Sticky steering

C

Crabbo

Member
As above,

I bought my 3.0si on Saturday and by the end of my 3 hour drive home the steering was sticking quite alarmingly.

Since then I have drilled hole in column and injected high quality plastic safe grease also span the adjustment ring clockwise about 10mm.

How does the steering feel on other people's cars?

As it just still feels quite heavy on mine and has little feedback

Thanks

Crabbo
 
Being a 2006 face-lift Si your car has the later steering column internals introduced to correct the pre-facelift 'sticky steering' issue, so whatever problem you were experiencing it wouldn't likely be caused by binding internals tackled with the drill and lube you used.

Bottom line is that there are a lot of possible causes of binding including seized/dry UJ's in the lower column, worn/tight rack or electronics. It can feel similar to tramlining caused by crappy run-flat tyres, worn bushes or alignment issues. My problem was caused by tyres, bushes and alignment but all's sorted now.

But to answer your question about e85 steering feel, it was BMW's first use of electric assistance effectively trialled on the low volume Z4 before being improved and introduced on the big selling models. It wasn't a great success on the e85/6 and lacks feel TBH .
 
Thanks for reply,

I have read that the revised columns were introduced in July ish 06 mine is an April build 06.

If I run the heaters full whack it tightens up more and more with 15 minutes. It doesn't have run flats but there is knocking at low speeds from the front.

Next step I gues is to replace control bushes and clean and lube UJ in the lower column.

It's a shame about the feel I was hoping for more
 
There were at least two revisions to the steering, the major one being for the introduction of the facelift with different internal tolerances, materials and lube, I've read later revisions were software but never seen build numbers for the changes unfortunately. Definitely worth making sure all components are tip-top and alignment is sorted, good luck :thumbsup:
 
Was it a trade sale or private sale.If a trade sale ,get them to sort it out.How many miles has it done.
 
Crabbo said:
Thanks for reply,

I have read that the revised columns were introduced in July ish 06 mine is an April build 06.

If I run the heaters full whack it tightens up more and more with 15 minutes. It doesn't have run flats but there is knocking at low speeds from the front.

Next step I gues is to replace control bushes and clean and lube UJ in the lower column.

It's a shame about the feel I was hoping for more
Click to expand...

A simple first step RE the knocking is check the top mount bolts are tight ( strut tower tops under bonnet )
The tight steering i would look at easing / adjusting the shim half way down the column accessed from inside the car , a mm or 2 either way has a big effect on how tight or how light the steering operates
Jmo but I would get on top of these issues before adding fuel to the fire by changing the alloys which you mention in previous post :thumbsup:
 
Okay will try the shim as soon as I get time it's not a daily so no big issue. Again thanks for tips and advise.

It was a private sale and it's done 53k.

Also I live in stoke not sure how far that is but not close.
 
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