[Eziv]

Hi everyone, hoping someone can help.

I was not happy with the steering wheel position on my X1 as it was “crooked” towards the right when driving on a straight road. So I took the car to the dealer here in Brussels, Belgium to fix it. They ended up doing a wheel alignment, arguing it was done incorrectly before (even though previous alignment was done only a couple of months ago). However, my original complaint only became worse — now the steering wheel is very noticeably off-centre. So I took the car to the dealer again in mid-December, had a test drive with a mechanic and he agreed that even though the car is not pulling right or left, the steering wheel is indeeed off-centre, when driving in a straight line. So we made another appointment for mid January. Left the car only to get a call an hour later that “everything is fine”. Went to the dealer only to be told that apparently the chief technical supervisor of BMW Belgium has test driven the car and believes everything is ok and thus no further work will be carried out.

Needles to say the car hasn’t been in an accident. The position of the steering wheel didn’t change after swapping to 17” winter tyres.

I frankly fail to see how this is normal and I am hoping there is a fix. Anyone can suggest something?

[MrTracey]

If you do a Google search on your problem ("steering wheel not straight after alignment") you will find many people discussing the same problem. Have a look at this one for example and specifically this answer :
"Take it back. It has nothing to do with the steering wheel itself, it's all in the tie rods.
To straighten the steering wheel you just extend one rod by x amount and shorten the other one by the same x amount.
While the car may track true in a straight line, by having un-equal length tie rods the bump steer will be off, too much on one side and not enough on the other. This can give you asymmetric steering response."

It seems from most of the discussions, the problem is usually due to bad job being done with the wheel alignment. Did they do what is usually referred to as a "4 wheel alignment" ?

[Eziv]

Thanks MrTracey. Well I also would like to think this is an easy fix and nothing that unusual. However, when speaking to them, they are like “for us it is all fine, there is nothing we can do.”

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by Eziv

Thanks MrTracey. Well I also would like to think this is an easy fix and nothing that unusual. However, when speaking to them, they are like “for us it is all fine, there is nothing we can do.”

That’s absolute bulls**t! I wouldn’t take that at all, there’s obviously a problem.

Ask them to take you out to the forecourt and show you how many BMW’s share the same steering offset...

[Encanto]

Correct alignment starts with centering the steering wheel and then the actual alignment process is performed. If the alignment cannot be done while the wheel is centered then check that the steering wheel is properly installed -there is a notch at the steering wheel mounting hole, and a notch at the steering wheel mount pin at the steering column. Notches must align.

[nyalpine90]

i would insist for them to repair, straighten wheel the way it should. their excuse is poor!

[Eziv]

Originally Posted by nyalpine90

i would insist for them to repair, straighten wheel the way it should. their excuse is poor!

Exactly my thoughts but I can’t seem to be able to force them — and by now I am starting to believe they geniunely don’t know how. I have raised the issue with BMW Belgium customer service (again, I should say) and written to BMW headquarters as well.

[nyalpine90]

Originally Posted by Eziv

Exactly my thoughts but I can’t seem to be able to force them — and by now I am starting to believe they geniunely don’t know how. I have raised the issue with BMW Belgium customer service (again, I should say) and written to BMW headquarters as well.

in the US, we call BMW NA to file any complaints towards dealerships lack of service/repair etc. I think you should call them up, emails/letters can get deleted/trashed.

[spitpilot]

Steering wheel inclination Track rod end worn Replace track rod end
Toe adjustment incorrectly adjusted Carry out chassis/wheel alignment check, adjust toe/track if necessary
Refer to troubleshooting on front axle

Here's the trouble shooting section for improper steering wheel inclination out of BMW's factory tech manual....show that to the dealer service dept!

[Eziv]

Originally Posted by spitpilot

Steering wheel inclination Track rod end worn Replace track rod end
Toe adjustment incorrectly adjusted Carry out chassis/wheel alignment check, adjust toe/track if necessary
Refer to troubleshooting on front axle

Here's the trouble shooting section for improper steering wheel inclination out of BMW's factory tech manual....show that to the dealer service dept!

Thanks much, I will give it a shot.

[Eziv]

Today I received an email full of corporate claptrap:

Dear Mister .

I thank you for your email from January 15.

We took note of your additional observations concerning your BMW X1 xDrive20d and we regret that the service offered by your BMW partner did not meet with your expectations.

In order to provide the best possible follow-up to your observations, we analyzed them together with Mr. Ludwig ..., Aftersales Manager at BMW Brussels and Mr. Joseph ..., Technical Inspector at BMW Group Belux.

After the test drive realized by Mr. ..., we can confirm that your vehicle is conform to the high quality standards of our mother house BMW AG.
You can therefore safely enjoy all the qualities of your vehicle.

BMW Brussels stays at your entire disposal for any further questions concerning your BMW.

I hope to have been of assistance to you with this information and I wish you a lot of driving pleasure with your BMW X1 xDrive20d.

Best Regards,

BMW Group Belux
Christophe ...
Dept. Sales Channel Development & Customer Relations
B1-BE-H-3
Customer Relations Officer
Lodderstraat 16 - 2880 Bornem - Belgium
Mail: [email]
Web: www.bmw.be / www.bmw.lu

[mr_lab_rat]

That's a lot of words for basically saying fuck you

[Eziv]

So I figured I will update everyone.

Since the latest post, the car has had something like 6 or so wheel alignments. In short, no real success. But here are the details.

I went to a speciality wheel alignment/tyre shop. They had a hunter machine. Did the alignment with me sitting inside the car, holding the steering wheel as I see it being straight. They agreed it is straight that way. Once tested on the street, the steering wheel was off-centre — again. Slightly bit better than before, but still. Went back to them a week later. They re-did it — no improvement. So I gave up but then, on my way home, noticed, that the alignment specs were for E84 (the previous gen X1). Went back. They didn’t even have the right specs but they called Hunter reps and they sent over the correct alignment specs (in that case, m suspensions on 17” wheels (my winter set)). Re-did the alignment with me sitting in the car again. Once tested on the road, it was as bad as in the picture I posted above.

Some days later went to a Bosch garage to just check the suspension. Everything was fine except that they found it strange that both shock absorbers in the front were loose — they tightened the screws on both of them and suggested I re-do the alignment.

A week later went to a different BMW garage. They did the alignment and the steering wheel was 99.9% straight. Maybe even better. So nothing to complain about. However, it was done using E84 specs on a KDS machine. The garage guys were very friendly and said they have another affiliated garage and they will do the alignment once they receive the F48 parameters. So the next appointment was in a month. Within that time I had to drive over 2k km, all on motorways. And the steering wheel slowly went back to its “original” off-centre position. Not as bad as in the picture above, but still outside of tolerance levels, I’d say .. So in March I left the car with the above garage and they re-did the alignment using the correct specs. The steering wheel was off by even more degrees. I test-drove with the chief mechanic who at first was defensive but then agreed that it was quite notiacly off-centre. He said he would open the file with BMW headquarters but there was nothing else he could do.

So couple of weeks later my car was already in my native Latvia. Checked it in a BMW garage. They did the alignment and the steering wheel was better, but not perfect, and one of the readings on the geometry printout was in red. I asked what it was and they said that basically it means the car is not straight and there is nothing they can do about it. I said, well, isn’t that something you have to check with BMW in Munich to which they said yes and asked me to leave the car with them for the time being. So two days ago I picked up the car. The geometry printout was all green. Apparently the previous reading was wrong. Anyway, after couple of attempts, they managed to make the steering wheel almost perfectly in centre. But it now pulls to the right quite noticeably.

Sigh.

[Eziv]

Incidentally there is another dude in Germany who seems to have the same problem and is given the same hard time as I am: https://www.motor-talk.de/forum/x1-z...-t6246177.html

[bimmerdriver2]

What happened to originally cause the steering wheel to be not straight? Was it just crooked or was it pulling? Irrespective of either, something must have gotten bent. Whatever is bent may have to be fixed before a proper alignment can be done. If there is an underlying problem, it could cause the steering wheel to be misaligned.

[Eziv]

Originally Posted by bimmerdriver2

What happened to originally cause the steering wheel to be not straight? Was it just crooked or was it pulling? Irrespective of either, something must have gotten bent. Whatever is bent may have to be fixed before a proper alignment can be done. If there is an underlying problem, it could cause the steering wheel to be misaligned.

Thanks. My thoughts exactly but apparently the frame has been checked and nothing is bent as such.

I bought the car from the dealer with 8k km on the clock. It was a company car and I don’t think it has been in a serious crash (among other things, we checked the paint thickness levels before the purchase). That, of course, does not preclude the fact that it might have hit the curb or something like that. The only visible damage that the car had was that both roof railings were extremely damaged and it was caused when getting the car off the trailer. The railings were of course replaced by them. Who knows if that incident caused other invisible damage too.

I believe the steering was off centre from the purchase, but I noticed it only after driving something like 500km or so (you know, the first couple of hundred kms you are paying attention to the road )

Lastly, I forgot to mention in my original post that the steering has been made straight after the first alignment in September 2017. In fact, they did the alignment and then I complained that it is still crooked and, after two attempts, they made it perfectly straight. Within the next couple of days which involved 2000km of driving the steering went back to the crooked position.

By now I don’t believe it is not the sloppiness of the wheel aligners that the steering wheel is the way it is. There is something more important going on. The German forums are full with people struggling with the same problem. For some, replacements of steering racks or columns, etc cured the problem. For some not.

For those with technical background and hoping any tidbit of information is helpful, the thing is that to me it feels as if the car is going somewhat sideways. Even when it was not pulling to the right (as it now is thanks to the last alignment), it always felt as a constant struggle with the steering wheel at higher speeds. Thus, you would sort of constantly adjust the steering wheel between the perfectly straight and crooked to the right position. And never to the other side. So it feels like there is more movement between straight and a bit to the right turning and not a bit to the left. Hope it makes sense.

Needles to say, the tyre pressure, swapping of tyres and wheel sets as well as testing on different roads does not really change the situation. I know the wheel aligners, when having a test drive with them, would often say, like, “but you know, this road is crowned.” So I would just drive on the opposite side of the road and, surprise, surpise, the steering wheel is still crooked to the right.

[Pganders]

I would begin to suspect that with the difficulty in getting the steering sorted and initial damage to the roof rails this Car has been in some sort of accident. I think you need to really push the dealer. Do you have photos of the original damage to the roof rails/evidence ce that it was what the dealer claimed?

[Eziv]

Originally Posted by Pganders

I would begin to suspect that with the difficulty in getting the steering sorted and initial damage to the roof rails this Car has been in some sort of accident. I think you need to really push the dealer. Do you have photos of the original damage to the roof rails/evidence ce that it was what the dealer claimed?

Yes, by now I also am not willing to ignore anything, hence also listing here all the details. Yet suspicion alone won’t be of any help. As I noted, they said they did the overall car geometry and apparently everything is fine (so they say, at least). I am willing to press them to do more but at one point I just have to come up with something concrete. As otherwise the steps are as follows:
1. I go back and they do another wheel alignment (because that is naturally the first step to do) for which I am charged.
2. Couple of attempts and they (hopefully) make the steering wheel straight.
3. Drive for 1-2k km and then go back to point 1.

Now of course I have a different/additional problem as the car is actually now also pulling to the right. But I am doubtful that after keeping the car for yet another week or so they will fix anything.

As a matter of fact, they just called me after seeing my videos of car pulling to right. The only additional thing — in addition to usual, yet another wheel alignment — they suggest setting the steering wheel to “zero position” as suggested by the manufacturer. Well I hardly see how this is relevant but of course I will still follow their suggestions.

As a last resort I can always try to reject the car. In fact a month ago I already suggested taking a 3.5k hit (not counting in the fact that I purchased extended warranty, installed extra alarm and immobiliser, as required by insurance, etc) and returning them the car. But them being greedy as they are, they were like, sure, you can return it minus 15% of the purchase price and we will make money out of it again.

[bimmerdriver2]

Originally Posted by Eziv

Thanks. My thoughts exactly but apparently the frame has been checked and nothing is bent as such.

I bought the car from the dealer with 8k km on the clock. It was a company car and I don’t think it has been in a serious crash (among other things, we checked the paint thickness levels before the purchase). That, of course, does not preclude the fact that it might have hit the curb or something like that. The only visible damage that the car had was that both roof railings were extremely damaged and it was caused when getting the car off the trailer. The railings were of course replaced by them. Who knows if that incident caused other invisible damage too.

I believe the steering was off centre from the purchase, but I noticed it only after driving something like 500km or so (you know, the first couple of hundred kms you are paying attention to the road )

Lastly, I forgot to mention in my original post that the steering has been made straight after the first alignment in September 2017. In fact, they did the alignment and then I complained that it is still crooked and, after two attempts, they made it perfectly straight. Within the next couple of days which involved 2000km of driving the steering went back to the crooked position.

By now I don’t believe it is not the sloppiness of the wheel aligners that the steering wheel is the way it is. There is something more important going on. The German forums are full with people struggling with the same problem. For some, replacements of steering racks or columns, etc cured the problem. For some not.

For those with technical background and hoping any tidbit of information is helpful, the thing is that to me it feels as if the car is going somewhat sideways. Even when it was not pulling to the right (as it now is thanks to the last alignment), it always felt as a constant struggle with the steering wheel at higher speeds. Thus, you would sort of constantly adjust the steering wheel between the perfectly straight and crooked to the right position. And never to the other side. So it feels like there is more movement between straight and a bit to the right turning and not a bit to the left. Hope it makes sense.

Needles to say, the tyre pressure, swapping of tyres and wheel sets as well as testing on different roads does not really change the situation. I know the wheel aligners, when having a test drive with them, would often say, like, “but you know, this road is crowned.” So I would just drive on the opposite side of the road and, surprise, surpise, the steering wheel is still crooked to the right.

You don't say how it was determined that the "frame" is not bent. To do so, requires the vehicle to be measured with special equipment that only body shops or frame shops would have. If the frame is not bent, then something in the suspension is bent or damaged. There is no way the car left the factory like this. The car was involved in some sort of incident, such as a collision or an impact with deep pothole or curb. Considering the damage to the roof rails, maybe it was damaged while being loaded or unloaded. If the car is pulling and the tires are not the cause, there is a mechanical problem in the suspension. You need to take the vehicle to a shop that can verify the frame is straight and if so, determine what component(s) in the suspension are broken / bent / misaligned.

[Eziv]

Originally Posted by bimmerdriver2

You don't say how it was determined that the "frame" is not bent. To do so, requires the vehicle to be measured with special equipment that only body shops or frame shops would have. If the frame is not bent, then something in the suspension is bent or damaged. There is no way the car left the factory like this. The car was involved in some sort of incident, such as a collision or an impact with deep pothole or curb. Considering the damage to the roof rails, maybe it was damaged while being loaded or unloaded. If the car is pulling and the tires are not the cause, there is a mechanical problem in the suspension. You need to take the vehicle to a shop that can verify the frame is straight and if so, determine what component(s) in the suspension are broken / bent / misaligned.

Thanks.

I’ve no idea how they determined that the frame is straight. I should ask them at the next appointment.

I could try and take the car to a specialty shop, sure. Yet it has been at the Bosch service garage and whilst they didn’t check the frame as such, they did check the suspension components and didn’t find anything unusual (bar the loose shock absorbers in front).

[The Beast]

Sorry haven’t read the whole post, but is the tyre wear even?

I’m no mechanic but sounds like a suspension rod or another suspension part is bent...

[Eziv]

Originally Posted by The Beast

Sorry haven’t read the whole post, but is the tyre wear even?

I’m no mechanic but sounds like a suspension rod or another suspension part is bent...

I can't tell you the exact mm left on each tyre, but generally, yes, they are even and anyway that is not the cause. I have two sets of wheels. When I bought the car the summer tyres and rims were brand new (it was driven on winter set from 0-8/9k until I bought it).