steering rack bolts loose?

i get popping noises coming underneath the front of my car when i turn the wheel while stationary or while driving slow and turning. at higher speeds turning is just fine. the noise comes from the center not near the wheels. The handling feels good on the car also. so i am not sure if the steering rack is on its way out or is just loose. Does anybody have any experience tightening it down if it has gotten loose?

Update fixed :
If anyone is having the same issue my steering rack bolt was a little bit loose. I tightened it down really good and the noise is gone!

Block23232 wrote

i get popping noises coming underneath the front of my car when i turn the wheel while stationary or while driving slow and turning. at higher speeds turning is just fine. the noise comes from the center not near the wheels. The handling feels good on the car also. so i am not sure if the steering rack is on its way out or is just loose. Does anybody have any experience tightening it down if it has gotten loose?

Update fixed :
If anyone is having the same issue my steering rack bolt was a little bit loose. I tightened it down really good and the noise is gone!

I have the same noise, its more pronounced when i hit the brakes in parkin lots and very slow speeds, such as reversing. The bolt you tightened is that the steering rack mount bolts?

Yeah sounds very similar to what I had. Yes, there are 2 bolts. And there are supposed to be super tight.. I was able to move it with some good effort. Then I got the impact wrench to make sure it was really tight. After that 0 noise...

Block23232 wrote

Yeah sounds very similar to what I had. Yes, there are 2 bolts. And there are supposed to be super tight.. I was able to move it with some good effort. Then I got the impact wrench to make sure it was really tight. After that 0 noise...

Did you tighten the bolt labeled #2 in this photo?



EDIT: If you want to purchase bolt #2 in the diagram above new, it is BMW part # 32106773068.

Theodore wrote

Block23232 wrote

Yeah sounds very similar to what I had. Yes, there are 2 bolts. And there are supposed to be super tight.. I was able to move it with some good effort. Then I got the impact wrench to make sure it was really tight. After that 0 noise...

Did you tighten the bolt labeled #2 in this photo?

Yup that's the one. There are 2 of them down there.

Wow, having the same issue. Thanks as I was running out of ideas where it could be coming from.

Thought I was going crazy. Do you have a vid or sound recording of your noise? Sounds a lot like mine and my guy said it was my brake calipers which turned out to not be true.

jasonrlee53 wrote

Thought I was going crazy. Do you have a vid or sound recording of your noise? Sounds a lot like mine and my guy said it was my brake calipers which turned out to not be true.

I don't. I honestly should have done a before and after. But when I took it to a shop on their lift, you can definitely tell the noise was coming from the center of the car. Exactly where the steering rack is.

On the ground it was hard to tell. It sounded like it was coming from both front wheels. And my car is lowered so I couldn't crawl under it

Block23232 wrote

I don't. I honestly should have done a before and after. But when I took it to a shop on their lift, you can definitely tell the noise was coming from the center of the car. Exactly where the steering rack is.

Were you able to duplicate the noise while the car was on the air?

E90M3velocity wrote

Block23232 wrote

I don't. I honestly should have done a before and after. But when I took it to a shop on their lift, you can definitely tell the noise was coming from the center of the car. Exactly where the steering rack is.

Were you able to duplicate the noise while the car was on the air?

Only under load. My shops lift had a swivel for the tires on their lift. So we were able to turn the wheel back and forth while it was up in the air.

The video is almost exactly what happened with mine

I tightened the two bolts today. Marked them and they almost rotated 90 degrees until tight. So far it fixed the clunking and clicking noise.

E90M3velocity wrote

I tightened the two bolts today. Marked them and they almost rotated 90 degrees until tight. So far it fixed the clunking and clicking noise.

Yeah same with me. I wonder how they got that way ?

Anyone know the torque spec? Would not want to break one off.

Here is what the BMW TIS lists for the torque spec:

1AZ Steering gear to front axle carrier

Type
E81 / E82 / E84 / E87 / E88 / E90 / E91 / E92 / E93

Thread
M10

Tightening specification and Torque
Replace screws & nuts
Jointing torque 56 Nm
Torque angle 90 °

Link

Thanks. I will back mine out and retorque to those specs.

pbonsalb wrote

Thanks. I will back mine out and retorque to those specs.

If it is torque and turn, it is a torque to yield bolt. I recommend that you order a new bolt and then torque to specs.

I don't know if they are tty. Seems like BMW is sometimes using a base torque plus angle in non tty applications so I am not assuming. Anyone know if the rack bolts are tty?

Posting to say this looks to have solved my clunking issue. In my case the clunk was sporadic, and usually happens when I'm backing out of the driveway first drive of the day, turning the steering wheel to the right.

When I went for the bolts, they weren't obviously loose at all. I broke loose one and retightened (the side I thought the clunk was coming from), and further tightened the other side without loosening first.

The bolts from the bottom are E-Torx 12mm, and they're tightened against a 16mm nut up top.

Bolts are accessed by removing the aluminum brace / skid plate.