Z3M steering rack by turner motorsports. Is it any good?

[nhhc]

Yeah for sure. I searched up AAE 3310N which is the part# supplied by Rock Auto, and I've found the same rack on other places that have it listed. However, I only found two places that listed the turning ratio, one being ESC Tuning at $430, and the other being Bimmerworld at Getting the fan clutch nut free Both of which are also reputable retailers so far as I know, and bimmerworld actually has a pretty detailed description of the rack, leading me to believe it was actually inspected and verified by a human, instead of copy pasting the manufacturer's description.

Still being skeptical, I'm going to reach out to rock auto to verify that it is indeed the 2.7 rack that it's listed as on the other sites.

Looking at the hoses, I've got a 32411141953 high pressure line for an e36, 32411135936 and 32411133401 for my suction and return lines for an e30 which I'll bend if necessary, at a total of $221 before tax. A chasebays kit would run me $350+ which I don't see as worth it right now. My budget demands that I hold off on buying a second steering knuckle until I know I need one. Hopefully I'll be able to pull out my rack and knuckle while it's in the parking lot lol.

Edit: I might not actually be able to reach out to rock auto, as their help page kind of sucks. All it says is that if the info isn't on the info page for the part, they don't know it.

I have done a research on this for like two days straigh and have arrived at the same conclusion as you after going through countless YouTube, Reddit, and BMW forums. Is your car a six-cylinder or 4-cylinder? Why did you go with E36 high pressure instead of the E30 one? Does the E36 save you from the need of bending?

[82eye]

Pulled the trigger on the turner rack, going to be getting the hoses and a pump reseal kit as soon as I get a chance to look at what type of pump I've got. Since the rack is for an e36/e46, and it comes with inner tie rods, should I just get e36 outer tie rods? Or should I get e30 inners and outer?
I've heard it's best to keep it stock with e30 tie rods since you can match up with the old original rods. However I've also heard that the e36 tie rods are easier to adjust. I'm not super worried about getting the adjustment super right off the bat since I work at a tire shop and can align it myself after everything is installed. I'm just looking for the most cost effective solution, and if I'm getting e36 inners anyway, that seems best to me, but IDK.

mine already arrived. i went with the e36 outers so i didn't have to buy new inners/outers. simply the cheapest route. i added the outers when i ordered the rack, ecs was cheaper than fcp, and cheaper than the others once shipping was factored.

as far as i know there is really no advantage to using the e30 inners /outers. i do have enough parts to set it up either way.

[notporgu]

Pulled the trigger on the turner rack, going to be getting the hoses and a pump reseal kit as soon as I get a chance to look at what type of pump I've got. Since the rack is for an e36/e46, and it comes with inner tie rods, should I just get e36 outer tie rods? Or should I get e30 inners and outer?
I've heard it's best to keep it stock with e30 tie rods since you can match up with the old original rods. However I've also heard that the e36 tie rods are easier to adjust. I'm not super worried about getting the adjustment super right off the bat since I work at a tire shop and can align it myself after everything is installed. I'm just looking for the most cost effective solution, and if I'm getting e36 inners anyway, that seems best to me, but IDK.

[projectJTv4]

Good to hear! How is the feel of it? Does it feel twitchy at high speeds? And I assume it's a massive upgrade from the normal e30 rack.

Shortly after installing the Z3 rack, I installed a MOMO MOD. 07 steering wheel that has a diameter of 350mm. The combination of the two made a significant difference in my opinion. I can't say for sure with just the rack alone.

[notporgu]

I purchased the same rack from ECS in February of 2022, installed in May and have driven about 3,000 miles on them since. I have not had any issues with the rack.

Good to hear! How is the feel of it? Does it feel twitchy at high speeds? And I assume it's a massive upgrade from the normal e30 rack.

[projectJTv4]

I purchased the same rack from ECS in February of 2022, installed in May and have driven about 3,000 miles on them since. I have not had any issues with the rack.

[82eye]

Oof didn't realize this, but looking at the product pages it only says manufactured in the US on the 2.7 racks. I'm not needing to order right away, so I might wait to hear your initial impressions when you receive yours. I just would have to find a little wiggle room in my budget that I already don't have.

reach out to the vendor. i spoke with turner direct to confirm the product, then tracked where the others were built and contacted the vendors direct to be certain.

[notporgu]

aae manufactures in both china and the US. the turner 2.7 product is built in the US, others are not.

Oof didn't realize this, but looking at the product pages it only says manufactured in the US on the 2.7 racks. I'm not needing to order right away, so I might wait to hear your initial impressions when you receive yours. I just would have to find a little wiggle room in my budget that I already don't have.

[82eye]

When looking at the e36/e46 rack options on rockauto, they have the aae rack listed with the same 3310N part number as seen on a few other sites that I mentioned. I would expect them to send the selected manufacturer if I buy it through them. Do you think they would send me something from China even if I select the American one?

aae manufactures in both china and the US. the turner 2.7 product is built in the US, others are not.

rock auto is just a middleman. they contract the sale to a third party who ships it. rock auto doesn't keep it's own parts warehouse. if you order something from them, they send it to whoever can supply that particular part the fastest and cheapest so they maximize profit. parts avatar and many others also operate this way. they don't always send the exact same brand you order.

i've ordered cardone VW racks before from them and had two different branded racks show up in the box. the boxes they came in were both a cardone box. on a daily beater it doesn't matter so much, on the bmw i want something i can trust.

[notporgu]

the rock auto racks are mostly mavon, which is a chinese brand, and pretty much a disaster. replace all the boots if you go that way. chinese rubber is notoriously poor and breaks down fast. if you get lucky it'll be a reman, but you will still have to replace the boots, and they will send whatever fits, they won't care what the ratio is.

When looking at the e36/e46 rack options on rockauto, they have the aae rack listed with the same 3310N part number as seen on a few other sites that I mentioned. I would expect them to send the selected manufacturer if I buy it through them. Do you think they would send me something from China even if I select the American one?

[82eye]

Wow, sorry to hear about your experience. As mentioned, they were very helpful pre-COVID but circumstances might've changed for the worse since then.

four things happened to them -

they grew too quick to keep up with demand and did not scale to what they could accomplish.
covid hit and demand spiked just as all racks were getting hard to source due to lockdown.
they moved facilities and did not plan for the needed investment in people and tooling.

finally, they decided outright theft was easier than honest customer service.

[Zambuzan]

i went with the turner 2.7 lock to lock.


rack doctor is an absolute scam. the internet is littered with folk who've been ripped off. they took me for $1400 cdn, never sent the rack a refund or had any intention of doing so. still fighting with them seven months later.
rack doctor is an organization that has embraced theft as a business model. a simple search here will reveal a pile of angry people on this very forum.

STAY AWAY FROM THOSE SCAMMERS

Wow, sorry to hear about your experience. As mentioned, they were very helpful pre-COVID but circumstances might've changed for the worse since then.

[Zambuzan]

My research tells me rack doctor fell off during covid, likely due to the shutdowns, possible layoffs, and I think they were moving locations at one point in 2022. And like I said in another post, I can't even access their store page. (Error 404 every time)

I'll definitely be taking a risk, but there's a 2 year warranty so hopefully rockauto will hold up to that. Plus if it works out then maybe it'll help build their rep as a good option for people.

Best of luck! Update us on the quality of the rack, would help others as well.

[82eye]

I'll definitely be taking a risk, but there's a 2 year warranty so hopefully rockauto will hold up to that. Plus if it works out then maybe it'll help build their rep as a good option for people.

the rock auto racks are mostly mavon, which is a chinese brand, and pretty much a disaster. replace all the boots if you go that way. chinese rubber is notoriously poor and breaks down fast. if you get lucky it'll be a reman, but you will still have to replace the boots, and they will send whatever fits, they won't care what the ratio is.

[82eye]

I got my rebuilt ZF "Purple" tag rack from Rack Doctor back in 2019. No complaints from me, the rack was in amazing quality and he happily answered all my pesky emails prior to the purchase.

Install was a breeze: I just used the rack swap kit from Garagistic, modified the steering knuckle, and plumbed up the factory PS lines to the new rack. Everything still works like a charm.

I personally wouldn't use a no-name rack, but that's just me.

i went with the turner since it doesn't come from a pile of scammers and is built in the states. rack doctor does nothing but steal money now. they have literally the worst rep in the industry. they lost their bbb listing and the rating when to a flat f. you won't find a positive review from 2020 forward anywhere.