That could be stunt helpful feedback. That leans toward something like debris in the fluid or contaminated fluid. Before replacing hardware, maybe a suction replace of the fluid?

The drive on ice concept is to help get a feel for where it’s getting stiff; when fighting the massive grip of the tires it’s hard to tell, but when you remove that from the equation you can tell if the steering is equally stiff lock to lock, harder left, harder right, etc. it will help if somebody else turns the wheels and you can make observations under the hood.

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2011 E70 • N55 (me)
2012 E70 • N63 (wife)