Steering wheel clunk on my '90 iX? Is there an adjustment screw...

[audiquattrot]

was it stripped before? did you just shim it?

could have just been the front wheels trying to get traction. if you're on dry pavement and you floor it in 1st gear, you'll hear the front driveshaft if it's stripped. if it doesn't make a noise on dry pavement there's probably nothing wrong.

Yeah it did strip on me earlier in the summer and noticed the shaft was stripped a bit. I took a spare shaft i had that had good splines & even went as far as putting 1/4inch washers to push the shaft further into the t/c. I'm gonna try to put in on the lift this wkend, but something is def wrong either w/ that, maybe my axles, or diff? Even though i mentioned above my steering is nice and tight, I'm still getting a slight drivetrain vibration in highway speeds. Not nearly as bad prior to my control arm replacement, but you feel it. It def doesn't feel like an out of balance wheel.

The rattle noise isn't evident under heavy load or in normal driving conditions....only when we had a snowstorm and the wheels were trying to grip. It was LOUD. Almost sounded like it was coming from the engine compartment, or underneath it.

The axle joints seemed fine when the boots were replaced, and no clicking at all on turns. I made sure the axles were pushed all the way into the diff too.....(btw are those things supposed to pull out easily from the front diff?)....it pulled out quite easily.

[nando]

was it stripped before? did you just shim it?

could have just been the front wheels trying to get traction. if you're on dry pavement and you floor it in 1st gear, you'll hear the front driveshaft if it's stripped. if it doesn't make a noise on dry pavement there's probably nothing wrong.

[audiquattrot]

im so sick of trying to fix this car. lol. sorry just needed to vent that.

[audiquattrot]

UPDATE:

The new C/A's did the trick. Wow is all i have to say. This car never felt so tight, steering, handling, everything. I forgot how it was supposed to feel.

The bad:
Had a snowstorm the other day, and I'm still running on bald A/S tires. Got stuck, and the front wheels tried to grip. Heard a bad rattling coming from under the engine (possibly the front diff area?). I took a peek underneath and the guibo looks fine. I think my front shaft went south on me again, possibly t/c as well =/
Odd thing is, the noise isn't there under normal driving....just when the wheels were trying to get traction in the snow.

Need to inspect further....but hey at least my steering issue is finally resolved, right? (sarcasm) lol

[audiquattrot]

well my new CA's arrived yesterday ($200/each from bmwmercedesparts) ouch.. I'll report back nxt wk....hopefully this is the cause of this long ongoing issue w/ my front suspension/steering! I'm also going to drop the lower dash and try to tighten that stupid 32mm nut that i should've done from the beginning. I'll be pretty pissed if that was all it was!

[NNW]

I recently bought a control arm from bmwmercedesparts.com $183.45 shipped. Was quick to arrive as well.

[audiquattrot]

btw almost 1900 views in this thread? lol

[audiquattrot]

I could hear it rattling around when driving slowly in a straight line. I swapped in another one I had, and it all went away.. the noise at low speed, and specifically, a nasty vibration/wheel shake at 75mph..

yeah after driving it for the last wk, i'm almost certain its my front control arms (lollipop most likely). In stop/go traffic, i can feel the front suspension shift + clunk. Smooth roads isn't really an issue, its 40mph+ where I sometimes feel the shimmy.

btw, where is a good place to get iX control arms these days? I know their pricey new.

[nando]

I could hear it rattling around when driving slowly in a straight line. I swapped in another one I had, and it all went away.. the noise at low speed, and specifically, a nasty vibration/wheel shake at 75mph..

[audiquattrot]

Did you do tierods?

All of these things can potentially contribute to vibration or alignment/pulling issues:
bad control arm balljoints, inner or outer tierod joints, control arm bushing, wheel bearing, low tire pressure, tire damage/wear

It can all be felt in the car, and anything that happens in the front end will be felt through the steering wheel.

yup both inner & outer tie rods i replaced last yr. Same w/ both front wheel bearings. Also filled up my tires to 36psi sunday. I'm slowly trying to rule things out....as you can see lol.

Tires out of balance possibly. I just did a tire rotation and my front started shaking at various speeds. Went to balance the fronts and the guy said the weights fell off of one of the rims. Problem solved.

I'm hoping that's all it is. I know i slightly bent one or two of my Alpinas (thanks to NYC potholes)....thing is though, sometimes its' there, sometimes its' not. I would think bent wheels would produce a shimmy vibration all the time.

I had the wierdest thing cause a nasty vibration/steering shake the last couple weeks: an bad CV joint. go figure!

hmmm How did you pin it back to a bad CV joint? What signs did you see that were bad?

[nando]

I had the wierdest thing cause a nasty vibration/steering shake the last couple weeks: an bad CV joint. go figure!

[E30Gus]

Tires out of balance possibly. I just did a tire rotation and my front started shaking at various speeds. Went to balance the fronts and the guy said the weights fell off of one of the rims. Problem solved.

[supernaughtIX]

Did you do tierods?

All of these things can potentially contribute to vibration or alignment/pulling issues:
bad control arm balljoints, inner or outer tierod joints, control arm bushing, wheel bearing, low tire pressure, tire damage/wear

It can all be felt in the car, and anything that happens in the front end will be felt through the steering wheel.

[audiquattrot]

Power steering play is highly unlikely. You're more likely to see a bad balljoint or CAB.

yeah I think that might be the next thing to tackle....the control arms. I couldn't imagine it transferring that much play & shimmy to the inside cabin....but i guess its likely. I've replaced the rear front control arm bushings (rubber circle), all new sway links, springs, shocks, even motor mounts thinking any one of them could be the issue. Thanks for your input btw.

[supernaughtIX]

Power steering play is highly unlikely. You're more likely to see a bad balljoint or CAB.