Your advice on steering

Driven the car a couple of hundred miles now, not pushed it too hard yet due to the weather, but finding the handling a challenge at the moment.

There are two areas that are impacting my level of confidence in the behaviour & predictability of the handling, and I want to know if it is the same on all the M635's, or if I need to make some changes to mine.

First, the steering is vague at the straight-ahead position. I do not actually like the very direct steering of modern mini's, but the M635 steering wheel can be "wiggled" a good 10 degrees either side of the straight ahead position without changing direction. Is this normal ? The car is also pulling slightly to the left, with the wheel slightly off true position when moving in a straight line, so there is definitely something wrong with the steering geometry, but as I am having a set of new Alpina's with Goodyear F1s fitted on the 19th I will see if there is any improvement. Going from 15 1/2 inch TRXs to 17in should also have an impact.

Second, with rapid changes of direction, for example lane changes or pulling back in after overtaking, the car seems to really float, or even roll over and pull in the direction of travel, not wanting to straighten up again. Yet in corners the suspension seems fine, it does not lean over unduly or understeers. I'm no suspension expert, but wanted to check if you think this could be related to the role bars, whilst the springs are OK ? The steering does obviously not help the situation.

I have washed the car today for the first time, but as I finished in started to rain/sleet/snow, the usual great weather we've been getting recently, so I did not get chance to post pictures. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. Does anyone on the forum live in the Tring, Herts area ?

Any advice or views on your own experiences of the car's handling would be appreciated.

I found G/Year F1's on 17" rims really transformed the car but don't expect modern day steering & handling. Don't forget, it's a 20year old design!

Don't worry, you'll soon adapt to the the cars 'quirks'. When you drive a modern car again it will feel like it's a game on a Playstation!

There are a couple of things.

Steering: -

The steering box can come away from the chassi and when this happens the steering can become very strange. There is a retaining bolt that can brake. If this is not the case then the steering box could be on its way out, but the first port of call is to get this adjusted as that can significantly tighten things up. They will always be a bit dead in the centre, as this is a shortfall on the worm and roller steering, but generally they should feel tighter than an E34 by comparison. If the car is pulling off centre then the tracking is probable out and should be checked. Also check the steering arms and centre link as when these are worn the steering will feel loose.

With regards to the handling, the six is an old car and does not handle like a modern machine. Rapid changes of direction will inbalance the car, but the floating sensation you describe i have not exsperiences. You could be suffering from worn shocks or compressed springs. The first thing i would look into would be the steering as this affects everything.

With regards to the beastly metrics. The sooner they are gone the better. As a rough guide the car will handle about 20% better in the dry in any situation and 50% better in the wet with imperials on cheap rubber. Exspect an even better improvement with the eagle F1 boots.

I have based these coments on 7 years of driving a six in all weather conditions all year.

I broadly agree with the other comments that have been made. A rack and pinion steering system is typically deadly accurate by comparison with E28 steering. E28 steering needs to be in top notch condition in order to work at all well by comparison.

My car is a bit sensitive to camber thrusts, and even rotating the tyres when there is only 1mm difference in wear between them can make a difference. Fitting wider tyres and/or wheels with less offset usually makes this worse. The 'M' car had wheels that differed from standard 6er equipment in both these respects.

With regard to the final point, the way the car changes direction before taking a 'set' into a turn is affected by a number of things;

1) Anti-roll bars (of course) and all the usual things like toe, castor and camber settings.

2) The compliance of various rubber bushings (in both the front and the rear suspension)-these flex when loaded sideways and alter the toe dynamically.

3) The 'dog-bone' bushings on the rear trailing arms.

The third of these also alters the rear suspension settings dynamically; I'd check these out first because they do wear out and they are dead easy to change if you need to. 

cheers

Guys,

Thanks very much for the advice. Apologise for not responding sooner, have been abroad on business, got back this morning.

Going down to ML tomorrow to get new wheels/tires fitted, plus third brake light. Will ask them regarding condition of steering box/suspension. Presumably, the hit list that they do on all their cars before sale should indicate any issues in these areas.

If weather good this weekend, will take and post some pictures following fitting of new wheels.

John,

Would love to meet up, maybe at the Kings Arms ? I live on Icknield Way.

Not meaning to hijack the thread but I heard tie rods mentioned on an E36, how easy / expensive are these to change?

Thanks