Quote:
Originally Posted by Viper21 Hey Everyone,
this is a great thread and i really enjoyed reading all the comments.
I am a novice at cars than most of you all in this wonderful forum. My car (indigo manza) has a HPS unit, and i always thought, that it had a horrible system since i dont get to do lock to lock turns like say in an i10. my question is by "feel" you mean if you go over a pothole then you almost cringe because you can almost feel it coming to your hands ? Looks like most people prefer hard steering for the preciseness at high speeds, but sometimes i really get a hand-ache. Can the pros educate me a little bit on steering feedback and how the right steering (like the one in a linea or punto) should behave.
Thanks Folks !! |
Hi
Let me try to explain to the best of my knowledge.
There is steering feedback, steering heft, steering precision/accuracy and then there is steering feel. These are somewhat related, but different things.
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Steering feedback is being able to feel the road surface through the steering wheel. You can feel the ruts and small bumps in the road through the wheel, you can feel the wheel feel lighter or tighter in one direction depending on grip. This is not something cars must have, it's a personal preference. Some people want it, some people don't want it that's all. Note that actual race car drivers will use it when they are taking extreme corners at the edge of grip limits, but for most of us on a public road this could be actually useless and is more of an ego-stroking device than actually impacts the way we drive. Most of our cars have understeer built in, or have traction control (which we shouldn't be turning off on a public road) or are just not that powerful that we have to perceive grip from steering feedback and correct our course. Its just a nice-to-have sensation more than anything else, for
us. It is a real thing for race car drivers though.
- Then there is
steering heft. It is simply how heavy the steering feels to turn. It has nothing to do with performance. It is just a personal preference that some people like it heavy (it's like do you like lime soda salt or sugar). Note that heavy steering doesn't mean more feedback. Some cars have heavy steering but the feedback isn't there. Some cars have lighter steering but give more feedback.
But usually, less assist = more feedback (and incidentally more heavy steering).
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Steering accuracy or precision or directness is how intuitively the car goes in the direction you intend. Can you throw your car into an exact spot between two cones? Some cars can do that with more accuracy than others. This is steering accuracy. This usually affects performance in a track or your confidence about how fast you can go, how fast you can take a corner etc.
- And then there is "
steering feel". This is not a thing, actually. This is a subjective term used to describe how you perceive the Steering experience based on the above and other factors. To some people, even the thickness or size of the steering wheel can affect this steering feel. To many enthusiasts (but not all) steering feel comes from precision and feedback. For some, the heft of the steering wheel affects it. Other factors that could affect Steering feel are: how many lock to lock turns in total? Tramlining (some people hate it but some people associate it with more feel).
Note that being hydraulic or electric doesn't necessarily result in better steering feel/feedback/precision automatically. Its just an observation that so far, the best electric setups haven't been able to match the best hydraulic setups (in many enthusiasts' minds). But there are many electric setups that give better feel than many hydraulic setups (Maruti vs Hyundai comes to mind).
It is not the steering rack alone that affects steering feel. Your cars weight, tightness of suspension, wheels, tires and grip tires have and other factors can influence it. Even tire pressure can affect it.
Also - steering feel or even feedback doesn't necessarily mean better handling. Some cars offer the worst steering feel with zero feedback but they handle the best. Audis come to mind here. The audi feel is literally like playing a video game console. But very few cars can match a Quattro-equipped Audi's handling and performance. Mercedes too is soft and offers a no-feedback, easy-to-turn feel while delivering great handling. Porsche and BMW on the other hand have always given importance to steering feeland their handling is up there too, comparable with Audi/Mercedes.
Think of the steering feel discussion as something similar to "which Saree looks good" or "which ice cream tastes best". How in the world can anyone hate chocolate ice cream? How can you eat yogurt?! Its like that. Its all subjective and taste varies.
Hope this helps.