[kzg1969]

Originally Posted by falconey

My problem was solved with an alignment. Guessing you've had that done already.

Embarrassingly....nope! did you just aim for OEM settings or something different?

[stoked335d]

Is this wandering issue showing up only in the 20-21 models or 2022 XCM LCI has the same issue?

I know apples to oranges. My current Audi S4 had the same wandering issue. It showed up above 50mph below 45F outside temps only. Luckly someone on Audi forums found a hack to disable something called Driver Steering Recommendation via OBDII cable. It throws a fake ABS code when scanned only(no lights on dash) but fixed the issue. What also helped was a solid brace bar installed behind the firewall and a solid subframe stabilizer. Its called Alu Kreuz by Eurocode.

I am curious if such after market fix exists for the X3M.

[kzg1969]

Originally Posted by stoked335d

Is this wandering issue showing up only in the 20-21 models or 2022 XCM LCI has the same issue?

dont know about LCI, but its not restricted to the X3

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1774603
at about 23m15s

[stoked335d]

I put in an order for an X3MC last saturday and now find myself questioning my decision. It really annoys me when driving on the highway.

This wandering issue is with some electric racks that most manufacturers having resolved yet, maybe except for Porsche.

[falconey]

Originally Posted by kzg1969

Embarrassingly....nope! did you just aim for OEM settings or something different?

I took it in at 500 or so miles reporting the wandering. They did an alignment under warranty and all was good after. Since it was a dealer I'm assuming they used OEM specs.

[Steve5-X]

I have a 2022 30i with 500 miles that seems to be doing the same thing, it's great on side roads but requires constant attention to keep straight on the highway; I have the Pirelli P7 RFT's, pressure is 34/37. It seems like it's not self centering, but doesn't feel like anything is loose. Have others had this problem that was then fixed with an alignment? Maybe it doesn't have enough caster? thanks

[boxs]

My 2022 X4M comp had the same issue, but just mildly annoying. The dealer aligned it at the break in service (although somewhat reluctantly). The toe was barely out of spec, it was corrected and the car tracks fine now. Castor is not easily adjustable on these. Experiment with tire pressures and get an alignment.
Boxs

[bear1m]

New 2022 X3MC LCI still in break-in period, stock Contis, no mods. No issues with wandering. I run LKA with vibration only, suspension and steering in Sport.

[SolarTrans]

Originally Posted by boxs

My 2022 X4M comp had the same issue, but just mildly annoying. The dealer aligned it at the break in service (although somewhat reluctantly). The toe was barely out of spec, it was corrected and the car tracks fine now. Castor is not easily adjustable on these. Experiment with tire pressures and get an alignment.
Boxs

2022 x4m comp here as well. Same problem, same solution. I've had 5 alignments in 7000 miles (since new 7 months ago). The car is incredibly sensitive to any misalignment, and for whatever reason this car goes out of alignment absolutely nonstop.

I live in the city and do lots of city driving over imperfect roads. It's never been an issue for any car I've owned in the past, but it seems like this X4M gets knocked out of alignment on the first bump.

Seriously thinking about selling the car because of this. It's become unlivable; 1 week after an alignment and I can already feel it pulling on the highway again.

Running stock 21" Michelin ps4s at the recommended 33/38 PSI

[suby01]

Originally Posted by SolarTrans

Seriously thinking about selling the car because of this. It's become unlivable; 1 week after an alignment and I can already feel it pulling on the highway again.

Running stock 21" Michelin ps4s at the recommended 33/38 PSI

In my opinion that tire pressure is too high for anything over 55mph.

[evo-mike]

Originally Posted by SolarTrans

2022 x4m comp here as well. Same problem, same solution. I've had 5 alignments in 7000 miles (since new 7 months ago). The car is incredibly sensitive to any misalignment, and for whatever reason this car goes out of alignment absolutely nonstop.

I live in the city and do lots of city driving over imperfect roads. It's never been an issue for any car I've owned in the past, but it seems like this X4M gets knocked out of alignment on the first bump.

Seriously thinking about selling the car because of this. It's become unlivable; 1 week after an alignment and I can already feel it pulling on the highway again.

Running stock 21" Michelin ps4s at the recommended 33/38 PSI

Put 265s up front. Won't wander anymore

[evo-mike]

Originally Posted by suby01

In my opinion that tire pressure is too high for anything over 55mph.

This guy. Do you even have an x3m? That's the recommended pressure setting for most temps.

[knali8]

I had the same issue until I fitted new tyres (conti's) and had a wheel alignment done at the same time. The car rides much better now but I have also racked up 17000kms so, I'm probably used to it. I also have 10mm spacers round and stock suspension.

Tyres pressures are at 40/40. I used to have them at 35/35 but the difference wasn't much.

Update: I also did a software update to fix my remote 3D camera activation. Prior to that I could not activate my remote camera via my phone. Not sure if that had other updates included.

[dmanb2b]

Originally Posted by SolarTrans

2022 x4m comp here as well. Same problem, same solution. I've had 5 alignments in 7000 miles (since new 7 months ago). The car is incredibly sensitive to any misalignment, and for whatever reason this car goes out of alignment absolutely nonstop.

I live in the city and do lots of city driving over imperfect roads. It's never been an issue for any car I've owned in the past, but it seems like this X4M gets knocked out of alignment on the first bump.

Seriously thinking about selling the car because of this. It's become unlivable; 1 week after an alignment and I can already feel it pulling on the highway again.

Running stock 21" Michelin ps4s at the recommended 33/38 PSI

Please post your post-adjustment alignment specs. It's not that easy to get the car out of alignment, but possible. The stock suspension is definately twitchy and a contributing factor, but I am just going to guess that your toe is set to factory spec, which is quite aggressive vs. non-M car spec.

[Kevin_The_Clean1]

Originally Posted by dmanb2b

Please post your post-adjustment alignment specs. It's not that easy to get the car out of alignment, but possible. The stock suspension is definately twitchy and a contributing factor, but I am just going to guess that your toe is set to factory spec, which is quite aggressive vs. non-M car spec.

dmanb2b knows these cars well & I think this is a step in the right direction.

[climbbike]

Just providing my experience with this issue. Picked up a 2019 X3 M40i about a week ago that I love but . . . I test drove it and all seemed well but I only drove it about 5 mins on the freeway (my bad). On the drive home, which was a long drive of about 2 hours at 70 mph on the interstate, I experienced the wandering that many of you talk about. And it was BAD. It was bad enough that when I tried the lane centering, it wandered around because it felt like the car was fighting with itself. It was an exhausting drive.

I got an alignment (which I always do anyhow with a ‘new’ used car) and that fixed the problem about 40% but it was definitely still there just not as bad. This was encouraging but also depressing at the same time since it didn’t totally fix it.

Well, today, I just switched from the runflats to all season Michelin’s (and away from the staggered tire sizes) and I’d say the problem is at least 90% gone, maybe completely gone. Before, I noticed the issue even on the side roads (although not as badly as on the freeway) and that is totally gone now. It’s either mostly gone or totally gone on the freeway as well but I need more time to be sure.

Well here’s to hoping it doesn’t come back. Fingers crossed.

Oh, one more thing. This thing rides WAYYYY better without the runflats. Even though the suspension is softer than my last car, it had a weird harshness to it that was disconcerting. That is completely gone now. No more run flats for my car. I had an older X3 before when it was the 35i and it road great so I was surprised to have the harshness to this car but on the older 35i someone had already replaced the run-flats. I guess the run flats really do suck.

[PopDV]

Just got my X3MC with Continental tires.
After 400 ml still don't like car handling:
First it wandering on interstate
Second I don't like steering in Zero zone. noticable backlash couple degree where car almost don't react to wheel rotation and then it becomes very sensitive

[mvl]

I've experienced nearly everything in this thread, but have gotten used to the steering feel, especially on the highway. However, I recently noticed even more difficulty keeping car centered at ANY speed when the vehicle is fully warmed up.

It feels like a "dead spot" develops when the wheel is perfectly centered. It spans a couple of degrees in either direction from center. There's increased resistance just past the deadspot, where the steering input suddenly registers and "over corrects" all at once in the direction of the input. I can even feel the dead spot and resistance when parked or at full stop.

I do not sense this at all when the vehicle is cold, right after startup and driveoff.

Wondering if anyone else has felt or experienced similar. It's quite difficult to describe to a service tech.

[Y0jjimb0]

I bought my F97 in Arizona and drove it back and initially I thought something was broken because of the wandering and instability at freeway speeds. When I pulled off at a gas station to adjust tire pressures I realized that it was very windy out, which was blowing the truck all over the place and then the lane-assist was intervening aggressively. Not a confidence inspiring combination.

I think the wandering is a result of a couple factors, most of which are manageable/resolvable. I am no engineer so take my opinion with a grain of salt:

1. The steering rack ratio is too short. I get that they want it to feel "sporty", but there is no need for the ratio to be as short as it is. It makes any steering adjustment too abrupt and makes it way to easy to over-correct until you adapt to it. It's a SUV, not a z4 after all. Unless I am mistaken this is a mechanical choice drawback and not easily solvable. If the ratio is a coding issue then all our problems are solved and someone that knows how to change the code can fix this.

2. It does feel like there is a programmed dead-stop in the comfort steering resistance. There seems to be a few degrees more play on dead-center before steering responds when in comfort mode. Once you switch into sport or sport plus that dead spot seems to be at least reduced. This feels fine at low speeds, but contributes to wandering at highway speeds. My guess is this is to mimic a mechanical/hydraulic steering like people are used to. It's a shame because I prefer the lighter steering of comfort to the heavier steering of sport/sport+. My solution has been to use comfort for street driving and canyons/spirited driving and the switch to sport for highway driving and just live with the tradeoff of heavier steering for the benefit of less wandering. It would be awesome if there was a software change that allowed for the steering resistance of comfort without the wide dead spot.

(the hydraulic steering in my E53 X5 was wonderfully direct and perfectly weighted, I miss that)

3. The lane-assist is not great. It feels weird, intervenes to dramatically, allows it to get too close to either side, requires a hand on the wheel anyway (so whats the point?). I turned that shit off immediately.

4. The suspension geometry definitely lends itself to tramlining. I'm guessing this is a byproduct of trying to make a vehicle with so much ride-height and suspension travel feel "sporty". Alignment settings that are more neutral than the factory suggestions could help with this (primarily zeroing out toe settings).

5. Suspension stiffness probably contributes to the truck over-reacting to road inconsistencies. I personally don't think these things are as over-sprung as some people think, but they definitely are quite stiff, and that will always contribute to the vehicle responding to road conditions. I'm guessing the aftermarket spring options help with the wandering. Anyone with MSS springs or KWs want to chime in?

6. Not a lot of tire on the 21in wheel option, in terms of width and sidewall. And the contis suck apparently. I'm on the michelins and they're not great. Sidewall essentially acts like a spring, so increasing the sidewall should soften the ride and reduce reactivity. I'm going to be switching to a 275/40 front tire on a lower offset 20in wheel, which I'm guessing will reduce the tramlining. Adding 15mm spacers to the front improved the stability some.

In summation, I think there are inherently going to be trade-offs when trying to make an SUV into something it's not (I.E. fast and agile). The only way BMW could even achieve what is has with this beast is by allowing pretty much everything to be adjusted on-the-fly to accommodate a range of situations. The only thing contributing to the instability/wandering that can't easily be mitigated is the steering rack, which is a shame. Other than that I am happy to use comfort steering at low speeds and when I need it to be agile and then swapping to sport mode when I need more stability at speed. I feel like having to press a button whenever I get on the freeway is a small price to pay for the benefit of an aggressive suspension setup when I want this thing to embarrass sports cars. Plus, the modifications I was already planning on doing (wheels/tires/suspension) should all be a step in the right direction.

[ajag]

My '23 X3MC w the michelins tramlines quite a bit on highways, more than just about any car I've had in the past, even with far wider tires. I was pondering the swap to 265/295 PS all seasons, but a little worried this may worsen the problem? Generally not a big deal, as this isn't my family's long distance vehicle, but it can be quite annoying.

[F3085258]

I am considering buying a used X3M, this thread has me a bit concerned…

I had the same problem on my F85 X5M.
Was improved slightly when I went to Conti DWS all seasons in 275/315 vs stock 285/325 Pilot Sports on 21 stock wheels. Was also improved on Scorpion Winter which were 285/40R20. Had it aligned and that made minimal differnce.
Annoyed my wife so much she wouldn’t drive it on highway. I just found it fatiguing on long drives.

A few proposed solutions in this thread surprised me. My thought is that narrower tires would be better than wider tires. As would narrower track vs wider track.

Seems to be a bit of a crap shoot on whether one will have this problem? Or is some of it tolerance for more direct steering?

[F3085258]

And one more question, anyone with the MSS Urban experience tramlining?