Potential newbie, steering and other questions

[New2BMW]

Hi All!

I'm considering making the 89+ 5-series my entry into BMW ownership. Currently I'm driving a Saab 9000 (about my fifth!).

In testing a couple of 5-series (both 89, one 525ia, one 535im), I noticed what seemed to be a point near the center where the steering response feels slow. I did NOT detect play in the links, just a point where the ratio seemed to slow down on center, then speed up a tad with more lock.

Is this the normal BMW setup? Or evidence of a box out of adjustment? The Saabs are very responsive off center, but don't feel the least twitchy at speed. It seems odd that the BMW setup would seem slower.

Is it possible the cars I drove were out of spec?

[infinity5]

There is an infamous On-center Slack in these cars. I'm not sure thats what you're descibing though. It'll feel like you can turn the steering wheel on center a tiny bit before it 'Catches' and the wheels start to turn. you can adjust the steering box to fix it but after a point you just need a new box.

these cars also adjust power-assit based on engine RPM and some of the later models and M5's have Servotronic steering that varies power-assist based on speed.

its probably just on center slack that most of us have these days. theres a write up at www.bmwe34.net (http://www.bmwe34.net) on how to adjust the steering box.

[Kalevera]

Buy the 535iM...you won't regret it -- especially if it's been well taken care of ;)

After 220k+, my steering box is a little loose, as well. There are some things you can do to tighten up things a bit (as Infinity5 said), but I've heard conflicting reports on the "adjustment screw" (specifically, I've been told that it's not an adjustment screw at all; and my own messing around with it has done little to remove the slack). On mine, "normal" is straight tracking on TDC and it takes a few degrees of turning the wheel to get the front wheels to move, which seems to be common.

best, whit