F10 / F11 Steering Problems

[flatso]

Good evening to the community,

I am possibly looking into a F11 x-drive (530d/535d/535i/550i; still undecided about the engine). I've been reading a lot of forums and everybody seems to mention that the F10 / F11 can't hold a straight line and basically nothing short of changing the entire steering column will fix the problem.
Are there any engine/suspension spec combinations that do not have this problem?

A great weekend to all

[scz4]

Firstly I don't think the F11 available with X-Drive in the UK, unless it's just out in the last month.

I have a 2011 F11 525d M Sport on 19" rims and absolutely no problems holding it in a straight line or any other problem for that matter in the 16k miles 20 months I've had it.

[flatso]

I live in Switzerland, but this problem seems to be common throughout the entire model range.

[F355GTS]

Not sure I've noticed a steering problem on my F11, it is badly affected by crosswinds though

[Buster73]

Done nearly 70,000 miles in my F10 running on 19" wheels and never had any concern about the steering yet.

[530dTPhil]

86,000 in a September '10 F11 530d and absolutely no steering problems; on 19" rims and run flats.

[Shezbo]

Buster73 said:

Done nearly 70,000 miles in my F10 running on 19" wheels and never had any concern about the steering yet.

Not as many miles, but no steering concerns...who invents this rubbish?

[Roo3Stuart]

Ditto, no problems at all

[Stewiegriffin]

I have had 5 f10 in both 4 cyl and 6 cyl and a 4 cyl f11 and have had no issue. I have heard some people report tram lining when RF tyres start to wear.

[Stewiegriffin]

I have had 5 f10 in both 4 cyl and 6 cyl and a 4 cyl f11 and have had no issue. I have heard some people report tram lining when RF tyres start to wear.

[F355GTS]

Maybe it only affects LHD cars?

[Wills2]

Zero issues with my old F10 over 57,000 miles, in fact it was the most stable car I've driven at speed.

[Fastfred]

I've recently acquired a very low mileage F10 520d SE fitted with standard 17" rims and run flats.

It is almost impossible to hold a straight line under any conditions - constant steering input needed.

Would changing to non RFTs help, perhaps with 18" rims?

[530dTPhil]

Run flats can create this problem when they are worn down to around 3mm or less. They become very sensitive to lines in the road and in particular the grooves created in lane one of a motorway by HGVs.

[Gammelhagger01]

I have just purchased a 2010 F11 525D ( 3.0 ) with 63.000 km on it...

I have the exact same problems you guys describe, and I was wondering if there was any fix yet ??
The "funny" thing, is that I had a F10 535i from the same year before this one... and it did not suffer ???
The F11 has the sport gearbox, but the problem is there even in sport+. The F10 did`nt have the sport gearbox.... can that be the reason it rode well ?

Anyway..... I hope there is a fix by now, because the car is very very tiresome to drive as it is now....

NB: 4 wheel alignment has been done, original 18" wheels with new Hankook tires, no faults in control arm bushings... ???

[530dTPhil]

530dTPhil said:

86,000 in a September '10 F11 530d and absolutely no steering problems; on 19" rims and run flats.

Same car now on 147,000 and no steering issues. Two front lower arms changed at about 135,000 but that's it.

[northpolar]

How very very odd!! My last car was an f11 530d with flappy paddles and adaptive suspension; my current car is an f11 535d without flappies and sports suspension. Both cars were arrow straight - I've never experienced any wandering, something I was quite familiar with in the 996. Are the estates immune to this problem or have I just been lucky. Only other factor I can think off is that I haven't got as far as wearing a set of tyres out yet in an f11.

Peter

[14-7]

Not sure if it is confined to just certain cars but more the ones with electric steering.

I have a 1 series and the Mrs an X3 which has electric steering. The X3 tramlines all over the place and is quite disconcerting whereas the 123d stays staight and true no matter what the surface.

At work I have access to a lot of cars and the newer BMW's with electric steering definitely aren't as easy to control. Some people even refuse to use certain models as day to day cars due to this issue and they are always the ones with electric steering.

[Cambridgestyper]

I have recently bought a 535d MSport 2015 with 15k miles and I can certainly identify the straight ahead wander problem in the comfort modes. It is tiresome bordering on the dangerous, an experience as un-BMW like as you can get. Change the mode to Sport and the steering weight gets heavier and the straight ahead feel improves significantly but of course the revs increase with a detrimental affect on economy albeit still impressive for such a car.
The root cause appears to be the change from hydraulic to electric power steering a development which has many advantages and few disadvantages except for BMW it would seem where for many it has all but ruined that wonderful driving experience. My 535d in Comfort mode feels more like a sloppy American car of old on a straight road.
Why some owners experience this and not others is puzzling other than it is true that some are more sensitive to steering feel than others or perhaps individual cars do vary.
The problem is peculiar to straight ahead steering only, presumably where no electric steering assistance is being applied and therefore no damping effect is being given to the natural forces coming from the road surface undulations. As damping IS applied in Sport Mode it would appear to be a software controlled so a simple enough issue to resolve, one would have thought. In some models you can mix and match the various mode conditions but it would appear I can't put the Sport steering committee setting into the comfort mode which would be an improvement. If you know how to do this please post the method.
Finally what is most frustrating is that the BMW dealerships are less than open in discussions about such issues. Many would rather charge for suspension and steering checks rather than address the core issue which seems to be that, unusually for them, they are behind the competition in the development of electric power steering. It is no co-incidence that Jaguar get rave reviews for the XF.
Solve this for me and Iwill have the perfect car.

[Wills2]

I must have been really lucky then none of the 3 f10s I had were unstable at speed in anyway whatsoever, they'd just cruise down the motorway needing almost nothing from me in the way of input.