New to forums, looking for insight on steering issue

[DriveBMW04]

Can bottoming out the suspension on a '98 M3 affect the steering rack or even possibly the steering column? I began to hear a creaking noise behind my wheel and experienced slightly more restricted wheel movement right around the time I hit a sinkhole on an overpass. It sounds plastic-plastic creaking on the interior, maybe the slip disk or the spool the SRS ribbon wraps around creating friction somewhere.

Am I paranoid and it's just coincidence that these two events coincide or could it have been caused by the sinkhole?

Thanks for any input,

DriveBMW04

[BadGTho]

theoretically if you really bottomed the car hard, you could mess up one of the inner tierods, tierod ends or the rack.

i would jack up the car so that both wheels are off the ground and see if you get the noise with no resistence on the rack.

also, check the tie rods by shaking the tire.


that creaking noise could be that slip ring but is more than likely the lower steering column ujoint. its under the brake booster and can be seen from below.

use some bendable straws and some sprayable tri-flo lubricant from a bicycle store and hose that ujoint down. that's a common issue and a common fix.