'16 40e, stock 20" RF wheels touching upper control arm

[admranger]

So I have less than 20k miles on my 2016 40e.

I moved to a new place and now have to go full opposite left lock on the steering wheel to get out of my parking spot. I started to hear metal on metal grinding noises so I pulled the wheel. I was more than a bit surprised to see the inner lip of the wheel paint was scraped all the way around. Looked at the upper control arm and it had a mark on it where it was clear the wheel was touching it.

Checked out both L&R tension struts and the bushings have hairline cracks but nothing tragic looking. Control arm bushings looked good too.

No noticeable play in the wheel (e.g., loose wheel bearing or other part).

Remember, this only happens on full left opposite lock.

Tempted to get a thin set of spacers (or avoid opposite lock and do a multi-point turn instead...).

Thoughts?

[alphaod]

With stock tires, that shouldn't be happening. I would put her on a lift and have it looked at. That hairline cracked bushing might be totally apart inside.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by alphaod

With stock tires, that shouldn't be happening. I would put her on a lift and have it looked at. That hairline cracked bushing might be totally apart inside.

I had it up on jack stands last night. Bushing was flexing, not fully torn.

[turboawd]

Is there a steering stop you can adjust?

[admranger]

Originally Posted by turboawd

Is there a steering stop you can adjust?

Thanks for the suggestion. I think if it were out of range I'd get an error on the steering angle. However, I will look and see what's there.

[admranger]

Ok, so I have a resolution of this issue...kind of anyway.

After staring at the suspension bits for about 30 minutes, calling my wife out to look at them as well (both engineers), we went back to first principles. This started immediately after having the tires balanced and rotated. You can see where this is going, right?

Yes, I swapped the front wheels back to their original positions and the problem went away. I have no idea how this works, but I don't care as the car is a lease and it gets turned in to BMW in July.

FWIW, this isn't some small 1 or 2 mm change, it's a 5mm change in wheel to upright distance. Really, really odd as all the suspension members look to be in great shape and measure the same R to L pivot point to pivot point. Wheel rubs all the way around so it's not bent unless it's been shoved in uniformly across its entire circumference.

[1norseman]

Originally Posted by admranger

Ok, so I have a resolution of this issue...kind of anyway.

After staring at the suspension bits for about 30 minutes, calling my wife out to look at them as well (both engineers), we went back to first principles. This started immediately after having the tires balanced and rotated. You can see where this is going, right?

Yes, I swapped the front wheels back to their original positions and the problem went away. I have no idea how this works, but I don't care as the car is a lease and it gets turned in to BMW in July.

FWIW, this isn't some small 1 or 2 mm change, it's a 5mm change in wheel to upright distance. Really, really odd as all the suspension members look to be in great shape and measure the same R to L pivot point to pivot point. Wheel rubs all the way around so it's not bent unless it's been shoved in uniformly across its entire circumference.

Did you swap front to back?
All OEM 20" wheels for the 40e, have different offset, front and rear.

10JX20 ET:40
11JX20 ET:37

If you installed a rear wheel up front, it is a 1" wider rim, or .5"(12.7mm) on each side, and the offset is another 3mm different
Inside edge is about 10mm further in.

(phew, too late to try to think about offsets etc. believe I got it correct now)

[admranger]

Originally Posted by 1norseman

Did you swap front to back?
All OEM 20" wheels for the 40e, have different offset, front and rear.

10JX20 ET:40
11JX20 ET:37

So if you installed a rear wheel up front, you have a 1" wider rim, or .5" on each side, and the offset is 3mm further in. This gives you about 5.5mm, close to the 5mm you are talking about

I swapped left front to right front and vice versa. If it was the wrong sized wheel it’d rub regardless of which side of the car it was on

[1norseman]

Originally Posted by admranger

I swapped left front to right front and vice versa. If it was the wrong sized wheel it’d rub regardless of which side of the car it was on

ok, was just an idea based on a mechanic I know, who told me customers have brought in their cars with the rubbing issue, and it was just front and rear swapped, that was the issue. Tires and wheels are so close in size on certain models, that without looking at the ET, it's easy to make the mistake.

Your issue for sure is a weird one...

[admranger]

Originally Posted by 1norseman

ok, was just an idea based on a mechanic I know, who told me customers have brought in their cars with the rubbing issue, and it was just front and rear swapped, that was the issue. Tires and wheels are so close in size on certain models, that without looking at the ET, it's easy to make the mistake.

Your issue for sure is a weird one...

Sorry if my reply came off as abrupt. You idea was a good thing to check. I can see how it'd be easy to interchange the wheels when they are ~10% different in size. Thanks!

I'm the king of weird issues lately it seems. Some car related, most not.

[1norseman]

Originally Posted by admranger

Sorry if my reply came off as abrupt. You idea was a good thing to check. I can see how it'd be easy to interchange the wheels when they are ~10% different in size. Thanks!

I'm the king of weird issues lately it seems. Some car related, most not.

No worries, I was only concerned with how I got the math wrong with the actual difference, and had to put it on paper, and then correct what I wrote at first.. Didn't think your reply came off as abrupt.

Weird issues makes life interesting sometimes. Hope most are interesting ones for you, and not just without a good explanation like this one...