[blackhawk_pilot2000]

Originally Posted by AWF10

Looks like an alignment will be performed but dealer said it's not covered since mileage is over 2,000 miles? WTF?

I thought everything is covered under warranty for first 50,000 miles. And when I contacted them the car was under 2k but I wasn't able to get in until today.

When I first took mine in with the complain it had 500 mls, the didnt have an opening to see me till 3 weeks later. The lady told me that below 2000 the aligment was covered, I told her that I could not afford to park the car just because they couldn't see me till later and that I intended to drive a lot over the holidays. She made note of it and whe I went back to give them the car I had about 4000mls racked up on it. They covered it still because according to the note I reported the issue before 2000 mls.

So for the update;
picked up the car today after 7 days in the shop. The adjusted the struts, made more aligments, and today the "re programed" the car. The car now goes in the direction I last place the wheel on. I felt a slight tendency of very little right drifting after letting go of the wheel for more than 6 or 8 seconds. I attribute it to road camber. What put a big smile on my face after 40 or so minutes testing it in the autobahn was the fact that even at 100 mph my driving felt pretty relaxed. I had my left arm resting on my leg with just the fingers touching the wheel and imputing minimal seldom corrections. No fatigue and actually found myself admiring the interior and gadgets while driving, I felt luxury all around. The though of any pull or drifting is vanishing with more time behind the wheel and with it almost gone doors are opening to enjoy this investment for what it truly is: an amazing and sophisticated machine.
Like I said I'm still looking for the drift and I know that this is not a perfect world and there will be times When it drifts a little but I feel that it is not due to any flaw in the car but rather the roads that perhaps aren't ready for good ol Olivia.
BTW, Olivia is the name I gave to my 535i.

I'll up date if there are glitches but so far whatever they did seems to have made the world of difference.

[bimmerfrei]

That's great news. I've had the strut thing done on my car (made it better but not enough) but I'm still waiting for my dealer to get back to me about any available software updates that will improve the steering.

[delvek]

Well, Blackhawk, wish I could share in the enjoyment of our German dealers expertise but I just received my 550 back this evening and I am not too happy.

I now have a persistent pull to the left. Dramatically noticeable when accelerating, moderately noticeable when maintaining speed and not very noticeable when braking.

What did they do on this 4th appointment ... they dropped the springs, rotated the struts 7 degrees then reinstalled the springs.

Will be calling salesman tomorrow to discuss options, if I need to I will pursue the lemon law here in Germany. What really pisses me off is, I love the car inside and out so I refuse to talk bad about it, just this steering issue is like a persistent nagging mother-in-law.

sigh.

[blackhawk_pilot2000]

Oh man, well my car is not perfect but good enough now. Take it right back to the shop and tell them to keep it until it drives straight. Have them give you a 1 series and race the crap out of it lol. I was in touch with my salesman and got pissed at him because asides from repeating how sorry he was this was happening to me, he wouldn't suggest anything else. At one point I just wanted to return the car for a full refund and had this last visit to the shop not made things better I think I would have walked into the legal office on post. I know how you feel, this is such a great car, but the pull issue takes the joy out of the drive.
I've been driving it more and even take the long way home. It drifts a very minimal bit towards the right still, but for the most part it goes straight. Once I find where exactly straight is I'll be a happy man

[jc031662]

Originally Posted by blackhawk_pilot2000

Once I find where exactly straight is I'll be a happy man

Unfortunately I doubt any of us will ever have that joy. I'm on F10 #2 that drives "straight" and can tell you it's just a fairy tail.

[blackhawk_pilot2000]

Originally Posted by jc031662

Unfortunately I doubt any of us will ever have that joy. I'm on F10 #2 that drives "straight" and can tell you it's just a fairy tail.

Wow,
So what you are saying is that even those that did/do not suffer from the pulling or drift still have issues finding where exactly straight is?
Like I said my car now is better to the point that I really don't have much f a leg to stand on to take it back to the shop. If I did I would certainly loose any credibility and run the risk of them not taking me serious if I need anything done in the future. That's how much better it is.
However now instead of making corrections for it to not pull to the right, I think I fin my self occasionally searching for the straight setting on the wheel. It will go in whatever direction I place it on, and sometimes I get lucky and find the position of "straight" I leave it there and enjoy the ride.... Till next curve then is back to hoping I find that magical position of "straight".
If I'm not alone on this and this happens to be an inherent characteristic of the car due to EPS or bigger grill, whatever, I'll accept it. I can live with that.

[ivolve]

Blackhawk,
do you have any info on the "reprogramming" of the car?

[blackhawk_pilot2000]

Originally Posted by ivolve

Blackhawk,
do you have any info on the "reprogramming" of the car?

I don't have details although they said they were gonna send a copy of repair on the mail. Either way I'm inclined to just go down there sometime this week once I feel completely sure it's fix to express my gratitude and then get the complete out brief on what was exactly done to the car.

[Alan48]

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works: my F11 pulls to the left. You've all probably done the test of lining up the steering and then letting go of the lower part of the steering wheel ever so gently, only to find your car veering off course (on all types of road surface). I live in the UK.

[AWF10]

So I got my car back after 2 days and they said they did not need to perform an alignment (which wasn't covered anyhow). The paper states that they adjusted and reindexed both front strut mounts. They also crossed front tires. This helped a bit since originally the car pull to right and changed lane after after 4-5 secs...now its more like 6-8 secs later. Didn't say they did anything with software. Still not perfect though.

[grimlock]

Originally Posted by delvek

Well, Blackhawk, wish I could share in the enjoyment of our German dealers expertise but I just received my 550 back this evening and I am not too happy.

I now have a persistent pull to the left. Dramatically noticeable when accelerating, moderately noticeable when maintaining speed and not very noticeable when braking.

What did they do on this 4th appointment ... they dropped the springs, rotated the struts 7 degrees then reinstalled the springs.

Will be calling salesman tomorrow to discuss options, if I need to I will pursue the lemon law here in Germany. What really pisses me off is, I love the car inside and out so I refuse to talk bad about it, just this steering issue is like a persistent nagging mother-in-law.

sigh.

sounds like they just turned the struts to the left or something like that, so now you're leaning left instead of right .. maybe its just one of those things you can't really fix

[grimlock]

Originally Posted by AWF10

So I got my car back after 2 days and they said they did not need to perform an alignment (which wasn't covered anyhow). The paper states that they adjusted and reindexed both front strut mounts. They also crossed front tires. This helped a bit since originally the car pull to right and changed lane after after 4-5 secs...now its more like 6-8 secs later. Didn't say they did anything with software. Still not perfect though.

someone said before, its like how you try to cure a slice, you aim further the other direction, but then the slice just gets worse.. i feel for you guys

[wannes]

because the told me it was due to the assymetrice winter tires i changed them this weekend with a set of summer wheels in 20" to test ...
and still it pulls to the right

now i am waiting for them to get a sollution ... i will not rest before the car goes straight !

the only good thing of two hours of work is that i now have pictures of my car on 20" wheels

[delvek]

Originally Posted by grimlock

sounds like they just turned the struts to the left or something like that, so now you're leaning left instead of right .. maybe its just one of those things you can't really fix

Yea, I agree, I will not accept anything other then how a 70k US$ BMW with 4k miles on it is intended to drive. A pull is completely unacceptable. This will have a positive outcome.

[blackhawk_pilot2000]

What's the status on your car now? What are they telling you?

[delvek]

Too early to tell, I am pushing some buttons I will know more over the next few days, I will definitely let you know.

[delvek]

Originally Posted by wannes

because the told me it was due to the assymetrice winter tires i changed them this weekend with a set of summer wheels in 20" to test ...
and still it pulls to the right

now i am waiting for them to get a sollution ... i will not rest before the car goes straight !

the only good thing of two hours of work is that i now have pictures of my car on 20" wheels

They built it ... they fix it.

[AWF10]

After few days driving around, now it seems that it pulls slgihtly LEFT on some roads.

[d-rive]

I am completely no agree with these solutions with the modifications of camber or how is named these angles at direction mechanism. These changes may have a negative impact on tire wear.
Must be an official BMW solution, very "loud&clear" and with REAL results.

[delvek]

You are absolutely correct. Modifications to force the car to drive straight at this point are, for a lack of better words, half ass, and will most likely have residual side effects as you pointed out like uneven wear or stresses.

[Dulles530]

Got my 535i back from the dealer after service visit #2 (#1 fixed nothing). This time around they applied the latest software/reprogramming but I still notice some pulling to the right. After setting the car straight, and letting it go it starts to drift right after 4 seconds, sometimes a bit longer.

My dealer at this stage will no doubt claim what i'm seeing is caused by road camber/crown/slope (RC). But is it really? Does RC really over a given distance cause the sort of pull we have all been experiencing? Also some questions:

1). Couldn't I take friends cars (and service loaners for that matter) and drive the same sections of road where pull is evident? If they don't exhibit the same pull then surely that says something..

2). RC. Presumably roads are cambered from the middle line and slope off in each direction (on a 2 lane road). If we know the car pulls to the right, could I not drive on a 3 lane road (3 in the same direction) and get in the left lane? Technically the RC should slope to the left, so if the beemer continues to pull to the right in that lane then that might blow a hole in the RC theory

Basically i'm looking for methods to debunk the dealer's impending assertion that RC is the cause, and not the car

[Mr. Magic]

I think these 2 approaches are good. But dealers can be good at countering these observations. Here is what I fear they will say.

1) Unless you drive another F10 that is straight on the same road, they may say F10 is such "a great car, it's sensitive to everything in the road".

2) "The road is sloped/banked slightly in all lanes to one side intentionally." And they may throw in the "...F10 is such a great car that it's sensitive more than any others with its electronic steering, blah blah blah"

You might say "Gee, the test drives I did in the other demo cars (F10's) before I purchased, I did not experience this drift on the same test road." It's a bit harder for them to think of a way to counter this (your) experience, and if you had a salesman in the demo cars with you, they may think twice about pushing it.