E46 Steering Rack Swap on E30s

[Leonstt]

Hi guys,

I've just finished swapping my E30 sedan steering rack to a non M E46 rack.
Steering feel is really great, no play at all. However I'm having a couple of issues. The first issue is the turning radius is pretty big. It has increased significantly compared to standard rack

The second issue is when going over big flowy bumps (compression and decompression) I can feel that the steering is a little bit unstable. The rack is fully rebuilt and centered in the car.

Has anyone here had the same problem as me? I'm thinking of changing it to e36 unit. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[tyeler18]

The yellow tag e46 rack on my e30 made the steering radius way tighter. I have more steering angle and could probably do circles on a 2 lane road at the locks. Have a picture of how much steering angle you have in both directions?

Did you get it aligned? Having the toe out will cause some level of bump steer feel. I have a more "darty" feel with the e46 rack with the quicker steering ratio which is normal but I don't have bump steer or any unstable feeling. I can let go of the wheel down a bumpy road and feel confident the car will continue going in the direction it's aimed.

[Leonstt]

The yellow tag e46 rack on my e30 made the steering radius way tighter. I have more steering angle and could probably do circles on a 2 lane road at the locks. Have a picture of how much steering angle you have in both directions?

Did you get it aligned? Having the toe out will cause some level of bump steer feel. I have a more "darty" feel with the e46 rack with the quicker steering ratio which is normal but I don't have bump steer or any unstable feeling. I can let go of the wheel down a bumpy road and feel confident the car will continue going in the direction it's aimed.

Lemme take a photo

I had it alligned twice after installation and it did nothing to improve the bump steer and the radius. Quite annoying to be honest

[Leonstt]

The yellow tag e46 rack on my e30 made the steering radius way tighter. I have more steering angle and could probably do circles on a 2 lane road at the locks. Have a picture of how much steering angle you have in both directions?

Did you get it aligned? Having the toe out will cause some level of bump steer feel. I have a more "darty" feel with the e46 rack with the quicker steering ratio which is normal but I don't have bump steer or any unstable feeling. I can let go of the wheel down a bumpy road and feel confident the car will continue going in the direction it's aimed.

[82eye]

angle doesn't look too bad. is the coupler modded right and not binding ?

[Leonstt]

angle doesn't look too bad. is the coupler modded right and not binding ?

Nope. I did check it again and everything worked fine. Would bigger diameter wheel diameter affect turning radius? I have 17x8s with 205/40/17 tyres on

[82eye]

Nope. I did check it again and everything worked fine. Would bigger diameter wheel diameter affect turning radius? I have 17x8s with 205/40/17 tyres on

oh. 17s are big but shouldn't make a difference if the tire size and offset match up and work. they'd have to be contacting something. doesn't look to me like they are, and i'm sure you'd know it driving.

[Leonstt]

oh. 17s are big but shouldn't make a difference if the tire size and offset match up and work. they'd have to be contacting something. doesn't look to me like they are, and i'm sure you'd know it driving.

Thats what I thought. The only thing that makes contact is the tyres and plastic inner guards. When i jacked up the car and turn the wheel from lock to lock, I can feelnthat the steering rack is moving freely and stop at what appears to be at full extension

[82eye]

do you have a pic of the rack installed ? curious where you put the spacers or if they were used at all.

[tyeler18]

That looks similar to my steering angle. Wheels wont matter, I'm on 17x9s with 245 tires up front. Also curious on where you put the rack spacers (top or bottom) and how low are you? Thatll play into bump steer but none of that changes your steering angle.

[Northern]

do you have a pic of the rack installed ? curious where you put the spacers or if they were used at all.

+1 for spacers. Could be giving you bumpsteer.

Larger diameter/width tires or a higher offset wheel would decrease steering radius *IF* you don't have rack stops and the tire hits the frame rail.

[digger]

On the subject of bumpsteer there are kits to lower the tie rod using spacers at the knuckle to reduce bump steer. E.g. GC, MRT, Garagisctic, SLR etc

Would this mean the rack spacers should go on top or bottom of the rack to produce a similar effect? Note that i am not talking about putting in the e46 rack at the same height as the e30 rack but for the specific role of improving bumpsteer on a lowered car.

In my mind if the knuckle end moves it down the at the rack side the rack should be raised with spacers on the bottom to achieve the same angular change of the tie rods.

I have heard that there are clearance issues with the spacers on the bottom but there might be a middle ground with hald on top and half on bottom but lets leave that aside for the moment.

[bangn]

I have new e46 sport rack in mine, (non purple tag) and i dont have any lock issues nor bump steer issues. Cant remember where i put my spacers but im sure they're at the top. Only thing i dont like is that i dont run a flexible steering coupling which on a bmw steering wheel its fine as it has a rubber pad under the leather, with the momo monte carlo wheel its horrid as you feel everything.

[digger]

I have new e46 sport rack in mine, (non purple tag) and i dont have any lock issues nor bump steer issues. Cant remember where i put my spacers but im sure they're at the top. Only thing i dont like is that i dont run a flexible steering coupling which on a bmw steering wheel its fine as it has a rubber pad under the leather, with the momo monte carlo wheel its horrid as you feel everything.

When lowered on poor road quality mine had bump steer on the stock rack, as well as on the Z3 rack i installed back in 2012 (Z3 rack didn't make it worse). I dont notice on normal decent roads as there isnt enough travel.
I haven't used a gauge to measure what is going on but i'm pretty sure its classical bump steer. I may try and make a gauge or purchase one as im going to be swapping in a e46 purple tag as the Z3 one is shagged and also pulling out the struts so can install w/o spring to make it easier to test