Is there any way to make steering wheel lighter(softer)?

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Yep. And yet they could be driven without the driver being injured.


Believe me I KNOW.

Power what .......??


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Power what .......??


humfrz

Oh I hate to think what people would say about mechanical clutches and single cylinder non assisted drum brakes. I doubt they would be able to walk.

[TorontoNat]

Originally Posted by Decep

Have you not driven your average econobox or sedan ? The steering is way overboosted in general. Or even your average SUV. Cant tell what the front wheels are doing half the time. Kind of like American cars from the 70s but not as bad.

Absolutely agree. This car has heavy steering compared to anything new. The only thing I have driven with heavier sterrign is a 2017 M3... amazing tightness on those it's really amazing how much feel they give you but I understand that tcoat and others probably used to drive on something w.out power steerign which would obviously make this car feel super light.

[Decep]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Yes and they are indeed numb. That does not make the steering in these cars "stiff" though. Has nobody else here ever driven a car with no power assist? How about ones that were not even rack and pinion? I guess "stiff" is subjective but good god how much easier can cars get to steer? My 70 year old grandmother used to drive her 64 Ford with no power steering every single day, all year round, and had no issues. My mother who weighs all of about 90 pounds managed with cars that apparently would put some people here in the hospital.
If people think these cars have stiff steering and are getting injured from them then maybe self driving cars can't come soon enough.

They are stiff, compared to other cars on the market. Not-so-super-boosted power steering and the 6 degrees of caster affect that. Not sure whats so hard to understand about that. Some cars you can easily turn the wheel around with a pinky finger at a dead stop. I learned manual transmission on a Ford pickup without any power steering and I'm not so smug about it.

Yes, vehicles without power steering are harder to turn. No one is disputing that. Either way, when you build speed, any vehicle is easy to turn.... OP's shoulder has got to be pretty screwed up or he parallel parks 100x a day lol.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh I hate to think what people would say about mechanical clutches and single cylinder non assisted drum brakes. I doubt they would be able to walk.

Well, Tcoat, and the older folks who used to work on cars back-in-the-day ....... maybe we have been "brain damaged" and don't realize it.

Let's go back and do a brake job on a car. First, jack it up with a "bumper jack" (if that didn't kill you, proceed). Pull off the wheel and the brake drum.

No masks ...... they were only used in the paint shop.

Blow the asbestos (a carcinogen) brake dust off of everything with an air hose.

Clean the brake parts up with tetrachloroethylene (brake cleaner), another carcinogen.

All this while smoking a cigarette (another carcinogen).

And so, ....... here we still are ......

(got to rest, my shoulder is hurting from typing too much ..... )


humfrz

[Decep]

You had air hoses? Why in my day...we had to fill up tires with our lungs!

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Decep

You had air hoses? Why in my day...we had to fill up tires with our lungs!

Now, THAT is .......

I reckon back in your day ........ tires were solid rubber ...... you didn't fill them at all ......


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Decep

They are stiff, compared to other cars on the market. Not-so-super-boosted power steering and the 6 degrees of caster affect that. Not sure whats so hard to understand about that. Some cars you can easily turn the wheel around with a pinky finger at a dead stop. I learned manual transmission on a Ford pickup without any power steering and I'm not so smug about it.

Yes, vehicles without power steering are harder to turn. No one is disputing that. Either way, when you build speed, any vehicle is easy to turn.... OP's shoulder has got to be pretty screwed up or he parallel parks 100x a day lol.

"Compared to some" does not make it stiff. This is actually something I can measure since I have the tools. Next trip to the Windsor plant I will pull out my trusty force meter and see exactly how different is from other cars. I doubt there will be much change between them.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by humfrz

No masks ...... they were only used in the paint shop.

All this while smoking a cigarette (another carcinogen).



humfrz

With a hole in it to insert said cigarette.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

With a hole in it to insert said cigarette.

Well, of course, you couldn't get that final "mist shot" on, exactly right, unless you had smoke drifting up in your eyes ......


humfrz

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

And y'all are crazy, the steering on this car is stiff, hop into a plain jane commuter car and that mush behind the steering wheel barely qualifies as 'resistance'.

I drive a lot of rental cars. Many different brands. This car doesn't feel stiff in comparison at all. It's just much more responsive and transmits more road feel.

But then, I grew up driving trucks, cars and sports cars that didn't have power steering, so I have a different frame of reference. I guess if I buy one of these antique cars I've been looking at lately, I won't have to worry about a snowflake trying to steal it.

"Ugh. That old Chevy looks like it would hurt my arms. Let's take that Toyota instead."

Originally Posted by kdyg123456

And my right shoulder is getting painful with the heavy steering wheel ( got some inflammation inside my right shoulder).

Originally Posted by PetrolioBenzina

OP, your shoulder problems are aggravated by driving, not caused by it. Address the shoulder issue first.

I agree. There's an underlying problem that the car couldn't possibly be causing. As someone who has suffered considerably from swimmer's shoulder, I highly recommend this book:

7 Minute Rotator Cuff Solution

Just learning how to rotate your shoulder when you start feeling pain to open it up and take pressure off the bursa makes it worth the read. I quickly discovered I could usually stop an attack before it really got going. The book isn't cheap, but there are a lot of scans floating around in PDF format for illegal download.

[bkharmony]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I drive a lot of rental cars. Many different brands. This car doesn't feel stiff in comparison at all. It's just much more responsive and transmits more road feel.

Guys, I think Team Stiff is talking about low speeds.

If someone thinks the steering on a FT86 is stiff at road speed, they need to find themselves a nice 70s Lincoln or Cadillac.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I guess if I buy one of these antique cars I've been looking at lately, I won't have to worry about a snowflake trying to steal it.

.

What are you looking for in an antique? I keep thinking about getting another but then change my mind again.

[strat61caster]

Most modern cars are overboosted as fuck, hop in a Yaris or Corolla or Hyundai, the effort to turn the wheel is about the same as moving a chopstick through soupy oatmeal. I can drive one of those econo-boxes with one finger, and it's been that way for over a decade, my 25 year old pickup truck was undoubtedly easier to steer because the power steering did 95% of the work, the 86's only does say 85% of the work, and if you're not used to anything outside of the appliance on wheels that does 98% of the work for you it's a culture shock.

I look forward to the test results provided by @Tcoat
Will it be an order of magnitude harder to turn the wheel? Fuck no, but I fully expect a quantifiable difference between your average commuter car and an 86.