Steering Weak Center

[MavJ]

Great tip to mark the What’s the best way to access the steering rack?

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[Bernielynn_]

Great tip to mark the What’s the best way to access the steering rack?

Take down the silver skid plate and you truly can’t miss it. Loosen the black underbody shields to aid in shimmying the skid plate out.

 

[MavJ]

Thank you - was hoping to get in from the side, but full lift will have to do!

 

[joshfromindy]

This is am AMAZING hack that I'm surprised no one else is talking about. Add an adjustable sway bar too and this would completely transform the car.

My question is there anything 'dangerous' about doing this? Like will it compromise handling at very high speeds or cause instability? Does it wear the steering rack faster?

 

[MavJ]

Done.

About an 1/8th inch rotation - less than a 1/16th of a circle - tighter.

It's feels about 5% increased resistance or preload - no slop in the wheel now. I like it - a lot.

I drive with normal steering in sport individual mode - I don' t like the more damped feeling of the steering rack which actually reduces feedback.

Big thank you to all of you.

 

[MavJ]

This is am AMAZING hack that I'm surprised no one else is talking about. Add an adjustable sway bar too and this would completely transform the car.

My question is there anything 'dangerous' about doing this? Like will it compromise handling at very high speeds or cause instability? Does it wear the steering rack faster?

1. definitely looking for a slightly increased stiffer front sway bar - for wet, rain conditions, I'm hesitant to increase the front stiffness greatly. I'll wait and see what the engineers offer on the US final edition as "stock" upgrade ie oem+

2. a. dangerous - sway bar? yes, you dial out the understeer - you increased weight transfer speeds and that affects handling in adverse conditions and at the limits etc etc

2. b. dangerous - steering rack? from a driver / not an engineer opinion: the preload or inertia you feel moving the steering wheel will affect drivers differently, if you ever driven direct steering ie karts or rack and pinion non-assist you'll know how little this adjustment affects the steering.. that's entirely driver skill imo.

wear and tear - i did ask him. from my mechanic's opinion who has 10 years working with that exact steering rack on other bmw's, his view was that the preload doesn't affect wear - it's an adjustment to set the feel of the steering wheel, he explained to me several days ago that when the steering rack fails - there's a clunk when turning the steering wheel with the engine off - the preload adjustment is not involved.

 

[razorlab]

The preload adjustment basically tightens/loosens the nylon bushing in the rack. That is the only thing that would "wear out".

The cap puts more load on the little spring and that spring pushes on the nylon bushing

Looks like this:

 

[calmeda1]

Today I took my car again for an alignment at a different shop, and they didn't provide an alignment sheet because they claimed their printer didn't work. I asked them for some sort of proof and all they gave me was this picture that doesn't even show everything:

Is it me or do those numbers look wrong?

@razorlab

 

[JadAz]

I just came back from my mechanic garage, my experience with this adjustment:
- 1/16 turn clockwise (tighten): steering felt a bit tighter (similar to switching from comfort to sport), steering response felt the same
- 1/8 turn clockwise (tighten): car was undriveable
- I would say less than 1/16 turn ( about 1-2mm ) counter-clockwise (loosen): subjectively, I like it better this way, especially as a daily car, feels more comfortable in town without sacrificing steering response.

Next I am going to try some monoball caster arm bushings to increase steering response without making the actual steering harder. (Maybe 0.05 toe OUT front alignment also)

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