[medlyleeds]

I have 2019 BMW G20 with 20,000 miles. 320 X-drive

I recently bought the car from BMW as an approved used. I have noticed some strange steering behaviour which seems to have got worse over the last few thousand miles

- Steering has a tendency to sit 1-2 degrees to the left. If it is held in the middle I am experiencing a force in the wheel that wants to bring it back to that position
- Steering to the left seems slightly easier than right
- Steering self centres after a left turn much less than a right one.
- When the wheel is bang on in the middle the car tracks straight, there is no obvious pulling left or right. Seems mostly to be an issue with steering weight, consistency and feel.
- The symptoms are really bad on some days and barely noticeable on others
- Wheel alignment (mainly front toe adjustment) seems to make the car feel normal but only for maybe a couple of hundred miles at which point the sensation returns.

BMW have changed some bolts that mount the steering rack but made no difference. It is going back in for another set of investigations and possible a new rack. Has anyone experienced similar issues with their car.

Thanks in advance

Has had two wheel alignmet checks at BMW, assured all ok however I have noticed the cross camber is a little over the limit.

[ejt]

Was there any follow-up on this problem???

Looks I have got a same issue with my BMW 330i rwd M-sport
The car is aligned, steering wheel beautiful in the middle, does not pull right or left, but is sometimes difficult to change lanes.
The problem is not always there, on a 50 km drive, maybe 4-5 minutes. It's hard to give a time to this.
An example, when I drive 4 kilometres to the highway, there is no problem, but when I get on the highway, the problem can accur, even when you drive the same speed as on B-roads
The turning of the steering wheel is very difficult, it feels like some kind of blockage has to be broken in order to steer.
So with more force you turn the steering wheel, so you don't steer naturally.
We are of course talking about steering a few degrees here, since you are on the highway, but it's not smooth steering

The dealer says, that the car needs to undo his lowering springs, so that they can analyze what te problem could be.

Idont think that that's the problem, because the problem is not always there.

Anyone???

[g20beam]

Originally Posted by ejt

Was there any follow-up on this problem???

Looks I have got a same issue with my BMW 330i rwd M-sport
The car is aligned, steering wheel beautiful in the middle, does not pull right or left, but is sometimes difficult to change lanes.
The problem is not always there, on a 50 km drive, maybe 4-5 minutes. It's hard to give a time to this.
An example, when I drive 4 kilometres to the highway, there is no problem, but when I get on the highway, the problem can accur, even when you drive the same speed as on B-roads
The turning of the steering wheel is very difficult, it feels like some kind of blockage has to be broken in order to steer.
So with more force you turn the steering wheel, so you don't steer naturally.
We are of course talking about steering a few degrees here, since you are on the highway, but it's not smooth steering

The dealer says, that the car needs to undo his lowering springs, so that they can analyze what te problem could be.

Idont think that that's the problem, because the problem is not always there.

Anyone???

Maybe tires or tire pressures? If the tire pressures are uneven, at least for me, the steering is somewhat affected. If the pressure is too low, the car tends to have very heavy steering. When the tire pressures are warmed up, the steering becomes much more direct.

Uneven tread on tires could also be an issue.

The reason I say it could be tire pressures is because you say sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. The only thing that can change to create this issue would be tire pressures or uneven tread wear.

Another problem is that perhaps the springs are not installed properly. If the seating is off, it could cause what you're experiencing. The spring could warm up after driving, or be more/less springy on just one or two sides of the suspension, and then on top of them not being seated properly, could cause this issue.

Check the seating of the springs, as well as tire wear and pressures. If all those check out, it's definitely steering rack or suspension.

[medlyleeds]

When I posted this I did not have the fault you describe however coincidentally it did start to happen alongside the original fault. My car had a notchy feeling when turning the wheel, almost like the wheel was getting stuck. It turned out to be the steering column that was the issue. This was replaced under warranty and now the steering is very smooth. The issue with pulling left persists though. A steering rack replacement has been suggested but I'm currently waiting for the part.

[dannymac44]

Fyi - +1 on the steering column.

Same issue where steering had dead-space, then more knotchy - sometimes just at dead center, sometimes several knotches close to center. They replaced everything including rack EXCEPT my suggestion on the column. Over a year later, they replaced the column and drives like a dream. Their claim was it was intermittent and must be electrical, but… that was the solve.

[arajshekar10]

Hi medlyleeds i own a bmw 330i m sport 2022 i have the same problem your facing my car has been to the dealership multiple times and the steering rack and column has been changed by the dealer but the steering weight distribution has not been solved yet.its hard to steer towards right and easy towards left no proper solution has been provided by bmw has your problem has been resolved regarding this? it has dead spot towards left a few degrees

[plexxi]

Originally Posted by dannymac44

Fyi - +1 on the steering column.

Same issue where steering had dead-space, then more knotchy - sometimes just at dead center, sometimes several knotches close to center. They replaced everything including rack EXCEPT my suggestion on the column. Over a year later, they replaced the column and drives like a dream. Their claim was it was intermittent and must be electrical, but… that was the solve.

Old thread but..
Did they replace the lower or upper steering column?

I got the steering rack replaced about 9 months ago and now the problem is back.

As before only when the vehicle is warmed up after driving 20+min.

The interesting thing was that at the troubleshooting session at the workshop they disconnected the steering shaft from the rack to feel the input shaft of the rack. After that the car behaved perfectly for 2 months before the actual rack replacement.

So my feeling was that when they removed the shaft and put it back they moved something that temporarily fixed itself. Maybe they moved the grease in the telescopic part or the u-joints.
My E60 was "fixed" this way by just sliding the telecopic part (not the normal steering wheel adjustment) and thereby redustributing the grease in the splines.