AronZ28

iTrader: (2)

You wanna talk about a huge wheel, go drive a 1960's Cadillac or some other land yatch of that era.

Although I agree, the steering wheels are ugly and way too big in the fbody. Of course you have to remember the tech of the time, nobody had figured out how to make airbags compact yet, thus every car had a big ugly blob in the middle of the wheel back then. Some were able to hide it/style around it better than others, GM didn't even try to make it look good with the wheels in the fbody though.

giosoccer20

Yeah but the bigger wheels on the old land yachts complimented those cars. Not trying to argue, but that's just what I think

LS3AEROCPE

I have read all comments and have not seen anyone who knows why big wheels? The orginal reason big wheel was used because there were no power steering in the old days! It took less muscle to steer the car, it took a man to drive them!

giosoccer20

I would like to correct you and say that someone has mentioned the size of the wheels on older cars was due to lack of power steering...however, our cars have power steering, which is why this large wheel has always frustrated me

LS3AEROCPE

There are cars during the 50s and 60s that you almost have to look through them when power sterring was not invented! I assume you were not around them?

RedHotG8

iTrader: (1)

I was going to buy a 65 Impala SS but passed on it because it didn't have power steering. It had a 396 big block and it was in excellent shape.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

"look through them" ??? No idea what you mean there.

But power steering had most definitely been "invented" by the '50s, and was a fairly common option in the '60s on larger cars.

Tires in that era were skinnier with taller sidewalls, so that made non-power assisted steering a bit easier than it would be with modern low profile, wider tires.

cmac06

iTrader: (16)

Yeah full size cars in that era had 20" rims inside the car. It made the already loose steering feel even more vague with all the extra leverage. I still think most cars have way too much assist these days. Do they really think that people are this weak?

giosoccer20

think of all the frail, fading senior citizens who haven't been re-tested for their license....they need the super-assisting power steering

AronZ28

iTrader: (2)

Agreed. Those big wheels did look good on the cars of that era. Of course everything was WAY wider back then, no consoles, just a single piece bench seat. You could seat 3 across in the front seat comfortably, the big steering wheel didn't look out of place because the car was enormous both inside and out.

And there is a certain fun aspect of driving a properly set-up(ie completely rebuilt front end) Cadillac of that era. You don't hustle it, you just twirl that big old wheel with your pinky finger, and it kind of goes the way you point it. They track pretty darn straight with everything rebuilt, at least for the first 30-40k miles until you need to replace all the rubber bushings again lol.

giosoccer20

Yeah, growing up, my family had a mid to late 80's chevy caprice ex-police interceptor. Had 2 radiators, and 350 +hp (when new). It was literally a tank, and was pretty damn fast as well. Anyways, that car had a massive steering wheel, yet it also had power steering. Had the whole bench seat in the front and back, so it could seat 6 pretty damn comfortably. I guess the large steering wheel and bench seats sort of became known as American styling, so even though those cars didn't need the large wheels, they still had them.

I remember that thing getting rear ended when it was stationary by a car traveling north of 40mph. The car that hit the caprice was totaled, but the caprice almost had no noticeable damage (no exaggeration). The chrome bumper was just slightly pushed in. Unbelievable.

giosoccer20

what kind of aftermarket steering wheel would you guys put on your f-body?

I really like the look of this one, but I bet some people would argue this is too "tuner" for a our cars? http://www.momousa.com/tuning/steeri...quark-red.html

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I would put something that looks like it belongs in a factory interior.

None of those race wheels look like that.

Roarin_8

iTrader: (5)

Yup just like the ones on page 2 of this thread.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Heck yes. Though I don't want to lose the airbag.

giosoccer20

I'll just go with my gut on the steering wheel decision when the time comes...

TempleU_WS6

iTrader: (6)

I love my personal wheel, very comfortable and top quality. Don't mind the rest of the interior haha

giosoccer20

ooh, so do I. except I'd have it in red trim instead of the blue. what brand is that, and how much did it cost, including the hub adapter?

TempleU_WS6

iTrader: (6)

Here it is with better lighting, still fr my phone but the suede is actually pretty dark. The suede and the stitching is very nice.

Roarin_8

iTrader: (5)

Well the person that did the swap had his airbag working, well the lights didn't come on the dash. Only way to see if the airbag actually worked would be to get into a wreck.....