Vague steering at high speed...

[Dum Dum Head]

I've noticed that the steering on my gf's celica is very vague at speeds above 70mph, especially near 100mph. She's noticed it too. Has anyone else noticed this? How can I fix it? I'm used to my S2000's crisp, go-kart responsiveness and it sorta bugs me when I jump into her car. I know it's not me if she notices it too, and she doesn't even drive the S... I'd feel better when I take her to a racing school with me if she didn't have this weird feeling with the steering at the high speeds.

I've thought maybe a new alignment (the car has less than 2000 miles on it), maybe suspension bushings, maybe lowering the car. Would any of these help this problem?

Thanks,
Chris
01 Yellow S2000
http://www.imbecilicracing.com

[Patches]

I may be way off here, but the first thing I would check would be tire inflation. But it could be other things as well but I don't know.

[Dum Dum Head]

I'm not sure if I mean that the steering is "vague" so much as it's just really light at those speeds and just doesn't feel right.

I'll check the pressures later, that's something I haven't done yet.

[Patches]

as in small adjustments to the steering, can mean your running off the road??
Or that you need large adjustments to turn?
A lot of cars have spped sensitive steering, and I think we do as well. so that might be it.

[MechaniX_034]

Send the car for alignment and wheel balancing before anything else; the Celica is a relatively new car and Japanese quality controls ar top-notch. Also, check the rating of the tyres it came with or the tyres you're using now.

[EzRidA]

Does she have a GT or GT-S? The tires will make a difference. Also does she have a spoiler? That to will make the car feel more attched. My car stays stable all the way up to 153 speedo indicated. I'm lowered, cusco lower tie bar, TRD wing, and Toyo Proxes T1-S's.

[Griffin]

Mines a stock GTSA and I've never felt any kind of lightness to teh steering that felt weird... what wheels & tires do ya have? Also you may want to have teh alignment checked.

Griffin

[Dum Dum Head]

It's a GT-S, everything is stock, including the tires. They are the 16s I believe (the nicer looking wheel option). Sorry, I don't know much about the options available for the Celica. She got almost every option there is though. There is a spoiler.

What I mean is that small steering corrections make relatively large changes, which wouldn't be bad if the steering wasn't so light. Like, with my S2000, the steering is stiffer, more direct and linear. Maybe ~normal~ cars are like the celica and I'm used to something ~extra-ordinary~. I hardly ever drive cars with less than 240hp.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the celica's steering when pushing it through the curves, it's just when I'm "super" cruising on the freeway that I get annoyed. I find myself drifting side-to-side quite often. I think the alignment is fine (or within factory specs) but maybe a custom alignment will help, or lowering the car could stiffen up the steering. Maybe stiffer suspension bushings?

So maybe I'm just used to the go-kart steering in the S2000, but since my g/f complains about it too, there has to be something that can be done. :)

[V8Celica]

In general, the celica suspensions are tuned for quick response in the turns. This is due to close to 0 or negative castor in the alignment. Unfortunately, this makes high speeds less stable than they would otherwise be. The car will wonder, follow grooves in the road, and take more effort to steer straight than most people think it should. There are a coulpe things you can do.

Factory alignment specs come in a range. Have the car alligned at a good shop. Tell them to set the front castor to the most positive setting in the factory spec.

To give the steering a heaver feel and better recentering, you could add the cusco lower strut bar. An upper strut bar would help too, but it wont recenter the steering wheel as much.

A rear strut bar will also aid in stability.


A good alignment will be your best bet as it wont mess with the overall balance of the car as strut bars do.

[GTS LAID]

i dont know man... last night i was going somewhere in the range of 130 to 140mph around long sweepers between the NJ turnpike and the holland tunnel on a set of S03s in the dry and although scary it felt planted... i do have a full aftermarket suspension but the car can handle it...

P.S. in the 6 mile ordeal i didnt pass one car the whole way... it was at 3:30am

[EzRidA]

Sounded like a nice spirited drive. :)

[Griffin]

Sounds like fun :)