[Dulles530]

Originally Posted by jc031662

I'm on my 2nd F10. If I had my way, I would have preferred to get my money back and walked away from BMW, never looking back. Tis a shame tho - aside from the pull issue, the F10 is an outstanding car.

Care to share your story on your first F10, and how you got BMW to take it back?

[Touring]

Reading all this I will wait one year into production before I trade in my F11 with the F31. Thats for sure !

[F11-Diesel]

Originally Posted by Touring

Reading all this I will wait one year into production before I trade in my F11 with the F31. Thats for sure !

+1

[FG]

Originally Posted by Dulles530

The problem is that with both faults (grinding/pulling) now fixed, BMW NA will not discuss taking the car back.. after all its fixed. A BMW technician from their HQ was sent to my dealer to test the steering and he found it "within specifications". So that's their viewpoint. Mine is as Car and Driver magazine said - the steering is awful, and then it causes you to start second guessing other parts of the driving experience. The video game steering makes me a little leary and without a planted feel. So at this stage it is either live with it, or buy a new car then sell the 535.

As far as BMW, their customer service has been dreadful. They refused to take the car back, and often bounced issues between BMW NA and the local dealer in an eternal game of ping pong, never with resolution. I can't sell my 535 back to the dealer because its "too new" and wouldn't be a certified pre owned. Further for a few more $$, a person could buy a new one - all this per a local sales guy. All rubbish, but thats the way they want it.

So it's not so much about letting BMW off, its just my options are very limited.

Thanks for the additonal background. That's what I suspected, BMW and their dealer didn't leace you with any other option.
Good luck with your new 535xDrive.

[FG]

I'm happy to report that, after having my 535i in for two 5 day service visits, and insisting with the SA that the car was not "performing normally"; the pulling to the right problem appears to be fixed.
I got the car back on Friday and have been driving it for the last couple of days and am now satisfied that not only has the pulling issue been rectified but the overall steering feel has vastly improved as well.
According to my SA, they performed another alignment centered the steering wheel and applied another SW update provided by BMW.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by FG

I'm happy to report that, after having my 535i in for two 5 day service visits, and insisting with the SA that the car was not "performing normally"; the pulling to the right problem appears to be fixed.
I got the car back on Friday and have been driving it for the last couple of days and am now satisfied that not only has the pulling issue been rectified but the overall steering feel has vastly improved as well.
According to my SA, they performed another alignment centered the steering wheel and applied another SW update provided by BMW.

Do you have the SW numbers?

When I originally drove my car (an April build car) it had a horrific pull to the right. I refused to take delivery until they fixed it. They aligned the car, applied two different software fixes, and pronounced it fixed. When I went to pick up the car, it was much, much better. I thought the problem solved.

Fast forward a month and with 1,200 miles under my belt, I can say that I still have a pull to the right along with the other symptoms listed: terrible stability in crosswinds, constant need to correct the course of the car, etc. At times, when accelerating out of a 90 degree turn, it feels like the car has FWD and I'm getting torque steer, as I have to counter steer the wheel.

I am going to make an appointment with the dealer next week and have them look at this problem as well as some others, including a shifter that is reluctant to go into M/S.

Question, has anyone asked BMW to dial in a bit more toe in on the alignment?

[FG]

Do you have the SW numbers?


Sorry, I don't, they didn't specify the SW version on the work order.
It could be that they are tuning the steering SW for each individual vehicle; have read similar from other posters.

After a few more days of driving, I actually enjoy driving the car because the steering has a good on center feel, is sportier/heavier, more responsive and predictable.

FG

[bimmerfrei]

I´ve also had my steering fixed. It is much better after rotating struts and two software updates. BUT I can´t say the steering is good. I would say that it´s good for beeing bad, if that makes any sense. After driving two loaner cars without the Dynamic Damper Control, I am absolutely certain that the problem isn´t the electronic steering but something connected to the dampers. The cars without DDC are completely different in terms of feeling. They still pull to the right in some conditions but they feel so much more connected to the road. Since my F10 is in for repair, due to the shitty N53 engine, for the fourth time I'll be switching back to a 335d as soon as I can get rid of my F10. Hasta la vista baby.

[Needsdecaf]

Has anyone asked their dealer to dial in a little more toe in?

I took a 60 mile round trip mostly highway run last night, and the car required CONSTANT steering correction. It feels like the car just doesn't want to track straight. Could it be as simple as different alignment specs?

[surajorthodont]

sme prob bro..im lucky im still alive!!!crap vehicle..zig zag..left-right..everywhere..te car nvr stays in a straight line..wat any automobile is oiginally build 2 do..i wasted my hard earned money on this car..
shame on bmw 4 not accepting the fault.mercedes rules(my other car).
i wanna get rid of mine asap..b4 it takes my life!!!

[grimlock]

Originally Posted by surajorthodont

i could skin te lead engineer alive for this.

I hope thats a figure of speech.. or BMW might think twice before selling cars to places where customers entertain such thoughts. Its a two way street, bro.

[surajorthodont]

jus a figure of speech bro..jus 2 vent out my frustrations of drivin on te edge e'day!no harm intended.

[Evil335i]

Has anyone fixed the pulling to the right issue yet? Like a real fix? Is it all software?

[cagatacos]

Problem solved!!
It is much better after rotating struts, 2 alignment check and 1 software update in 1 March. No pulling to the right (straight as an arrow, seems no more zig zag at 120 km/h). BUT the steering feels to much heavier at midle speeds (town 40-60 km/h) and higher speeds need much strength to turn the wheel. Know i can not see diffference in sport or normal (in the sport auto) in the feeling of the wheel. So its not perfect but near it.
i can go at 220 Km/h and no stress because of the continuous corrections.
Thanks BMW.

[MojoeF10]

Well, I figured since I started this thread back in July, I should give everyone an update on my situation. In a nutshell, I pursued the lemon law, went toe to toe with BMW's attorney in a long 4 hour arbitration hearing, received a 2 to 1 vote in my favor (all 3 arbitrators were in my favor but due to a legal technicality, one of the members of the panel reluctantly had to vote for the manufacturer), I received a full refund, and purchased another 535i.

It's been a LONG process, but I stuck with it and never backed down. I initially wanted a replacement car, but my dealership gave me a fantastic deal on one that was built on 2/16/11. I couldn't pass it up, so I opted for the refund check instead. The transaction was completed last night, and I am happy to say that my new car drives significantly better than my 'lemon.' No pulling to the right, and the acceleration is silky smoothe (unlike the jerkiness I felt in my old one).

Anyway, good luck to those who are still having this issue. Don't back down.

[delvek]

Thank you Mojoe for the follow up. This thread you have created many months ago and 18 pages later has been a source of assistance to me as I too went down the road of a replacement. I wont go into my details out of respect of the good people who did help me but I will say what I have always said. This problem is real and its something that those of us who pre-ordered (or shortly thereafter) have suffered with. I firmly believe BMW corrected the issue in its assembly process but cannot figure a way to fix the affected.

I look forward to my week 14 delivery and my continued love affair with the F10 550i.

[caramanza]

Don't know if this is at all relevant, but I'll say it...

I had a pull to the right in a brand new F11, which was caused by the front right runflat tire losing pressure, very slowly.

Being runflats, you don't see anything. Don't ask me how I came to thinking I should check the tire pressure. I just did, for some reason.

And well, there it was - pressure 0,9 bar...

Since they changed the tire, its all fine

So whoever has this pull to the right, might want to have a look at the tires. No offense, though...

[delvek]

No offense taken but this probably is much deeper then tire pressures. I for one constantly checked them, even played with them to manipulate the pull. I know BMW worked all over my car as well.

This problem will soon disappear into the archives on this forum as well as for owners. BMW has solved the problem and those affected will deal with it the way they see best.

[AussieMarkF]

My right hand drive Australian spec 520d drifted badly to THE LEFT, from the first day that I took delivery of it in January 2011. After two attempts by dealership to rectify this problem, it is about to go in for a the 3rd attempt this Friday. Its a very annoying defect with the car.

[Needsdecaf]

I really need to find time to bring my car back in again for this. I plan on having them work on it until it's right, even if they have to replace the entire steering system with updgraded parts.

[cagatacos]

f11 sport auto 17`non RFT
As i told before after 2 alligmnte ceck and 1 sw update mine goes straight.
Now the steering is to hevy and uncorfortable (and my arms they hurt after some km). Even if change sport to normal the steering remaisn the same.
Is this the price to pay to solve the pull to the right?
As any one as the same problem?

[RLM]

I have a December build car (535xi), that I picked up a month ago. The car has pulled to the right since day one. I have about 900 miles on it and after drifting all over the road for the last month I finally couldn't take it anymore. I had the dealer look at it on Monday and there "top" technician spoke with a BMW engineer and the result is that they are going to replace the "camber bolts". The camber bolts should be arriving today or tomorrow, at that point they will schedule a time to install them, I will keep you posted if this works!