Frozen Tie Rod

[SuperF10]

Has anyone had a frozen tie rod on their M5 before? I was told by two different places doing my alignment over the years that the driver side tie rod was frozen. I brought it to the dealer for a $300 alignment and they said the tie rods were fine. But when I got the car back from them it was pulling still. I watched one guy use the torch and it’s definitely stuck. I’m thinking at this point I will DIY both tie rod assemblies and have it realigned.

Does anyone know which aftermarket is OE?
https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-F10-M5...ering/Tie_Rod/

[chadillac2000]

How do you plan on removing the existing tie rods if they're seized? If you get them unstuck enough to remove them you shouldn't need to replace them, right?

[SuperF10]

Originally Posted by chadillac2000

How do you plan on removing the existing tie rods if they're seized? If you get them unstuck enough to remove them you shouldn't need to replace them, right?

The way it was told to me was that the inner rod is frozen to the outer rod. So wouldn’t just replacing the assembly (inner and outer) fix the problem since they are connected?

[technician117]

Tie rods are the "same" on almost any rack and pinion set up. The inner tie rods are usually not easy to change as you have to remove the boot and use a special tool to loosen the threads. Outer tie rods are "easy".
Regarding the question of "once it's loose, shouldn't it be fine?" The short answer is: not for long. What caused it to seize? Probably corrosion. Heating it up just broke some of the corrosion, but it's still in there and will just seize again.

You need to determine what joint is seizing up. If it's an inner, you might as well do the outer on the same side. How many miles on the car?

Regarding brand choice, these days it's not so clear. I've heard success and failure stories from just about every aftermarket/OEM out there. For example, some say FEBI brand stands for "F'd Even Before Installation". For basic mounts, etc., I think they're fine. Probably OK with tie rods as well, but suspension arms with bushings may not be the best. Lemforder used to be the "gold standard" in aftermarket, but they moved a lot of manufacturing to China, so now they have that stigma that maybe the quality has/will slip.

Please let us know what you end up doing!

[SuperF10]

Originally Posted by technician117

Tie rods are the "same" on almost any rack and pinion set up. The inner tie rods are usually not easy to change as you have to remove the boot and use a special tool to loosen the threads. Outer tie rods are "easy".
Regarding the question of "once it's loose, shouldn't it be fine?" The short answer is: not for long. What caused it to seize? Probably corrosion. Heating it up just broke some of the corrosion, but it's still in there and will just seize again.

You need to determine what joint is seizing up. If it's an inner, you might as well do the outer on the same side. How many miles on the car?

Regarding brand choice, these days it's not so clear. I've heard success and failure stories from just about every aftermarket/OEM out there. For example, some say FEBI brand stands for "F'd Even Before Installation". For basic mounts, etc., I think they're fine. Probably OK with tie rods as well, but suspension arms with bushings may not be the best. Lemforder used to be the "gold standard" in aftermarket, but they moved a lot of manufacturing to China, so now they have that stigma that maybe the quality has/will slip.

Please let us know what you end up doing!

The car just hit 69k. I’ve been having this issue since I bought the car at 48k.

I was planning on going with Lemforder. On the FCP site they are listed as the OE. I would also be buying the special tool for the inner rod that you are talking about. The only information I have is that the inner is frozen to the outer, I’m not well versed in suspension. I have done a lot of DIY projects including a rear axle shaft, hub bearing, injectors, plugs, etc. so I’m pretty sure I could get it done.

If the inner and outer are frozen together, shouldn’t replacing the entire assembly at once (which includes the inner and outer rods) mean that I would be able to take the tie rod assembly out without having to worry about the inner and outer being frozen together because they connect in the middle?

[technician117]

Originally Posted by SuperF10

The car just hit 69k. I’ve been having this issue since I bought the car at 48k.

I was planning on going with Lemforder. On the FCP site they are listed as the OE. I would also be buying the special tool for the inner rod that you are talking about. The only information I have is that the inner is frozen to the outer, I’m not well versed in suspension. I have done a lot of DIY projects including a rear axle shaft, hub bearing, injectors, plugs, etc. so I’m pretty sure I could get it done.

If the inner and outer are frozen together, shouldn’t replacing the entire assembly at once (which includes the inner and outer rods) mean that I would be able to take the tie rod assembly out without having to worry about the inner and outer being frozen together because they connect in the middle?

All sounds good. Yeah, if you're replacing both, you can probably slide them out together as one piece and not worry about trying to separate. Now it's more clear to me what's happening. The tie rods are generally attached to each other with threads. One side male, the other female. If it's seized there, technically the alignment shops are being lazy. There's no reason you can't still get a good alignment once they get the torches out to free it up to turn it in/out. That said, it will be best for the long term to just replace both.

Based on the list of work you've done, you will have no problem changing these. Just make sure to match the length of the new pieces as close as possible to the old assembly to get the initial alignment close.

[SuperF10]

Originally Posted by technician117

All sounds good. Yeah, if you're replacing both, you can probably slide them out together as one piece and not worry about trying to separate. Now it's more clear to me what's happening. The tie rods are generally attached to each other with threads. One side male, the other female. If it's seized there, technically the alignment shops are being lazy. There's no reason you can't still get a good alignment once they get the torches out to free it up to turn it in/out. That said, it will be best for the long term to just replace both.

Based on the list of work you've done, you will have no problem changing these. Just make sure to match the length of the new pieces as close as possible to the old assembly to get the initial alignment close.

Thank you for the tips! I already ordered the parts the other day and it looks like they are scheduled for Monday delivery. I'm replacing the dust boots as well. I'll update the thread to let you know how it goes.

[SuperF10]

Update:

Parts came in and I replaced the left tie rod. It’s going in for alignment tomorrow.

The original tie rod was completely stripped at the adjustment point and rusty. I think that was the actual problem and that it probably wasn’t “frozen” but there was no where to grab onto. Anyways I would’ve written up a DIY but decided not to because it’s very similar to most cars. I used the torque specs from Newtis. You have to drop the underbody panel and then I cut the dust boot off. You will need a tie rod tool which I got from FCP for around $17 https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/inn...cta-tools-4014 or you can use a 38mm wrench I believe. Then the torx (T40) and a 21mm or adjustable wrench for the bolt on the knuckle. It’s actually a very simple job and the entire rod can easily come off as an assembly. It can’t be installed as an assembly because of the boot. The ring on the boot needs to be crimped with an oetiker pincher tool, I didn’t have one so I used some snips and pressed on both sides of the crimp. It worked perfectly. Make sure to measure as well so you can get roughly the same alignment as before so it’s drivable. I measured from the top of the threads to the bolt. If anyone needs to do this job in the future you can PM me if you have questions.

I checked the tie rod on the right side and it looked perfect so I decided not to replace it and I’m just going to send the unused parts back to FCP.