"Sticky" steering

T

toynlet

Member
 Southampton
Hi Guys

I've been experiencing the sticky steering problems that seems to be affecting most early Z4's.
Mine's a '04 and recently, mainly travelling on the motorway, feels that there is a resistance with the steering trying to make minor corrections while travelling in a straight line. Making big movements, like turning corners, seem fine.

The problem seems to be happening intermittently which makes it even more frustrating. It's quite unnerving as I try to combat the problem whilst driving leads to over overcompensating with the steering and moves the car much more than i intended.

Putting this out there, is this the kind of thing the rest of us early Z4 owners have been experiencing? I've tried to play with the heater, turining it off totally hoping this to be the case but can't really say if this had much effect. Could it be mechanical? I'm really hoping its not the issue with the ECU as I don't really want to pay out the £2500 to replace!! I read that people were hoping for BMW to complete a re-call for problems like this. Any news on that?

Any light you guys can shed on this will be greatly appreciated!!!! :D
 
Yes I do. Sorry, should of mentioned that!

I'm due to get new tyres in the next month or so as well as balancing and alignment, do you think this would be playing a part?
 
Sounds like it to me. I remember when I had my first Z4 with runflats and it was shocking how bad it felt until I replaced the runflats, especially on the motorway. :o

Ditch your runflats for falkens or another decent conventional tyre and get proper alignment and it's night and day!
 
Thanks for your input!
I was thinking about replacing for a conventional tyre but was worried about punctures.
 
Understand exactly what you're saying toynlet...
I've had my Z a couple of months now, and sometimes I feel like I'm fighting against the car to keep it in a straight line. There are some awful groves in the road round my area - however, when the car is on 'new' road it feels as responsive as a fighter jet.

I'm definitely going to be switching to alternative tyres after the discussions on here and chucking tyre weld/inflater in the boot (and keep a space-saver in the garage to put in the boot for long journeys).

Si
 
Hopefully this provides a solution to my problem.
The roads are terrible round my area and I think switching tyre types will provide a more comfortable ride aswell as remedy the steering issue I'm having.
Plus pricing 4 new run-flat tyres earlier this month nearly gave me a heart attack.
The other half has been telling me to get rid of it but hopefully now I'll be able to hang on a bit longer :wink:
 
http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24082&p=337139&hilit=steering+sticky#p337139
 
Thanks ranski, I did see that thread earlier. I'm gonna change the tyres and experiment with the heater and see if that works. If it doesn't, well........I dread to think what it'll cost :(
 
I agree with all the above having cured similar problems by having a full suspension check, four-wheel alignment and getting rid of the RFTs. Also try lubricating both the steering UJs that are just visible from under the car, these are exposed and once done made a noticable difference to the smoothness of the steering.
 
If its 2004, perhaps your front bushes are going? Apparently they dont last that long on the Zeds. An indy told me they recommend to upgrade to poly-something bushes which are harder wearing. Worn bushes means that you can get tramlining as there is slightl movement in the front wheels when driving. You can test it by gently pushing on the top of the front wheel when its parked up to see if there is any side rocking movement.

Ive also read on here that some of the godfarher's of the Zeds :D dont necessarily feel the poly bushes are better and prefer the originals.

Unfortunately spending time on forums always makes people paranoid of problems that other owners wont even notice are there.
 
I've experienced sticky steering only twice in nearly 3 years of ownership.it only happens when the car has sat for several hours in really strong sun.Your symptoms sound like crappy runflats.Change them to normal tyres and get a decent 4 wheel alignment done and it will be like getting a new car.Don't give up on your Z yet.
 
which steering joints specifically need lubricating? Or is it the entire rack?

FYI - US Safety Admin is investigating this issue and possibly doing a recall for this steering wheel problem.

Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2010/07/05/bmw-z4-and-mazda3-examined-in-u-s-for-steering-flaws/
 
ZED_NOT_ZEE said:
which steering joints specifically need lubricating? Or is it the entire rack?

FYI - US Safety Admin is investigating this issue and possibly doing a recall for this steering wheel problem.

Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2010/07/05/bmw-z4-and-mazda3-examined-in-u-s-for-steering-flaws/
Click to expand...

You can see them both clearly in the steering column when you look under the bonnet :thumbsup:
 
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