Hey guys,
First post here since M3F went under. Such a shame.
Car
Anyway, I've got an 05 M3 with 100k miles. At 60k miles I installed new OEM RTABs, RSM's, and Koni sport shocks all around. Everything has been fine and dandy, and everything else is original.
Symptoms
Recently I've been noticing some general looseness from the handling. My steering feels a bit vague, the car isn't as planted and "hunkered down" like it used to be, and one strange symptom is that when backing out of a parking space with my wheels turned almost to the lock, I can feel a clunk from the front end. While driving there are no clunks or anything. I also notice that the inner edge of both front tires is worn almost smooth, while the rest of the tire has 3/16" of tread remaining.
Diagnostics
I jacked up the front left of the car and tried wiggling the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions. It felt perfectly tight, zero play. I then did the same at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions and felt noticeable movement. I looked at the FCAB and saw no movement at all, but what I did see is the tie rod moving in and out about 1/4" or so. I squeezed the tie rod and control arm ball joints with pliers and they feel tight.
Questions
-Is a small amount of play at the tie rod normal, or should I further investigate? It would either be play in the rack, or the inner tie-rod end.
-If my FCAB looked solid, should I still replace it?
-On my non-M E46, my control arm ball joints went out around 90k miles and the steering wheel would shake under braking. I have no such symptoms, does the M3 have heavier-duty ball joints?
I could just start throwing parts at it but would like to know the root cause first. Thanks for your input!
First post here since M3F went under. Such a shame.
Car
Anyway, I've got an 05 M3 with 100k miles. At 60k miles I installed new OEM RTABs, RSM's, and Koni sport shocks all around. Everything has been fine and dandy, and everything else is original.
Symptoms
Recently I've been noticing some general looseness from the handling. My steering feels a bit vague, the car isn't as planted and "hunkered down" like it used to be, and one strange symptom is that when backing out of a parking space with my wheels turned almost to the lock, I can feel a clunk from the front end. While driving there are no clunks or anything. I also notice that the inner edge of both front tires is worn almost smooth, while the rest of the tire has 3/16" of tread remaining.
Diagnostics
I jacked up the front left of the car and tried wiggling the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions. It felt perfectly tight, zero play. I then did the same at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions and felt noticeable movement. I looked at the FCAB and saw no movement at all, but what I did see is the tie rod moving in and out about 1/4" or so. I squeezed the tie rod and control arm ball joints with pliers and they feel tight.
Questions
-Is a small amount of play at the tie rod normal, or should I further investigate? It would either be play in the rack, or the inner tie-rod end.
-If my FCAB looked solid, should I still replace it?
-On my non-M E46, my control arm ball joints went out around 90k miles and the steering wheel would shake under braking. I have no such symptoms, does the M3 have heavier-duty ball joints?
I could just start throwing parts at it but would like to know the root cause first. Thanks for your input!
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