Forums Discussing Driving w/o Power Steering

I recently googled "driving without power steering" and came up with some pretty involved conversations about driving with power steering disable or entirely removed from the posters' cars!

And I think I understand the reasoning behind some of the folks on these groups suggesting not just "tying the lines shut and removing the PS accessory belt" but replacing the PS rack with a manual rack: Driving with disabled PS is much more of a bitch than driving a car that was built without/before PS in the first place.

So how could I suggest to U.S. automakers a compromise between normal everyday power steering(numb!) and pre-WWII manual steering: progressively shut down PS, in incremental measurements of wheel rotation as a function of the car's speed, starting at 15-20mph?

By the time the car is doing 40, there simply is NO PS assist AT ALL. Power steering(whether by hydraulic, electric, or tiny elves under the hood pushing the rack & pinion back and forth acc to a telegraph attached to the steering column) should be active only for close quarters - as in parking lots and parallel parking. Above 20mph, it rapidly fades off until 40mph, where the car's alignment specs take over the straight tracking aspect of the ride.

This system is flexible of course, and could be programmed to fade out PS at a higher speed for larger cars - say 50mph instead of 40, and

20mph instead of 30 for smaller roadsters.

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster
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Manufacturers already did things like that. When first power steerings came along, different mfgs used different thresholds, and then there was the "full time power steering." The others worked just as you suggested.

ChrisCoaster wrote:

Reply to
Don Stauffer

__________________ Actually I did something to day that would be downright SUICIDAL in traffic, but was quite thrilling where I did it with no cars around. I drove to the top of a hill, turned around, built up some speed, threw the car in neutral, and COASTED down the hill!

WHAT A SENSATION. Going from Malibu's overboosted electrical variable steering to NO PS. Granted, it was a coast, kind of like the one shot deal pilots get when landing a spaceshuttle, but I got a good feel for the powerless-steering days, of course at speed. That steering wheel stayed right in the center, and the car stayed in it's lane with little or no correction necessary.

I repeated several times, then started the car in neutral, shifted to drive, and came home.

My point? THIS is how all cars should feel at speed of over 30mph. Control....COMPLETE CONTROLLLL!!!!

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

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