Manual rack any good ?

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evodan
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 141
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: Central Scotland

Post Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:15 pm

Can anyone advise me if changing my PAS to a pre-facelift 325 manual rack would be a worth while conversion ie,

Lock to lock ratio

Feedback/ feel

Using 16" wheels

Please advise guys.
Theo
Old Skooler
Old Skooler
Posts: 10735
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: Kent

Post Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:17 pm

I've got manual steering on a 325i with 16" wheels, it's very nice to drive with, especially at higher speeds, it's when you are parking that it is a bit of a pain in the arse.
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pnd
E30 Zone Squatter
E30 Zone Squatter
Posts: 1801
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:00 pm

Post Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:26 pm

I have a manual rack on my 325 and it does feel better at speed without the looseness of the PAS system; interestingly I recently read some reviews of the e30 when it was new and some of the motoring journalists preffered it without PAS. Other advantages are that they are cheap to replace unlike the pas, lighter and have less to go wrong. Its really down to how much parking in tight spots you have to do although a couple of extra psi in the front tyres helps. I dont know how a pre facelift manual rack differs from a post facelift one; power steering was not standard on the first facelift cars.