E36 Steering rack, worth it?

[Adrian_Visser]

I have my car aligned with zero toe and it doesn't feel too "darty." It does tend to follow curvatures in the road quite a bit though.

I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I noticed a huge difference just changing tires. The car used to pull to the left noticeably with worn out P-zeros on it, with the Starspecs I'm currently running it tracks way better.

[Ant_e30]

can you re-use E30 tie rods (inner & outer) with E36 rack? I didnt know about rack swaps etc and bought brand new Lemforder tie rod assemblies but am now considering doing the rack at the same time as i get those installed..

[Wh33lhop]

Probably... it tracks straight as an arrow, though I know it needs new bushings pretty much everywhere they exist. Having driven my E30, a friend's E36 and my E39 (all recently), my E30 has the most crisp turn-in of all of them, and has the crappiest tires of the three. That's what prompted the question.

Put some bushings and better tires on the poor car and check the alignment. E39s are very stable cars through-and-through, but you shouldn't be scared of your E30. Are you on stock suspension too?

[agent]

Put some bushings and better tires on the poor car and check the alignment. E39s are very stable cars through-and-through, but you shouldn't be scared of your E30. Are you on stock suspension too?

Bushings and wheels/tires are definitely all on the (extensive and constantly growing) list. I changed direction on this car after I bought it... after discovering it was almost completely original I decided to turn it into a full street restoration instead of a track rat. In turn, it's taking longer to get "done" since I'm taking care of what I can as I'm able afford it.

Yes it's still on stock springs and Boges for the time being, though I'm not scared of it by any means. I didn't mean to give that impression, so perhaps my choice of words wasn't the best. It's just that going from driving a rock-solid, heavy E39 (with sticky tires) every day to an E30 (with admittedly crappy tires on stock 14" weaves) for only an hour or two a week is a pretty big difference. Again, that's what prompted my question about this conversion since my E30 certainly feels more nimble than my E39 or my friend's E36, though in their respective conditions right now and because I'm in it much more frequently, I'm sure I can drive my E39 much faster.