i steering wheel has always felt a little soft to me. Not horrible but i would like it tighter, stiffer? How do i go about doing this? the car is a 98 so i was thinking new poly bushing's on everything in the front.

 

i have many aftermarket parts..but the sway bars, SFC, and springs made car handle like its on rails..

the steering is sharp and i have no body roll..

of course the car is lowered..

 

I think aftermarket sway bars, springs would help any car. I know on the M3, sway bars/x brace made the steering extra tight.

 

Go to http://www.k2graphicservices.com/ebo...lash.html#/22/
And order the book at the bottom of the back page. It'll clear up a lot.

It's written by the founder of Addco sway bars.

 

thanks, i have hotchkis springs, umi LCA, Tq arm, and the front/rear sway bars are on the way, but the steering wheel like turns to freely if that makes any sense? Almost needs like thicker powersteering fluid.

 

i am going w/ the umi swaybars when i get the extra money.

 

Could be your steering, but most likely it's just that the bushing on the swaybar are not what they used to be and the steering is sloppy because of that. Beefy sways will really help with that.

 

well i ordered the UMI front and rear sway bars and they come with energy bushings.... we shall see i guess.

 

steering feel is soft on these cars. i recommend upgrading your shocks. itll make your car overall more solid. konis are excellent.

 

Maybe I don't understand but my steering is hard.... Like I think it's stiff for a car.

 

Despite having springs/shocks, swaybars I feel like theres an inch or two of play in my steering before the wheels respond. Is this what your talking about?

If your toe is in, which is stock alignment specs so it probably is, then you could adjust it to even 0. That's what mine is at. It's very safe to drive. You could even go toe out, lol. But you probably don't want to do that, even though it would sharpen your steering response

 

thats exactly what i mean! it does have a stock alighnment. i've been meaning to get it re-alighned just cause it hasnt been done in awhile. So i just tell them i want the toe at an even 0? how is this for handeling purposes? ive been doing a lot of time attack/ autocross stuff. The main goal here is to lower my times.

 

I also autocross

I'm not sure what to do about the 1 inch of play. With lowering springs you should have better shocks. Since you autox, you'll be able to tell the difference between a good performing shock and a bad one once you get a good set in there and drive through a slalom or extreme offset set of gates. If you already have a good set of shocks, please ignore the above!

But yes.. ideal autox toe is probably actually with a little toe out. Most people recommend toe at 0 for a good street/autox setup and your tires will wear better. Hell, I'd go with a toe 0 on a daily driver.

If you get a lot of understeer, consider just getting a better overall alignment. A decent street/autox setup is camber -.5, caster maxed, and toe 0. Though I personaly suggest just maxing out negative camber because it's wearing fine for me on the street.

 

sounds good man. apperciate the info, shocks are in the works, but i will definitely get on the alignment and see if that helps any. I do get a lot of understeer in some corners.

 

Im sure a TurnOne power steering pulley and pump will help, if all your suspension is done.

 

That's a bit expensive and I'm not sure will fix what he wants to accomplish. The T1 is probably good for road racing.. but Redline PS fluid takes care of that dept for me, and only costs 10 bucks every year as opposed to over 270 bucks.

I'm not sure how the T1 will fix a deadspot or improve steering response. If it does in a way, anyone feel free to explain it to me.

 

whats the best way to replace the ps fluid?

 

good question, I wonder if there is a drain on the steering box or if you have to just disconnect on the the lines and let it drain???

 

Id suggest a rag joint eliminator. Google it. It will take the slop out of your steering column. I haven't tried it but I've heard good things about it.

 

ls1's dont have rag joints. the problem could be your lower steering shaft bolt where it goes into the rack. mine was about 1.5 turns loose. tightened the **** out of it and it tightened all the play in my wheel up