Vague Steering

[From A to Zed]

Hi chaps, and Happy New Year to all.

 

I’ve owned my Zed for almost a year now and although I love the car I do find the steering a little vague with very little feedback either side of dead ahead, I find the lack of feel/feedback slightly unnerving when turning into shallow/quick turns on narrow roads. My last few cars have been a 205 GTI, 106 GTI and Clio Cup so I'm used to cars with great feedback and good steering feel.

 

My main gripe with my Zed is that I can't really feel it 'weighting up' in a corner and I end up driving much slower than the car is capable of... This is starting to frustrate me a little now and blunt my enjoyment, hence the post.

 

For reference I'm running Rota GTR's with Falken 452's in the standard (RAYS) sizes from Big Phil (so they're balanced perfectly). The car has all the original chassis stickers under the bonnet / door jams so I doubt it’s a serious chassis / accident issue.

 

My car has done 50k and as I fitted the wheels myself I've not had the tracking and alignment checked since owning it. Does anyone think this could this be the culprit, or experienced anything similar??

After all the great press I bought the Zed over say a Z4 or TT for the extra driver appeal but I feel a little let down with the steering. Oh, and my tyres have done about 3k so they’re bed in.

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Andy]

What pressures are you running them at?

[From A to Zed]

Hi Andy,

 

35 PSI all round. The last owner had put Avons (on the RAYS) so I was hoping things would improve when I changed to Falkens but no joy... I'm running the standard 225 (front) and 245 (rears).

 

Cheers,

Matt

[IanS16]

Matt,

 

Let my mate drive my car today and he mentioned that the feedback is dull too. He's come from a celica.

 

I'm running Toyo Proxies and haven't really noticed it myself.

[marzman]

Its not because the 106 and 306 are like go-karts is it? Probably not much tech under there copmpared to a zed? Perhaps its that you come to the edge of mechanical grip much sooner than with the zed?

 

Also i would have thought with FWD cars you feel more feedback throught the wheels? My last 3 cars have been bmw 3-series' and i have to say the zed feels very responsive compared to how they felt.

[From A to Zed]

Thanks Ian, that kind of makes me feel better!

 

You're probably right too Chris, the little French cars are featherweight flyers and naturally you get more noise through the wheel in FWD cars. There's also the weight to think about, the Zed is 500kg heavier than anything else I've owned.

 

I'm going to order from ARB's and springs from Z1 soon and get the car set up at TDI in Essex, hopefully it will feel better then. I'm also going to try some driver training once the car is sorted and the frost is cleared. Hopefully I'll have a better feel for the car then.

 

... Anyway, back to work for me!

[rtbiscuit]

if you've come from front wheel drive cars it will feel odd. i know when i swapped over to the mr2. the steering used to feel very light at speed. and was quite unnerving. but a proper FSB corrected that. (but the Zed already has one)

 

because the wheels just have to steer now you've lost all the tourque feedback in the steering wheel, which is a good thing, as this hides some of the original feedback.

 

you should have with a rear wheel drive a more accurate feel of the road.

 

it may also be the power steering, but to be honest for me the feedback is good on these cars.

[dcash5]

I came from the 106 gti (very tidy toy if i say so myself running just shy of 160bhp) and that thing was very confident in the corners.

 

took alot of people by surprise. the 205 and 106 are hard to beat handling wise so unfortunately you have set the bar very high.

[mec]

Might be as others say the switch from FWD to RWD, I've had a string of RWD cars and found regardless of where the engine is i've needed to balance the throttle before and through the apex with more consideration... otherwise it feels uneasy after turn in and understeers. Compared to the other RWD's the 350z does feel a little flat, and i've personally found it hard to get and keep heat in the b/stone tyres (probably different with your Proxies), but not enough to lose confidence.

[drewbie]

I'm no expert but have done a bit of racing years ago, mainly karts - stopped 'cos I was rubbish - but here's my opinion for what it's worth -

 

steering feel is pretty good, although not top class like a boxster etc, on the Zed and turn in is reasonable, although tends to err on the dide of understeer for safety - over correcting can cause over steer (which can be fun or scary depending on whether it was intended).

With a FWD car you get a lot of 'feel' through the wheel. Most of this is all the torque as you feel the effect of the engine powering the front /wheels scrabble for grip etc.

On a RWD car you only get the feedback of grip, no torque effect through the wheel etc. All they are doing is steering. This makes the feeling much lighter or sensitive. When you turn the wheel the car should act immediately and directly. This means it's all good. The 'feel' needs learning from a FWD car. Hold the wheel lightly - racing drivers sometimes just use finger tips and always a light grip. You need to tune your hands and brain into feeling the grip/or lack of it. It's quite slight. To be honest it steers exactly where you point it and the back will almost certainly loose grip before the front. Therefore feeling the cars balance is more important.

Hope this doesn't sound patronising. Not meant too and it isn't the best RWD for feel, which means it's even harder to 'feel' it. Just perciveer with a light grip. A track day or blast on a safe road will help with the confidence.

[From A to Zed]

Thanks Drewbie, not patronising at all. Like I said it’s my first RWD and first 'larger' car so I have a lot to learn and tune in to. Once the weather clears up and I'm going to invest in a track day / training session to familiarise myself with the characteristics of the car.

 

All the best,

Matt

[Ekona]

It's also very easy to drive a FWD car quickly as if you go too fast you'll simply understeer: Back off the power and you'll regain grip, allowing you to carry on without too much fuss. It takes a lot more confidence to drive fast with RWD as you have to remember that letting off the power is sometimes the worst thing you can possibly do (unless you've done it intentionally ), so it can take a while to really get into the flow with a car.

 

It took me 3 years of driving MR to fully get used to the balance, but only about 6 months to get to the same standard with FR. It's mostly about time, understanding the way grip, power and weight distribution work with RWD, and then applying that to build your confidence up. I don't mean that to sound as patronising as I know it does, it just sums up my experiences with various cars.

[martinmac]

Very much agree Dan. I am looking at it from the opposite side. I have always had RWD cars but the few times I have driven FWD ( hire cars etc) I have found it very different.