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how to make steering more responsive?

S

soccerballtux

Lifer
My friend's bmw's steering wheel can be described as telepathic. Move the wheel ever so slightly and the wheels turn and you turn. Mine has a good 2 inches of play to it (1" left/right) before the wheels start turning. What can I do to fix this?
 
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Solid steering shaft, higher ratio rack, shorter and stiffer sidewall tires for starters.

Have someone turn the wheel back and forth just to the point where it starts engaging the wheels, and get under the car and see where the play is coming from. If it's a relatively new car and unlikely anything is worn, it's just manufacturer designed play inside the rack itself and you'll need a tighter rack (uh hehe heheh).

The power assist valving also has alot to do with it.
 
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exdeath said:
Solid steering shaft, higher ratio rack, shorter and stiffer sidewall tires for starters.

Have someone turn the wheel back and forth just to the point where it starts engaging the wheels, and get under the car and see where the play is coming from. If it's a relatively new car and unlikely anything is worn, it's just manufacturer designed play inside the rack itself and you'll need a tighter rack (uh hehe heheh).

The power assist valving also has alot to do with it.
Click to expand...

I always preferred my racks much stiffer than normal 🙂 🙂 🙂
 
exdeath said:
Solid steering shaft, higher ratio rack, shorter and stiffer sidewall tires for starters.

Have someone turn the wheel back and forth just to the point where it starts engaging the wheels, and get under the car and see where the play is coming from. If it's a relatively new car and unlikely anything is worn, it's just manufacturer designed play inside the rack itself and you'll need a tighter rack (uh hehe heheh).

The power assist valving also has alot to do with it.
Click to expand...

fronts @ 42 PSI don't believe it's tires.
What do you mean by "higher ratio"? What part determines the "ratio"?
I found his wheels seem to turn a bit less quickly than mine per revolution of the steering wheel. I take it this means he may have a lower ratio, simply stiffer rack?

Also I think read something about steel braided lines for the power steering? Knowing what aged rubbers do to brakes and how it feels, this could also be a source of play...?
 
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Ratio is how many degrees of turning the steering wheel turn the wheels right or left, so a higher ratio would = quicker to turn wheels with the same amount of turning of the steering wheel. Typically lock to lock is used I think. BMW typically uses very high quality components throughout the steering system that communicate much more to the driver as opposed to setups with a lot of power steering boost.
 
Well, to be fair, the Cobalt SS is kind of based on the same idea, making a FF stupidly fast and good handling, and it does pretty well. I think it's a pretty severe upgrade in almost every possible area though, might be cost prohibitive to try to duplicate those results starting from a TC.
 
faster ratio rack at this point. if you have a nice set of tires and i know your suspension has been upgraded. only thing to improve response is a quicker ratio steering rack.
 
Arkaign said:
Well, to be fair, the Cobalt SS is kind of based on the same idea, making a FF stupidly fast and good handling, and it does pretty well. I think it's a pretty severe upgrade in almost every possible area though, might be cost prohibitive to try to duplicate those results starting from a TC.
Click to expand...

Hm the cobalt SS looks nice for the price...

I only paid $7000 for something that was worth $12-14k at the time (in hindsight-- because there aren't any problems with it even though it's rebuilt)
I've put in $900 so far for the rear sway bar, koni yellow shocks, and eibach lowkit[lol] springs.
So I've got about $13k to play with to make the steering more responsive in the first +/-5 degrees of turning before I'm better off buying the Cobalt.
 
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Well, there's always the large difference in power and braking ability to consider as well, but it depends on how important these things are to you. If you really don't care about driving fast, then it's sort of a non-issue. In my experience, the extra power quickly becomes addictive 🙂 Of course then you have larger bills for fuel and tires 😀
 
Arkaign said:
Well, there's always the large difference in power and braking ability to consider as well, but it depends on how important these things are to you. If you really don't care about driving fast, then it's sort of a non-issue. In my experience, the extra power quickly becomes addictive 🙂 Of course then you have larger bills for fuel and tires 😀
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yeah the power was definitely nice! 🙂 but meh I'll be ok without it & the gas bill & better tires.
 
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wonder if the play is due to compression of the power steering fluid and a flush might be in order...could I replace the power steering fluid with brake fluid??? very resistant to compression.... 😀

When I jacked the front of car and with car off, there was no play in the wheel, just smooth response, turn steering wheel and watching the wheels, the wheels turned immediately...
 
soccerballtux said:
wonder if the play is due to compression of the power steering fluid and a flush might be in order...could I replace the power steering fluid with brake fluid??? very resistant to compression.... 😀

When I jacked the front of car and with car off, there was no play in the wheel, just smooth response, turn steering wheel and watching the wheels, the wheels turned immediately...
Click to expand...

fluids do not compress dude. The play is just the steering ratio set by your steering rack. You might be able to find a quicker rack, but your car will feel like a go-cart. Swat at a mosquitoe and end up on the wrong side of the road :lol:
 
My friend's bmw's steering wheel can be described as telepathic. Move the wheel ever so slightly and the wheels turn and you turn. Mine has a good 2 inches of play to it (1" left/right) before the wheels start turning. What can I do to fix this?
Click to expand...

it's not uncommon to have a steering rack thats non-linear. A faster ratio LINEAR rack would feel more go-cart like if that's what you're looking for. I run a 14:1 ratio in my daily driver. It's as you describe. I look where I want to go and I'm there.

You can also just look for a rack that's fewer turns to lock than the one you run, and that will normally be a lower ratio. Of course once that is upgraded you'll want tu upgrade the soft bushings, then the stabilizer bars (sway bars), then the springs and struts/shocks and then the tires and by the time you're done, you might have just as well have bought a better handling car.....because you just did, but you're still stuck with the original car to go with it. If you like your car, then it's a good deal.
 
soccerballtux said:
My friend's bmw's steering wheel can be described as telepathic. Move the wheel ever so slightly and the wheels turn and you turn. Mine has a good 2 inches of play to it (1" left/right) before the wheels start turning. What can I do to fix this?
Click to expand...

FWD or not, something is seriously wrong with your steering system if you have that much play.
 
To improve steering response:

Easy things to do:
-More aggressive alignment, add some toe-out in the front and maybe some caster
-Low profile tires with a good stiff sidewall, possibly with larger wheels

Harder things to do:
-Quicker steering rack ratio (as mentioned)
-Smaller steering wheel (depending on personal preference)
-Replace any steering joints with better ones (if available)

Your quest for BMW steering may be impossible without some serious work because BMW has been known to use a variable ratio steering rack. That is to say the steering ratio changes with vehicle speed, not just the steering effort. MAGIC. I do not know if your friend's BMW has this or not, but it certainly makes steering feel telepathic.
 
JCH13 said:
To improve steering response:

Easy things to do:
-More aggressive alignment, add some toe-out in the front and maybe some caster
-Low profile tires with a good stiff sidewall, possibly with larger wheels

Harder things to do:
-Quicker steering rack ratio (as mentioned)
-Smaller steering wheel (depending on personal preference)
-Replace any steering joints with better ones (if available)

Your quest for BMW steering may be impossible without some serious work because BMW has been known to use a variable ratio steering rack. That is to say the steering ratio changes with vehicle speed, not just the steering effort. MAGIC. I do not know if your friend's BMW has this or not, but it certainly makes steering feel telepathic.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. The really hard thing is that part of the magic of that is that the power assist/speed goes DOWN with speed, giving you very precise control, yet still being capable of dramatic manuevers should the need arise. The only thing that really compares to the feeling is driving a reallywell tuned lightweight vehicle that totally lacks power steering, you get incredible feedback.
 
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