E46 328i - rattly steering

[john_p]

Picking up a rattle through the steering wheel, much worse on broken surfaces or over bumps where there is a bit of a knocking noise too and the wheels feel like they are taking their own path (if that makes sense). Tramlining, sort of.

No stability or handling issues, just a slightly more unpleasant ride and it seems to be getting worse bit by bit.

Not had the chance to look under it as I seem to spend my life in darkness. Ideas of what to check? It's a 328i SE with 120k, don't know exact details but it had loads of work done on the suspension about 12 months ago so I'd imagine most "wear" items got replaced then..

[erolb]

I had the same on my 2000 328i SE. Had to have new front wishbones (which came with new bushes) and anti-roll bars. That sorted it. Troubled me for about a year. Wasn't a mega expensive fix, about £250 from a local garage. Still not the best though.

Cheers

[d5hef]

Sounds like front suspension lower arm rear bushes...

[Shropshiremike]

erolb said:

I had the same on my 2000 328i SE. Had to have new front wishbones (which came with new bushes) and anti-roll bars.
Cheers

Are you sure? Do you mean bushes or drop links or similar rather than the bars themselves?

[joesmoe]

compliance? (sp) bush's mine's doing the same thing at the moment

[bazking69]

The front wishbone rear bushes along with the balljoints on the front arms are the usual, and will cause skittish driving and knocking on rough surfaces.
Other options are ARB drop links or ARB D bushes.
I replaced all of the above and still had play/a knock with mine. Turned out to be the steering rack tie rods were worn, so I replaced the pair along with the track rod end and problem sorted.
BTW don't replace with cheap arms. False economy.