Loose Steering

[kiet88]

Hi guys,

i have a 96 dc4.

When i go around a roundabout and change gears from 1-2, my steering wheels feels very loose. driving on a normal road it feels fine.

But when i go on an uneven round, my steering wheel gets loose again?

Whats wrong with my steering?

I checked my power steering fluid - it was full.

Any ideas?

[aznpsuazn]

What exactly does "loose" mean?

[T-onedc2]

do you mean it can change direction easily under these conditions? maybe need wheel alignment

[kiet88]

Under the above conditions, i can feel my steering wheel loose grip - its as though for a second i have to grip on my steering wheel a lot tighter.

Also, i can kinda feel something had just given way, as though something has fallen off and sliding.

[T-onedc2]

sound dangerous, I'd take it to a Pedders or similar company for their opinion.

[aznpsuazn]

"uneven road" . sounds like bump steer maybe

[twofruitz]

Torque steer i'm guessing in conjunction with uneven roads.

My 96 dc4 used to do it.

[kiet88]

whats torque steer? and can i fix it?

is it as simple as T-onedc2 said and to to peddlers or mechanic?

My car is lowered could that also cause the problem?

[94dc2tegz]

i doubt it's torque steer - which is a FF trait that u can't 'fix'

it's just what happens to a FF car under heavy acceleration it'll steer to one side.

since i duno what u mean by loose i can't help u in that sense

but when i used to drive a non powersteering equiped car and the steering would feel 'loose' everytime my front wheels where loosing grip and almost sliding lol. ie around a round about or something that requires constant wheel turn.

[T-onedc2]

It may just be bump steer, and yes it's worse when the car is lowered as this changes the suspension geometry from what the factory intended for easy and safe driving for the joe average, I've had type r suspension and now with spoon progressives and it does it on uneven roads, and quite strongly at times.
On a perfectly flat straight road it should drive straight at a steady speed, if not take it to a specialist to get their professional opinion.

[Bludger]

i'm leaning towards bump steer too cos like T-onedc2 said, its more exaggerated on lowered cars.

but might be also worn bushes making it feel loose

internet is a very bad medium to diagnose these sort of problems

take it to a specialist to check it out :)

EDIT : after lowering my dc2r, i thought it was so, so dangerous with the extra bump steer, but in time, i did learn to handle it and now think it handles a lot better than stock, just took me some getting use to