My car has been suffering from steering slap at very low speeds over very uneven surfaces (access to my house is over dirt track). Its a knocking noise that is amplified through the steering wheel. I checked all the steering joints, track rod ends etc and found some play in an Anti-Roll bar link. I replaced both front links but the "slap" was still there.
I got my wife to "wiggle" the steering wheel with the car on axle stands and lay underneath (the car that is!)
to check the knuckle joint. All OK but I definitely could hear the tapping from the steering column. As my car is fitted with the electric moveable steering wheel I decided to tackle the collet nut that is around the splined junction on the column.
Using a fan viscous coupling spanner (36mm) I put the column in steering lock mode then tightened the nut gradually, stopping to check it hadn't impeded the electric movement of the column. Well this proved successful.
Whilst I was under the dash I decided to carry out the brake mechanism maintenance that is so well written up by Timm (as usual). This involved lubricating all the linkages (I used aerosol Silicon Grease). On doing the passenger side of the linkages, I noticed that the wiring to the Gong (panel under the glovebox) had a socket taped back along the wiring. On putting everything back together I decided to plug this into the shaped socket on the gong.
Now, when I put the car into reverse there is a "bong, bong, bong" alarm - which just ensures you don't accidentally slip it into reverse in a line of traffic!
