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Thread: Faster more reactive steering for the E32

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Scottsdale Arizona
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    343
    My Cars
    540iT 840Ci 850Ci 540i

    Faster more reactive steering for the E32

    Quick Arms $688
    This is a new and exciting item coming to the market place to give your e32, e31 and E34 more responsive steering. Some would describe it as: “CSi + steering”.

    From the driving seat, you will immediately appreciate the swift response to steering wheel; the road wheels will turn more for the same steering wheel input.

    MANY E31 & E32 owners have other BMW’s or high performance cars, and after driving the 8, they feel that the steering is slow and a little numb. These new arms go a long way to addressing this problem. These are a simple replacement for the stock steering arm, and they are inexpensive, simple and effective.
    Following installation of the plates, a professional alignment is required.

    Here are pictures

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w2kkrc43v...vraNFisRa?dl=0

    PM me or call/text at 623 570 2777


    The large rubber bushing on the front upper control arm where it mounts to the chassis has always been a weak link on the E31, E32 & E39 because it wears quickly and then badly affects the braking, steering and handling. Changing to the Wokke monoballs is a GREAT upgrade and if your rubber bushings were old, then you notice a huge improvement overall in the front end and it does make the steering FEEL more direct, but it does not MAKE the steering quicker. The stock steering speed and response is what I have addressed here with the new Quick Arms.

    We have been developing these arms for several months, and have been running them on 3 cars for some time with great results and feedback.
    The response to steering wheel input is more urgent now, so better direction change with less hand movement.


    Changing to these new steering arms is quite simple and they install very quickly.....disconnect 3 ball joints and then undo the 3 bolts that hold the arm to the bottom of the strut. then bolt in the new arms.

    I have made these new arms shorter from the bottom of the strut to where the steering rod attaches. So if you move the steering wheel a certain amount, then these new arms will move the road wheel further than before.....you will get a quicker response to steering wheel inputs.

    After installing these new arms, you will have to reset the front toe alignment.


    When you first drive this change, it will give the impression of a much sportier car, more nimble and more reactive. After 20 or 30 miles driving in corners, you will become quite accustomed to the new feel, and maybe take it for granted that the car feels more nimble. I guarantee that if you then changed back to your old arms, you would be quite disappointed how slow and numb the steering feels.

    When BMW built the hi-performance 850CSi, they wanted quicker steering response, and they got it by installing a quicker ratio steering box. My friend went down this route, hunting for 2 years before he found someone selling a CSi steering box (they are more rare than hen's teeth). Then it took the two of us almost a full day to get his box out and the CSi one in. but after driving my car, he wants to go through all the trouble to take his CSi box out and install the Quick Arms, then sell his box.....he will make money and have better steering

    The Quick Arms are a little quicker than the CSi, so this puts the CSi at about 2/3 of the difference between the stock and my steering. As I mentioned above, the first impression is that this new steering is quite a bit quicker, but you get used to that very soon.


    Here is a link to pictures of the arms in Dropbox

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w2kkrc43v...vraNFisRa?dl=0

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    3,669
    My Cars
    8/88 750iL
    Strongly considering this. Just a few questions:

    - Are there any possible downsides -- any impact to NVH, etc? I would assume not, but wanted to ask
    - Any weight difference to factory piece? Since this is unspring weight, would any weight difference have a real-world impact?
    - What grade of metal is used in this piece -- stronger than factory? Given the safety criticality of this piece it would offer peace of mind to know that this would either equal or surpass the tensile strength and quality of factory part
    Last edited by paulmer; 12-09-2020 at 04:32 PM.

    1989 BMW 750iL (prod 08/88) (vin: 2768675)
    Gone but not forgotten: 1994 BMW 740iL (prod 10/11/1993) (vin: *DE89667) 6spd swap, 2001 BMW 740i Sport

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    1,133
    My Cars
    e34 540ia/e32 740il
    I am also very interested in these for my 740iL.

    paulmer - this upgrade was posted in the E34 classifieds section too. I also had similar questions to yours. I didn't notice it was also submitted to the E32 forum, so I'll copy my post/questions over here as well:

    This is very interesting. Quite a clever way to quicken the steering ratio without changing the box. I too looked into an 850csi steering box but later found out it isn't a direct bolt in to my e32 740.

    Besides the difference in length from the strut center to the steering tie rod connection point, is all other geometry the same as stock? By that I mean - are the connection points for the upper and lower control arms to the steering arm the same position in 'X', 'Y' and 'Z' 3D dimensional space as the stock steering arm? (Don't want to mess up the stock control arm angles and geometry). Obviously the steering outer tie rod is closer to the center of the strut (for the faster steering), but is its connection point vertical height the same as stock, as to not affect bump steer geometry on compression?

    Also what specific material /product form are these machined from? If they are aluminum, what type/temper/product form, etc.?

    Edit - The steering arm p/n for the E32 and E34 is the same, however it looks like the E31 p/n is different. Do you know if there are any dimensional differences between the two?

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