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850 steering now lacks self-centering at full lock 850 1995

posted by  someone claiming to be dave on  Wed Jul 4 15:08 CST 2007 [RELATED]

In a parking lot setting, when I turn tightly, the steering's self-centering tendency disappears. By full steering lock, in either direction, I can take my hands off the wheel and the car will continue to turn as tightly as it can.

Does anyone else's 850(/s70/s60/...) do that? Does anyone know what causes that?

    (Self-centering action is mostly a function of caster, which is around 3 degress, a bit under on the left, a bit over on the right, which has long/always been nominal on this car.)


It only began happening after switching from HD Bilstein struts to "Touring" Bilstein struts (and L side upper strut mount and CV boots were repl at same time) 7 months ago. Ever since then the feel/behavior of the steering's been different. If it was wrong before and now it's correct, other 850s should be able to "chase their tail" with hands off the wheel at low speed in a parking lot...







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    850 steering now lacks self-centering at full lock 850 1995

    posted by  someone claiming to be dave on  Tue Jul 10 16:38 CST 2007 [RELATED]

    Well I've had the car examined (L tie rod joint has a miniscule bit of play in it) and re-aligned (the front toe re-set). Most of the car's alignment numbers don't look as good as after the last alignment (cross-SAI and cross-camber are now non-zero, but thrust angle is finally exactly zero), but my initial reaction is that the steering now feels more natural/neutral (like the tires are no longer constantly fighting each other for directional control; now that there's usually less/no such fighting/pulling, I can better sense when one tire starts to pull ever so slightly due to a pavement irregularity) going down the road (so that one aspect to very subtle road feel through the wheel is vastly improved). The steering/turning still feels a wee bit side-steppy in tight parking lot turning situations, but the tires remain significantly feathered from before, so maybe that effect/sensation will subside...

    7 months ago, front toe was (re-)set to .28, today it was found to have 'drifted' to .67, and now it's at .32 degrees.







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    850 steering now lacks self-centering at full lock 850 1995

    posted by  KlausC on  Thu Jul 5 07:23 CST 2007
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    last visit: Fri Oct 24 10:15 CST 2014
    [RELATED]

    Recinding the last post. My 850 USED to do that until I had an alignment. I just took it out to a parking and did lock-to-lock turns left and right. At idle speed, it stayed locked without hands on wheel. Any extra gas and it started to turn out.
    It did not want to turn tighter by itself, if you know what I mean.

    Klaus







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      850 steering now lacks self-centering at full lock 850 1995

      posted by  someone claiming to be dave on  Fri Jul 6 11:16 CST 2007 [RELATED]

      THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your feedback. I shall now assign much less importance to this recent change in my car's steering's behavior. I'm running the fronts at 33 psi now and it's just as you nicely described yours, though there is a bit of hystersis-like effect (diff effort/resistance at increasing vs decreasing steering angles). At 32 psi, where I could run them OK on the old struts, the problem is grossly exaggerated.

      I've found a known good tech (and [former] racer) at the dealer (the last tech, the one I thought I knew, the one who installed the struts+, was at first dismissive of my initial/immediate concerns with the alignment/steering, then -- w/o my knowledge or consent -- charged me multiple times for what I was clearly led to believe was a complimentary/compensatory/friendly/careful re-alignment, and when I declined to be so ripped off -- I ponied up another $30 = 1/2 what I'd paid for the original alignment -- the dealer, unbeknownst to me, paid the tech's outrageously exaggerated extortion/demand and declared me to be the bad guy!) willing to give the steering a once-over and put the car back on the alignment rack...

      I trust/hope I won't have anything but better news to share with you after that.







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    850 steering now lacks self-centering at full lock 850 1995

    posted by  KlausC on  Wed Jul 4 17:03 CST 2007
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    last visit: Fri Oct 24 10:15 CST 2014
    [RELATED]

    My 850 does that too. My v70 with awd does not, but the turning circle is much greater.

    Klaus






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