x5 2004 air cond.

1. my aircon takes a few minutes to get cold,need to drive for some minutes before it cold sets in. feed back appreciated thank you

2. When x5 stand for some time - 2-3 hours and cool, when the steering is moved there is like a crack noise (just once) at front of car. Even if the wheel is moved from outside the crack happens. It doesn't happen again until its parked and cooled right down, some hours.
Thank you for any feed back