[sniffer]

Hi,

2007 E92 335i with active steering. Had the car 4 wheel alignment done. Steering wheel is now, very, very slightly off centre, to the right when going dead ahead. Most people would likely not notice this, but it will annoy me.

So, has anyone adjusted this? I had a look on realoem and also underneath the car and I can see the torx bolt on the track rod end which you loosen off, (this is a new design compared to older BM's) but I cannot see an adjuster to turn the actual track rod to make the adjustment.

Can anyone help? Is the bolt you put a spanner on to turn the track rod once you have slackened off the track rod end torx clamping bolt up near the rack? I have not gone under the car. Or do you put some grips on the non threaded part of the track rod and simply turn it once the adjusting torx is undone. . .I thought I could see some witness marks on the track rod from the alignment adjustment, so this could be the way to do it!

I am planning to simply add 1/4 turn of thread on the RHS and take a 1/4 turn of thread away on the LHS.

This will not muck up the alignment and will simply attempt to sort out the dead ahead on the steering.

I will mark the position of the track rod against the track rod end before I start, etc. . . anyone .

Many thanks,

[noro]

Don't even think about it. I can guarantee that one of these will happen.

1. - you'll never get it centered.
or
2. - you will center it after hours of trials and then your toe will be all wrong.

I used to be the same way about steering, over years I found out that even something like the tire itself can introduce a slight off-center, while the actual geometry of the car is perfect.

[David1]

I do this all the time. 1/4 turn is to much.

[Dr Dave]

I'm not familair with the setup the OP has - but this is exactly how I have sorted out-of-line steering wheels - I'm the exact same as you, my wheel HAS to be perfectly straight otherwise I'd be doing the same as you. One of those annoyances!!!

[33five]

dont even do it if you have even the slightest chance of doubt

[BimmerGuyFL]

bump

[sniffer]

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone.

So, how do you turn the track rod? Simply use a set of grips on the non-threaded section when the torx bolt on the track rod end is slack?

I am not too fussed about doing this as I will be marking it all up before I start. Worst case, I can simply put it back as it was. The amount it is out is tiny. If I look at the wheel when at 70mph, I can see it ever so slightly "right hand down" when comparing the spokes out at horizontal to the indicator and wiper stalks.

Thanks.

[Bimmer This]

Just jack up your front end a little bit and straighten your steering wheel. Loosen the large nut on your outer tie rod end. Turn the steering gear arm while looking at your tires to see which way they go. 1/4 may be too much so go half of that on both tie rods. tighten her down and your good to go!

[sniffer]

But how do I turn the tie rod/track rod?

Do I need to simply slacken, or completely remove the torx bolt on the track rod end assembly?

Do I simply put grips on the non threaded section of the rod and twist it once the torx bolt has been slackened / removed?

Thanks.

[BMW1983]

When they do your alignment have them check/adjust your running toe angle.

[sniffer]

OK, had a look at this today.

There is a hex section of the shaft on the tie rod / track rod which you can get a 13mm open ended spanner on to turn it, once you have the adjusting bolt undone on the track rod end.

I put 1/12 a turn on each side - clockwise on LHS (doing the thread up into the track rod end, thus shortening the length of the rod) and anticlockwise on the RHS.

Made a difference, but needs a little more so will do it tomorrow and take pics and post them up here.

I had to spray a little WD40 into the RHS one as it was very tight. The 13mm spanner I had seemed to flex around the hex so I ended up using a decent adjustable wrench and forcing it on tight.

[Dr Dave]

Yeah, the track rods are often very tight sometimes seized on if you are really lucky!

Quite often have to use mole grips on track rods to shift them.

Aslong as you adjust both sides equally I can see no problem with what you're doing.

[Spoolin335]

I need to check this out as well as my wheel is
ever so slightly off center.

[sniffer]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Yeah, the track rods are often very tight sometimes seized on if you are really lucky!

Quite often have to use mole grips on track rods to shift them.

Aslong as you adjust both sides equally I can see no problem with what you're doing.

Thanks Dave.

[sniffer]

OK, so spent some more time on this this morning:

Firstly, IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT IT UNTIL YOU FEEL COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE AND FULLY UNDERSTAND EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Pic 1: Shows how much the steering was out. As you can hopefully see in the photo, the wheel is "Right Hand Down" when travelling straight ahead, on straight road. The best way to see this is to compare to the indicator and wiper stalks.

Pic 2: Jack will not fit under the car. You can probably do this job without a jack, by simply turning the wheel out either side, but I personally prefer to get the wheel you are working on at least off the ground so there is less resistance when trying to make the adjustments.

Pic 3: Car driven onto a brick to get enough height for jack.

Pic 4: Enough room for jack now with car on bricks!

[sniffer]

Pic 5: Turn wheel outwards for whatever side you are working on so you can access the track rod / tie rod and track rod end.

Pic 6: See track rod end with torx adjustment bolt and track rod / tie rod. Mark the position of both relating to each other before you start. In these photos, please ignore my own markings because I had already adjusted the set up when I took these photos.

Pic 7: Torx T50 size bolt on track rod end which you need to slacken off before you can make any adjustment.

NOTE: BEFORE I STARTED THIS PROCEDURE AND BEFORE I DREW ANY MARKS ONTO THE TRACK ROD / TRACK ROD END I SPRAYED SOME WD40 INTO THE THREAD, TAKING CARE NOT TO OVERSPRAY ONTO ANYTHING ELSE IN THE AREA.

Pic 8: Torx T50 size bolt being slackened off so I can adjust the rest of it.

[sniffer]

Pic 9: 13mm (ish) size open ended spanner on the track rod / tie rod so you can adjust it. Note the torx adjustment bolt is undone in this photo!

Pic 10: I gave up with the open ended spanner as the one I had was not of sufficient quality and was starting to "flex" when I exerted any pressure to adjust. I therefore used a good quality adjustable spanner, which I made a very, very tight fit onto the track rod / tie rod.

It was pretty tough to move it, my car is a January 07 build and everything underneath it looks very clean, so I was surprised how tough it was to move it.

Pic 11: When you have finished your adjustment, do up torx adjuster bolt again.

Pic 12: Took car for a drive and wheel now straight.

I ended up doing this in 1/8 - 1/12 turns. It took me three goes, so three lots of these turns before I was happy.

I thought it was much better to make small adjustments and keep doing them until I was happy than wildly go back and forth from Right Hand Down to Left Hand Down.

Very happy with the end result. Feels much better and satisfying to drive when I can feel the wheel flipping from just off centre, left to right as the car goes over the appropriate change in camber.

[NiVeDh]

Nice DIY. A little scary though.

[sniffer]

Thanks. I actually found it much easier than I thought it was going to be.

The newer design of having the T50 torx as the thing that stops any adjustment is really good.

The only bit that was a bit difficult was getting the tie rod / track rod to actually turn as it does not seem to want to move too easily. I started off with a 13mm spanner, but could feel this flexing and it was going to simply slip round the hex of the tie rod / track rod.

I think having a tool that is spot on to turn the tie rod / track rod is the most important bit. High quality open ended spanner or high quality adjustable is a must.

[fdriller9]

My steering wheel is off to the right too. This was after an accident I had though over this past winter. I had some of the rear passenger side components replaced and my steering wheel is off. When you do any alignment, you physically lock the steering wheel in place then align the wheels. The shop just didn't put my wheel in the center....it's very slightly off. Less than yours. I haven't taken it back to be realigned because I'm at school. So you did an alignment by yourself? How did you measure toe and chamber and what not?

[fdriller9]

Also I heard there is a steering rack issue with certain BMW's. There is a service bulletin out for it, I believe.

[sniffer]

Originally Posted by *********

My steering wheel is off to the right too. This was after an accident I had though over this past winter. I had some of the rear passenger side components replaced and my steering wheel is off. When you do any alignment, you physically lock the steering wheel in place then align the wheels. The shop just didn't put my wheel in the center....it's very slightly off. Less than yours. I haven't taken it back to be realigned because I'm at school. So you did an alignment by yourself? How did you measure toe and chamber and what not?

When I bought the car the steering wheel was way off centre.

I had the alignment checked and modified so it was within parameters, however the wheel was still very slightly off centre when this work was complete. This was done by BMW main dealers on a Hunter KDS system and then also by someone else.

Rather than take it back to the place that did the final alignment, which is some distance from me, I have simply moved both wheels in sync with each other to the right very slightly. I have therefore not changed any of the aligment, just simply altered the steering wheel centre position in relation to both front wheels.