E36 Steering Problems

[james328i]

Afternoon all,

lately my E36 has encountered a problem. When I am driving the steering seems to be all over the place. It definetely feels like it's the front end. Even if there is a small bump in the road it feels like it will knock the car off course. It will also sometimes pull to the left. Its quite frightening at times and the car used to drive in a perfect straight line. Both front tyres are new so I can rule that one out.

Any ideas?

Cheers

[MarJay]

I've heard that steering issues are usually down to worn ball joints in the front suspension lower arms. Clearly I'm not 100% sure without seeing the car but its a good place to start.

I bought a pair of brand new lower arms with ball joints and bushes fitted for £120 off of ebay (for my E36 325i) They are Bilstein ones too so they aren't chinese crap. The only thing I don't know is how easy they are to fit. It looks straightforward but I've heard rumours of the ball joints being a PITA to remove from the car. I've got a pickle fork (ball joint) tool but I've not been brave enough to attack my car because its a daily driver and I don't want to have to leave it in a half finished state.

Examine the lower arms and see if the ball joints are loose. That would be the first step I guess...

[james328i]

Thanks for the reply,

were your items brand new or were they second hand? I have 4 days off work next week so I might have a go myself if this is my issue. What other problems would I notice if it were the ball joints?

[cushT]

My last e36 had the same symptoms & it was the ball joints.

[james328i]

Did you get the ball joints replaced or the whole arm? Did you have to replace the rear bushes if so?

[buggalugs]

It's possible to press out the old ball joints from the arm but it's a ball ache, esp. if you haven't got an actual press. Whole arms aren't too expensive anyway. The manual says that you have to replace the control arm bushes if you change the whole arm as the old bushes will be the devils own job to get off and back on again without damaging them. They're only cheap anway and worth changing of they're more than a few years old as they make a big difference to the handling. Use a hacksaw to get the old ones out of the 'lollipops', hammer and wood to get the new ones in.

HTH!
Neil

[Mr Green]

The wifes car is in the garage having one ball joint replaced. It was an advisory on the MOT but it must be trivial as I can't feel anything and its a 323 touring(heavy car). If your car is 'all over the road' surely your last MOT must have picked up on it.
I'll let you know tomorrow what they charged me. It was a 90 minute job on my E34 and £70 for the arm and ball joint.

[SnrEast]

Hi guys, was just reading this post and this is exactly the same problem im having with mine (E36 328i) i have replaced the lower arms, bushes and ball joints and the problem continues to get worse...

could there be any other causes?