Heavy Steering

[E30m42cab]

My girlfriend drives an '87 325i. I just put the snow tires on it (195/65r15), and she's complaining of a wobbly steering wheel at around 80-90km/h which didn't happen with the factory rims. The front tires are balanced, and should be fine (they're almost new). What I'm wondering about is the steering rack. There is a little bit of play in it, meaning that I can move the wheels back and forth a little bit, which I suspect is causing the wobble (and slight pull). The power steering is not evident when turning the wheel when parked, and only seems to work if you give it some gas while turning. So, I'm assuming that if the belt is tensioned right, that must mean the pump is tired (but doesn't whine), but would that account for play in the steering rack? There's no play in the lower ball joints, no fluid loss, so is there any way to repair play inside the steering rack? The other thing I'm wondering about, is that if the play in the rack is too little to notice, could the way the rim seats to the hub be the problem. I'm not using any hub rings to space the wheel properly, and I'm using factory bolts on aftermarket rims (round bolt base instead of tapered). What the hell am I asking???? I guess the steering rack... can they be repaired, and do pumps get tired without making any whining?

 

[echothreezero]

Check that the rims are not what are wobbling first to be sure that the play is in the steering.

Play in the steering can be from the lower ball joints (which you have checked), the inner rack ends, or the rubber joint on the steering column.

The racks on e30's are known to go (mine did recently too). They are simple to replace and working secondhand ones are cheap enough to buy. If the rack and pump are fine, and it is just play in the rack ends, they too can be replaced. Obviuosly after replacing the rack ends or the rack you will need to roughly align the wheels yourself and then take the car in for a professional wheel alignment.

I'd say either the pump or rack are gone sonsidering the heavy steering, and the play is probably just a coincidental occurence.

As far as tyre and rim choice - 195's shouldn't give you any problems with tramlining etc so I doubt it is the tyres, but maybe the rims aren't balanced properly or one of them is bent?

 

[E30m42cab]

The inner rack ends I think are the problem, thats where it looked loose when my Dad wiggled the tires when I had it up on jack stands... they can't be repaired/rebuilt?

 

[echothreezero]

They can be replaced as I said in my previous post

If the rack and pump are fine, and it is just play in the rack ends, they too can be replaced.

It is not hard, but you should consult a workshop repair manual or someone who knows for advice/instructions first before you attempt to replace them.

If that fixes the play, but not the heaviness, you may still need a new rack or pump. The valving in these racks tends to get sticky after awhile. The easiest solution is a new secondhand rack (which if it has good inner rack ends will fix the play too).

Play in the rack ends shouldn't cause the steering to be heavy I wouldn't think.

 

[E30m42cab]

I've changed my rack before, and yeah, it's pretty easy, except for attaching the universal joint to the rack dowel. But I was wondering if the inner parts of the rack which is where I've narrowed the problem down to, can be replace or repaired. That would save me the time and money of replacing a whole rack (which I didn't remove from my parts car before I got rid of it **LAZY** and now it's biting me in the ass). I have a spare pump, which is part of the problem and will be done to fix the heavyness, but I can see play inside the boot on the rack on the passenger side... but there's no way to repair that right?

 

[echothreezero]

Yes you can replace the inner rack end. I havn't done mine, but I know it can be done.