Lightening steering

[AfterShock]

Ok quick start .............

Is it possible to "lighten" the steering??

As I'm a wheelchasir user and drive with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on handcontrols the steering when parking, etc can be quite heavy.

So can it be ligtened??? Or would it compromise .. at speed driving ... or .......??

Thanks

 

[944 man]

My 2.7l came on 195 tyres and the steering appeared to be so light that it was unsettling. I had come from 245 fronts on my older car though. Beyond that and adjusting the tyre pressures I cant think of a deal that you can do though. I presume that you have an OEM wheel? There were two sizes, so moving up to the 385mm size may help a little...

Simon

 

[edh]

+1 accurate tyre pressures & reasonably narrow tyres will help, maybe with 15" rim.

 

[Fat Albert]

Simple thing, make sure your Power Steering fluid is topped up, did mine at the weekend and it made quite a difference![]

 

[zcacogp]

David,

Whenever I have driven cars adapted for wheelchair users they have been just that - adapted. The steering has been feather-light, achieved by modifying the power assistance system. If this is what you are trying to achieve then it will be a bit specialist. However, I think this is possible by means of valving the power steering pump differently. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that the system on some cars works by producing more pressure in the fluid than is necessary, and then 'bleeding' off the excess pressure by means of a valve. Changing the valve to bleed off less pressure makes the whole system lighter. By doing this you won't change the handling of the car (the dynamics of the car won't be changed) but you will change the 'feel' through the steering wheel considerably.

If, alternatively, you are simply looking to make the steering as light as possible, within the normal parameters, fitting narrower front tyres and pumping them up a bit harder will help. As will changing the power steering fluid. These changes may change the dynamics of the car; you'd need to adjust your driving style accordingly once the changes are made.

Oli.

 

[AfterShock]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

David,

Whenever I have driven cars adapted for wheelchair users they have been just that - adapted. The steering has been feather-light, achieved by modifying the power assistance system. If this is what you are trying to achieve then it will be a bit specialist. However, I think this is possible by means of valving the power steering pump differently. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that the system on some cars works by producing more pressure in the fluid than is necessary, and then 'bleeding' off the excess pressure by means of a valve. Changing the valve to bleed off less pressure makes the whole system lighter. By doing this you won't change the handling of the car (the dynamics of the car won't be changed) but you will change the 'feel' through the steering wheel considerably.

If, alternatively, you are simply looking to make the steering as light as possible, within the normal parameters, fitting narrower front tyres and pumping them up a bit harder will help. As will changing the power steering fluid. These changes may change the dynamics of the car; you'd need to adjust your driving style accordingly once the changes are made.

Oli.

Thanks Oli,

I think! lol .. hmmm blinded by science springs to mind and way out of my depth!!

Ok a few things.

I want to drive the car with "spirit" "full on" as it were through corners and so on. So I will be looking to retain the excellent steering as it is.

I want to change wheels and tyres in the opposite route to be honest. Visually 17" wheels compared to 15" wheels look better I think as they "fill" the wheel arches and just set off the car in a better way I think. Although I do like the original look too! The tele dials are great but .........!

Also my limited grasp of the subject is that a lower profile tyre in itself will improve handling as the sidewall isn't going to "give" as much.

So it really is parking and slow manouverers that prove difficult as I always have one hand on the handcontrols (a push/pull system. Push to brake, pull to accelerate), very easy and receptive. This means that I am trying to turn a very heavy steering rack with one hand. Well it is for me anyway!

Compared to many other more modern cars there is a huge difference. As an example my everday car, an E class merc has the lightest steering I have ever used! Yet at speeds it still feels very positive.

Thanks all for the advice!

Any thoughts on who to approach to tackle or look at the job? Midlands area.

Cheers,

David

 

[zcacogp]

David,

It sounds like you are probably not looking at having the system 'lightened', per se then. In which case, standard width tyres (or narrowest-possible), and keep them pumped up, would seem to be the best advice.

You talk about fitting larger wheels. The rolling radius of your wheels needs to remain the same, so if you have larger wheels you will need to fit lower-profile tyres. This will reduce the amount of 'give' in the sidewalls, which will change the way the car handles. There has been a lot posted on here about that, and it sounds like it is not a universally good thing. BUT, lower-profile tyres tend to be wider, which makes the steering heavier, which is not what you are looking for.

I'd stick with the current tyres and try blowing them up to 90% of the maximum pressure (marked on the sidewall). And change the power steering fluid. If that is still too heavy, look at narrower tyres.


Oli.

 

[sawood12]

I have seen little gearboxes that can be used that effectively change the gearing between the steering wheel and rack input shaft. They are small eppicyclic gearboxes that fit in-line with the steering shaft. They are usually used to quicken steering and ultimately make steering feel heavier, but if you installed the gearbox the 'wrong' way round you'd get the opposite affect. The question then becomes: would you be able to live with even more turns from lock to lock?

Sorry, I don't have any links to these things. Saw them on Rennlist so if you do a search on steering you should find a topic on quickening the steering and get the link that way.

I'm not sure which component of the power steering system provides the weight of the steering - is it the pump? If the PAS pump is a VW item then maybe a pump off a different car with lighter steering might be retrofittable - say off a Passat? Unlikely, but worth a look.

 

[Eldavo]

ORIGINAL: AfterShock


As an example my everday car, an E class merc has the lightest steering I have ever used! Yet at speeds it still feels very positive.

The Merc will have speed adaptive steering that gets lighter at low speeds and progressively heavier as speed increases. Audi offer an electonic system that gives comfort, sport and dynamic settings to similar effect.