Rack An Pinion Problems

[HUGO E. CONTRERAS]

DEAR FRIENDS:

I WRITE YOU AGAIN FROM LA PAZ, BOLIVIA. MY 318ti SPORT HAS BEEN FACING PROBLEMS WITH THE STEERING WHEEL (WHEN I TRY TO CHANGE LANE OR WHEN I TAKE A LITTLE CURVE, I NEED TO PUT AN MINIMUM EXTRA EFFFORT TO MOVE THE WHEEL, BESIDES I NEED TO HELP THE STEERING WHEEL TO RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL POINT).

THE PEOPLE FROM THE AUTHORIZED BMW SERVICE IN LA PAZ TOLD ME IT IS NECESSARY TO REPLACE THE RACK AND PINION. UNFORTUNATELY, THE "AUTHORIZED SERVICES" OF BMW MAKE IN LATIN AMERICA ARE NOT RELIABLE AND ARE NOT HONEST TOO. I TOLD YOU THAT BECAUSE OTHER FRIENDS SUGGESTED ME TO SEE THE ALINGMENT OF WHEELS.

WHEN I WAS SURFING THE NET, I DISCOVER MOST OF THE STEERING RACKS OFFERED BY STORES WERE REBUILT.

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS:

A) MY 1995 ti CAR JUST HAVE 35,000 MILES, IS IT POSSIBLE TO NEED A NEW STEERING RACK WHEN I HAVE A VERY CAREFUL USE OF THAT CAR?

B) WHERE COULD I BUY A NEW RACK AND PINION FOR MY 1995 ti SPORT?

C) ARE REBUILT RACK AN PINIONS RELIABLE?

D) SOME PEOPLE TOLD ME THE PROBLEM WITH MY CAR COULD BE ALIGNMENT AND GAVE ME THE NEXT NUMBERS:

BMW 318ti 1995

Front: camber 0º tolerance 0º 30'
caster 8º 20' " 0º 30'
convergencia +0.9º " 0.2º

Back : camber -2º " 0.3º
convergencia 0.3º " 0.09º

MY FRIENDS TOLD ME WITH A GOOD AND COMPUTARIZED ALINGMENT, THE PROBLEM OF THE RETURN OF THE WHEEL WOULD BE SOLVED. ARE THE NUMBERS GOOD? WHAT WOULD BE THE RIGHT NUMBERS FOR A GOOD 1995 ti ALINGMENT?

THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR ADVICE

HUGO E. CONTRERAS
telont@yahoo.com
La Paz, Bolivia