learned something. Yes, taking it to the garage is easier, but if you're keen to learn, you must do the work. Letting someone else do all the work teaches you nothing

The Z4 is a pretty damn good car to learn on. I find them really easy to work on, and parts aren't all that expensive. What's more, you've joined the best forum available for getting advice and learning from other people's mistakes.

Also miatas are -apart from..always the answer- good cars to work on!
I can understand someone who doesn't want to work on his/her car. Maybe it's the space/time needed maybe just couldn't be bothered.
I bought my Z4C 5 years ago with a promise to myself; never will I pay again a stealer (or a bad indie) for more or less having a laugh at me.
So far it paid off; huge smile when something, almost impossible at the beginning, is finished.
Have to admit though that sometimes, time wasted is a big questionmark.
Because almost nothing is as straightforward or easy as shown on YouTube or written in manuals..