09 Camry, caster?

"aggressive" self centering? In a 2009 Camry???

Hand over the keys pal, I'd LOVE to be driving THAT car. :)

Man I'm fed up to here with wishy-washy mushy-twitchy steering in mass-market mid-size sedans, so this is good news!

If it was wrecked, How hard and how did they repair it? Caster isn't adjustable on that suspension so you have to check the rails close and the lower A arm and knuckle for damage.

09 I don't remember, but I do remember renting 2010,11,12,13 Camry's and they were like any other car. (I have expense reports to back up my bad memory ;)

The only car I have ever driven with really aggressive self-centering steering was a first generation Renault R5 - surprisingly heavy steering too, compared to the contemporary Golf/Rabbit and Civic.

T0m $herm@n wrote: "The only car I have ever driven with really aggressive self-centering steering was a first generation Renault R5 - surprisingly heavy steering too, compared to the contemporary Golf/Rabbit and Civic. "

THAT is the direction we need to head back to in post-2000 automotive desig n!!

What do the manufacturers think we are? A bunch of wimps who can't turn a steering wheel?? How difficult is it to make a car with decently weighted steering away from straight-ahead?

I took out a 2014 Kia Optima(electric power st) for a test drive last month , turned right a block from the dealer's, and the steering wheel STAYED to the right and I nearly went into a fence by the side of the road!! The hyd raulic steering in my 2008 NEVER did that - the wheel politely centered its elf and the car headed straight down the street.

And don't ANYBODY dare tell me to go buy a BMW - well-weighted, quick-self- centering steering is simply combination of the right alignment angles, and enough degrees of them. That can be accomplished in anything from a Fiest a to a Ferrari.

For a while I drove a 1972 Oldmobile (sic) with a big-block engine and broken power steering pump. Had to put my whole body into it to do a U-turn.

There was no self-centering and very little weight to the steering in my MG Midget, despite the high ratio and lack of power assist.

The best steering FWD car I have driven was my Renault 11 (until the anti-roll bar mounts rusted through at less than 8 years of age). The relatively high ground clearance and suspension damping made it a great car for flying down dirt roads - wish someone made something similar today (except with decent quality, and not parts made of French cheese).

My guess is that the only way you can affect the self-centering on a modern car is by adjusting the toe-in.

The steering stability of the Vauxhall I tired was just great at high speeds and on those narrow roads. I never touched a thing with the sides of the car - well, maybe some bushes but that's kosher over there.

dsi1 wrote: "My guess is that the only way you can affect the self-centering on a modern car is by adjusting the toe-in."

Front toe determines crookedness/straightness of steering wheel and tread-wear.

There are aftermarket caster shim kits available for increasing caster on modern suspensions.

Camber/caster/kingpin inclination center the steering wheel, and toe contributes nothing. Well, almost nothing. If it's off pretty far, the car will tend to wander around a bit, but that's because there is no center.

Well my guess is that nobody's monkeyed around with the caster settings on the OP's car and there's too much toe-in.

You guys always go for the most unlikely scenarios. My assumption is that the toe-in should be checked first and is the most likely culprit, no matter what you expert say. Anybody should be able to check the two front tires it in less than 10 seconds. All that other shit is built into the suspension. Why even go there at this time?

dsi1 wrote: "- show quoted text - You guys always go for the most unlikely scenarios. My assumption is that the toe-in should be checked first and is the most likely culprit, no matter what you expert say. Anybody should be able to check the two front tires it in less than 10 seconds. All that other shit is built into the suspension. Why even go there at this time? "

You need to study up on alignment a bit.

Tire wear parameters: Front/rear toe, Camber.

Directional parameters(when they are different side-to-side): Rear toe, Ca mber, Caster.

If everything is within spec, and is as close to center of range as possibl e and car still pulls to one side, or, wanders all over the road, or, as in the O.P. case, seems to center steering wheel *too* quickly, then it's tim e to look at worn and/or bent and/ non-spec. parts.

You're claiming that a worn front suspension will create an aggressive self-centering steering condition? I remain unconvinced.

Hah. "I'm the OP, and I drive a BMW."

Seriously, I will tell the guy to rack it again, I figured when it self centered more than my Bimmer that something was wrong.

nate

Forgot to mention, I've heard complaints of the EPS in the new BMW 3 and

4 series being un-BMW-like and numb. Can't personally confirm or deny, newest BMW I've driven has been an E92 (or maybe a contemporary 5-series loaner?) I wouldn't consider that a knock on the concept of EPS though; it's the engineering decisions that were made in the design of the whole suspension and steering system.

nate

Nate Nagel wrote: "it's the engineering decisions that were made in the design of the whole suspension and steering system.

- show quoted text - "

Oh yeah? Well they F KED UP!

What'cha gotta say about that?!

psyyyych! ;)