I've been chasing a problem in my steering column that my 8 yr old says sound like a cat meowing whenever I turn the wheel left or right at slower speeds. Dealer's replaced the upper steering column bearing (just under the steering wheel) and the sound went away for maybe a week. This second time they "lubed" the column bearing, but that didn't do anything. So back it goes for it's third attempt to fix.

And FWIW, my '97 528 had to have it's upper steering column bearing replaced at 105,000 miles because it started to sound like there was sand in the column when turning the wheel.

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'04 E53, 4.4 Sport
'97 E39 528i
'86 911 Carrera, track car
'96 BMW R1100R