Steering weight and feel

[Error404]

The steering is my main source of disappointment on my car too.

i've recently fitted 15mm spacers with stock Avus and it does increase steering weight somewhat but not feel. I removed the steering damper which was completely goosed, so there was no difference TBH some people have reported much more pleasant steering with a new damper.... RHD ones aren't cheap though, although i'm sure the LHD one can be used with a little mod with a grinder - planning on tryong it out with a cheap LHD Febi one some time soon.
I've also dialed up the preload as much as i could which tightened up the response, but again didn't really increase the "feel" - i recommend tweaking the pre-load if you've never done it, made a big difference on my 174k ish CQ.
I'm going to fit an ABY rack when i do my engine swap to get the quicker rack, and becasue mine still has a lot of play at the maximum preload i could get away with.

I think to increase the feel the chassis needs to be much stiffer and increased castor might be worth experimenting with - i'd try some offset front subframe bushes if there were some available other than the 034 ones, which i think could end up cracking the subframe with where their anti-rotation dowels sit
Planning on welding in some pick-up points for bolt on chassis bracing under the tunnel and across the subframe mounting points to attempt some chassis stiffening without having to use a cage

[stiglet]

My Beetle had a fair bit of steering feel. Drifting it was great fun. Although, especially being a cab, it had the worst chassis I have ever seen. You could physically feel the body twisting around you. I'm convinced that with a little tweaking on the suspension, the S2 could have just as good steering as any car

Only one way to find out really...

[Rusty]

ABY rack is sharp but feel isn't there, yoiu end up over steering into corners because it's light and very sharp.

[S2central.net]

I think I'll try taking my steerin damper off to see if any feel changes.

[Error404]

its an easy one to do Paul, especially on an ABY without the battery tray - you can probably have it off in 5 minutes!

[Rusty]

Will make the car lighter too

[anton]

a bit off topic but is there any difference between the 3b and ABY racks?? i hear good and bad things about the servotronic stuff

Ant

[s2driveruk]

3b rack just has a connector for the servotronic plug to connect to, other than that nothing much obviously different extenally. internally i doubt much difference either.

The servotronic assistance is too light at any speed in my experience, disconnecting it was the best thing i did with mine Replacing every aspect of the steering system was equally good come to think of it!

[Mr.Crossfire]

ABY rack is faster. 2.5 turns left end to right end, as the 3b rack is 3 turns. I think that the pressure/flow of the PAS pump should be throttled somehow, because now it is so powerful, that the steering is very light in every situation. So it is harder to tell, when the surface is slippery or not. If the PAS assisted less, the difference between slippery/gripping surfaces would be greater and easier to feel.
Personally I don't like the idea of adding spacers, especially as our roads here are filled with grooves and potholes, so the car jolts around if the ET is too small.

[S2central.net]

I been thinking about this (dangerous as I am NOT a hydraulic engineer) - isn't there any simple way to reduce the pressure provided by the PAS pump ?

Maybe with some internal valving ?

or maybe a bigger pulley on the thing just slow it spins slower and presumably creates less pressure.

Surely all the servotronic system must have done is controlled the hydraulic pressure in the steering rack - based on roadspeed signalling. There must therefore be some way to get the rack setup with even less power assistance.

I don't mind the steering getting a bit heavier at speed if it improves....

Heck maybe the original concept of servotronic was right in that you get superlight steering at low speeds for parking and stuff, then less assitance at high speeds... Its just the implementation was such it was still too light at high speed... and when they deleted Servotronic, they had to setup the steering with a compromise setting in terms of hydrualic assistance - which us still too feckin light.

[anton]

i have no idea how it all works but i know when my belt snapped on my cq and i lost all power assistance i didnt gain any feel at all....just got heavier perhaps the s2 racks are set up differently but i'd be surprised if just lowering the pressure helped...happy to be proven wrong though as one of these is ending up on my coupe very soon.

Ant

[S2central.net]

Anton - zero power assistance is obviously not the right answer - unless you want biceps like Arnie...

[anton]

Anton - zero power assistance is obviously not the right answer - unless you want biceps like Arnie...

haha no i wasn't suggesting that, justmeant that if zero pressure gave no extra feel i dont thik a reduction in pressure would either, but as i sai that was my opinion and based on a non-s2 rack. Looks like its an ABY rack goin in my car, also going with the more caster approach so will post results on here, wont be on the road till after easter though

Ant

[Audi-Porsche Avant RS2]

Hello, on my S2 ABY I think that the steering wheel is too hard to rotate, it's possible that the problem is the steering wheel pump? I haven't losses in the system because the level of the steering oil is ever on the max, when I have bought the car I had change the protection of the steering rack because was broken and I have seen some oil on the steering rack, but now the level oil is perfect, I don't know if the problem maybe the steering wheel pump or the steering wheel rack, the steering wheel is also very noisy when rotate.

[GazzaG60]

i know of a person who removed the pas on a subaru they had modded for the track. it ended life in a wall i think it was due to the owner not being able to turn in time.