[XavVD]

Originally Posted by frashed

You're spot on lol

Took the car in on Tuesday morning to get the problem sorted. They took the next 2 days trying to identify the location of the noise. After waiting for some 'Chassis Ears' they just called me now telling me it's related to the steering rack. Now it get's annoying.

Apparently there's is a notice in their system which highlights the fact that due to moving from a hydraulic-electronic setup, to an electronic only setup, there is more noise which is a trait of the setup and not an 'issue' so to speak; meaning it isn't damaging in any way. A slight ticking might be heard and this is normal.

The dealer has acknowledged that the sound coming from my car is different, if not more pronounced, and has logged a case to BMW. There's also more travel coming from the front-right. It's up to them to decide how to proceed; they send a technician out to decide whether it's a fault, they simply replace my steering rack, or they can reply back saying it's exactly what they say it is and hand me back my car.

I was obviously lucky

I believe it is not satisfying answer from them. You should request the steering rack replacement. Probably it is just lack of damping in the system or it can be a free play that might cause a later failure (stress concentration) or a durability issue. The car is under guarantee, steering is among the most important safety functions, you can request a change of the rack. Noise + asymmetry does not sound too good.
So the best way to do to allow BMW engineers to understand the problem and think of a solution for everyone (if needed): you allow BMW quality engineers to investigate on your car. Once done you ask for rack replacement so that they send the faulty one to rack supplier for further investigation. Win-win solution