Quote:
Originally Posted by Chancepowell
Has anyone else grown tired of the light steering? Does anyone have a fix? Its electric so there must be a way to change a setting (like normal to "sport") but in this case- much stiffer?
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Hi guys,
This is only my second post here but have been a BMW owner almost continuously for 20 years. Lately my loyalty has been severely tested with the switch to electric steering as their steering feel is really what it was all about for me. My 2016 X5 35i M sport I believe HAD the least BMW-like steering feel of all the BMWs I have owned(E38, E46, E46 coupe, E60, F10).
However, last Friday I ordered the V2 Bluetooth OBD thing or whatever it is and downloaded and paid for the full version of BimmerCode. All I wanted to change was stop the steering wheel from telescoping in and out on entry/exit as it took so long to do that and I am the primary driver of this car and my wife has her own F10. On the F10 we are able to customize sport mode so it only affects the steering and chassis(adaptive dampers), and keep the transmission and engine in comfort. This makes the car ride a bit stiffer and stiffens the steering wheel to our liking too without making throttle response needlessly aggressive. My wife still misses her sublime E46 ZHP steering feel that she had many years ago but oh well!
Just FYI, our F15 does not have DHP but we like the ride and handling with the 20 M Sport wheels. I had also noticed that the base M suspension had a stiffer steering than the DHP equipped car I had driven in default mode. However, every time I would drive my F15 I craved the steering feel of our previous E46s or even the E38 or E60. The F10 in either comfort or sport also has better, more tactile steering than the F15 in comfort mode. When I would get really frustrated, I would switch to sport mode which would make the throttle more aggressive, and stiffen the steering feel. There would be no change to chassis as I dont have adaptive dampers on this car. However, I would switch it back to comfort soon as I would find the throttle overly aggressive for everyday driving around town.
Anyways, so this past Saturday I hooked up BimmerCode with the Bluetooth obd adapter to my F15 and started playing around with the coding and did a lot more than I thought I would. I made the following changes:
1. Changed the tire pressure monitor to show temperature as well as pressure.
2. Changed the mirrors to auto fold if I keep the lock button on the door depressed.
3. Changed the idrive splash screen to the M animation
4. Added turn signals to HUD
5. Added scanning for grass and curb to the lane keep warning
6. Went into expert mode and made the steering column moving in entry/exit inactive
7. CHANGED THE DEFAULT DRIVING MODE TO SPORT
8. CHANGED THE DRIVING MODE MEMORY TO ACTIVE
After this I went for a quick drive to make sure all the errors had been cleared and I had not screwed up anything. However, the first thing I noticed was the car didnt really start in Sport mode as I thought it would with it being the default now.
HOWEVER, STEERING WAS HEAVIER! IT NOW FELT AS IF I WAS IN SPORT MODE BUT THE THROTTLE AND TRANSMISSION WERE IN COMFORT. Wow, could this really be? It was late at night and I was tired so I thought maybe thats why I was feeling the steering needed some more effort. I drove for a few more minutes after switching to sport mode and then went home.
The next morning, the car starts in sport mode since I had switched it off in sport mode. I am guessing BimmerCode really did code the car to retain the last driving mode in memory. Anyway, I switched off Sport and started reversin in comfort and the STEERING WHEEL STILL FELT LIKE IT WAS IN SPORT. I drove about 200 miles on Sunday (pumpkin patch, family lunch, ballet class, Halloween at the aquarium etc etc.) and the steering stayed stiffer in comfort mode. I absolutely started loving how the steering felt now!! I have never been a big fan of the Sport mode in its entirety in town because of the aggressive throttle and this was just perfect for me!
My theory is that maybe default driving mode in BimmerCode refers only to the steering stiffness? If you think about how BimmerCode has translated the coding from German and turned the lines of coding to toggle switches for customers ease, its quite possible that a subtle change in translation has occurred here. i also like how the car now retains sport mode if I turned off the car in Sport mode.
Anyways, I thought I would share this as reading the forums over the past couple years, I have felt a lot of members sharing my frustration with the lack of steering effort on the F15.