[stanleyy]

hi jens, I know what you mean. Today I made 300 km on my F10 ( 03/2010 build ) through villages here in Slovakia and it was terrible! I could hardly keep the car on the road, being affraid to drive faster than 110km/h, I had to do steering corrections all the time. During overtaking, I have to be very careful, because the car is "jumpy" ( I turn to the left, then it makes a big move and I have to immediately turn to the right to compensate the overshoot )
The problem is not that visible on nice flat highways ( although even there the car starts to pull to the left/right after some time ), but if the road is not fully ok, it gets worse. Add some wind, and you can get into a big trouble..

The car was already in the service and they told me ( of course ) that everything is fine... Of course it is hard to prove something which is not clearly visible

I never drove a car which has such a bad handling, it is impossible to compare it to my previous rock solid E90 ( these two cars are like a day & night ).

But yesterday I found this post:
http://www.motor-talk.de/forum/lenkv...-t3146705.html

It is in German, but it describes the very same problem.
The issue was caused by overheating of the EPS... In the end, BMW had replaced completely the EPS ( electric power steering ) in that guy's car and the problem was gone! There is already a PUMA case for that, but noone is able to get the number from BMW. So I am affraid BMW knows very well that they have serious issues with their EPS, but they don't want to spend a hell lot of money to replace those expensive steering components in all older F10 cars

[dbs600]

So are we saying the problem becomes more pronounced after a certain number of miles driven - such that certain electrical steering components overheat and cannot compute steering feedback correctly? How is it that BMW will be allowed to get away with this!? I own my cars and keep them a long time and having to replace this car will cause me to take a big hit in depreciation...

[stanleyy]

I am also very disappointed... I think this is the most serious issue on the F10 and they must do something about it. So many people are complaining...

6 months ago I participated on an official quality test of BMW dealers/services where I got in touch with some BMW people from Germany. So I will try to contact them directly and ask them whether they know something about this problem. Let's see what happenes!

[jensputzier]

Originally Posted by stanleyy

But yesterday I found this post:
http://www.motor-talk.de/forum/lenkv...-t3146705.html

It is in German, but it describes the very same problem.
The issue was caused by overheating of the EPS... In the end, BMW had replaced completely the EPS ( electric power steering ) in that guy's car and the problem was gone! There is already a PUMA case for that, but noone is able to get the number from BMW. So I am affraid BMW knows very well that they have serious issues with their EPS, but they don't want to spend a hell lot of money to replace those expensive steering components in all older F10 cars

My car does not drive differently when it's warm. I drove 120 miles one way and back today (so 240 miles) and it was not a function of time or anything like it. Today it was rather windy and that made everything even worse.

I drive many rental cars and the only car that drove as bad was a Fiat Panda I had in Italy earlier this year

[stanleyy]

I have Fiat 500 at home ( which is basically Fiat Panda ), but that small car is much more fun to drive than my 68k Euro F10! That is insane...
2 jensputzier: what will you do with your F10? Will you just let it be or will you take some actions?? That car must be still under warranty, so BMW must fix it. It seems I have the same problem as you so we can fight together

[jensputzier]

OK, now yesterday we had a visit of two engineers from BMW of which one was a suspension engineer directly from Munich.

They drove my F10 and the F11 we have for 100 miles each.

They could reproduce the behavior (pulling to the left and right, vague steering, etc.).

They say, that this is the way the car should drive and that everything is absolutely normal and within whatever tolerances there may be.

They say that the car is designed to behave differently compared to the E60/E61 and that this is just how it is.

Tough luck so to speak.

Luck is though that my car's leasing ends in April ;-)

[yogi799]

Shocking....

[stanleyy]

I can't believe what I just read... I have to pay leasing for the next 4 years! And the car is totally undriveable, it has nothing to do with "driving pleasure".
In worst case I am gonna pay the replacement of the whole steering drive...

[yogi799]

You guys better go to some other dealership to fight for it, as this is NOT how the car is designed. I have a slight pull to the right which can be annoying, but the car is overall VERY STABLE and hugs the road with huge force, balance and grip even at very high speeds... Something is very very wrong with your rides. If dealer won't help, take it to alignment shop. Often times misaligned front suspension will cause the car to be very shaky, unstable and wandering on the road.

One thing I agree on, however, is that the steering at high speeds should be tighter, much tighter. My E46 was like that and I loved it. You could not accidentally move the wheel and change my direction. Very precise during passing, etc. F10 is not bad, but definitely not as good as my old E46 (on the freeway, in the city, the steering is great minus the right pull).


___________

[stanleyy]

My car was aligned 4 weeks ago, they found misalignment on the front axle ( the rear was fine ). Bad geometry damaged both front tyres, I had to replace them. I wonder, if it is a coincidence, that I have had both steering issues and problems with the geometry...

[stanleyy]

Originally Posted by yogi799

My E46 was like that and I loved it. You could not accidentally move the wheel and change my direction. Very precise during passing, etc. F10 is not bad, but definitely not as good as my old E46 (on the freeway, in the city, the steering is great minus the right pull).

My previous car was E90 and that was a real fun to drive! I am now totally disappointed with BMW, I really hope it gets better.

[jensputzier]

Originally Posted by stanleyy

My previous car was E90 and that was a real fun to drive! I am now totally disappointed with BMW, I really hope it gets better.

I have a very low mileage 1997 320i convertible and that is perfect compared to the F10.

[ccboye]

I'm experiencing the same issue too where the car quickly pulls to the right. The dealer claims it needs an alignment so we shall see if that fixes the problem or not. I'm also going to upgrade to the style 356 20 inch wheels. I wonder if that may also improve the handling of the car.

[dbs600]

Does the F10 pulling to the right problem span multiple model years?

[stanleyy]

my car was built in March 2010, but I have seen similar reports from people with cars made in 2011...

[jensputzier]

My car is one of the first built in 02/2010 and sold in 04/2010.

Yesterday BMW said that they will replace the steering column on my car as it is not the one used in later models.

Why did they test drive the car with two engineers who later claimed that everything was fine when they now replace the steering or part thereof?

Besides the fact that our 520d F11 is built in 07/2011 and shows the same problems.

[dbs600]

jensputzier: How did your dealer come to replace your steering column? Did you return a second time for the same complaint - pulling to the right - after the time the engineers said there was nothing wrong or did the dealer contact you - without you contacting them - to say you should come in for the replacement?

[islandnipper]

I've just picked up a MY2012 520d (production date 19th Sept), that does not pull at all - admittedly after only 120 miles, but on mixed motorway/rural roads.

I was careful to note the differences between the new car and my outgoing 2008 E60 530i within a couple of hours of each-other on the same roads and can't feel any difference in (good) stability on the straight.

For the record, it's on 18s, standard steering, VDC, the latter tried on sport and comfort so far.

[stanleyy]

My car was in the service yesterday ( replacement of airconditioning control panel, left knob was not working properly ) and I asked them again to check the steering. I was told that they have created a new PUMA request, which has been sent to Germany. And that I have to wait until they get reply from BMW HQ.
According to the dealer, I am their first customer who is complaining about steering

[dbs600]

Please keep us posted stanleyy!

[snj1013]

Well, I dropped of my car so the dealer can have another go at fixing my pulling to right problem. The first time, they aligned the car, but it really didn't do much to improve the pulling to the right issue. One glimmer of hope is that my Service Advisor was aware of the Straight Ahead Calcuation software fix as well as rotating the struts. I was impressed! I had a service ticket that a user on another forum site posted printed out to show the advisor, but he didn't need it.

I did get a 2011 535i (Nov 2010 build) as a loaner and it is a lot better than my 2011 528i (Dec 2010 build). My car will pull out of my lane at highway speeds in 2-3 seconds. The 535i takes 6-7 seconds to do the same.

[yogi799]

Originally Posted by snj1013

Well, I dropped of my car so the dealer can have another go at fixing my pulling to right problem. The first time, they aligned the car, but it really didn't do much to improve the pulling to the right issue. One glimmer of hope is that my Service Advisor was aware of the Straight Ahead Calcuation software fix as well as rotating the struts. I was impressed! I had a service ticket that a user on another forum site posted printed out to show the advisor, but he didn't need it.

I did get a 2011 535i (Nov 2010 build) as a loaner and it is a lot better than my 2011 528i (Dec 2010 build). My car will pull out of my lane at highway speeds in 2-3 seconds. The 535i takes 6-7 seconds to do the same.

Are you sure you tested the loaner on the exact same stretch of freeway? This electric steering is extremely sensitive to road crowning. So unless you drove in the same place with exact same wind speed, I'd be skeptical whether the loaner pulled any less.