Daughter has picked up one of the above as a first car for reasonable money and it is seemingly in quite good nick apart from the steering has a very slight pull to the left (kerb) on most roads 'tho not all?
Checked the tyre pressures all OK, the tyres have very little wear and look as they should, any known problems with this model (1.2 Design) at all that are known of?.
Not a Corsa but a mate was suffering his vehicle pulling to the left. Swapping the (identical make, size, model and wear) front wheels over made it pull to the right.
A new set of tyres and it's working as it should. ;-)
Not saying it's *not* the power steering of course, just that it might be worth a wheel swap first?
I came across a Cortina years ago with a hard pull to the left, swapping the front wheels cured it, but I could see no fault with either wheel/tyre, and was rather baffled by why it worked. But the corsa: worth a try, but the column fault is frequent.
My Mk2 Cortina did the same. Interchanging the front tyres made it pull to the right.. It was a long time ago, but IIRC, after swapping all the tyres around, by trial and error I eventually found a combination where it steered reasonably straight. [If there is any choice about which way cars steer, I'd rather have a slight right pull.]
Mk1 and 2 Cortinas had very rubbery vague steering because all the steering joints had rubbery sheaths around the swivelling bits. There was a drag link on the passenger side, with a cross link connected it to the steering box and then another drop link connected to each macpherson strut.
I could turn the wheel about a quarter of a turn before the car made any change of direction and the camber of the road tended to have its own steering effect.
Fitting 5.5 J Steel wheels with 165? tyres and koni shockers all round made a world of difference.
I've heard it somewhere (TV consumer programme, yup the best source...) that the particular geometry of small cars designed with power steering, causes their drivers relatively heavier steering problems (compared with bigger cars) when the system packs up.
May be worth having the rear geometry checked, too. If that gets bent through (say) heavy kerbing, it can make the car run crabwise rather than parallel to the side of the road. Is there any evidence of this if you drive behind it in another car?
I was once on a luxury tour coach travelling down and around Scandinavian mountains, lots (and lots) of thin hairpin bends - and unfortunately broken power steering.
It was a two man effort (driver and guide) to steer that bus slowly though every bend.
Such fun sitting at the back, wondering if the rear wheels were going to leave the road and take the lead pulling the whole vehicle down the hill via the quick route ;->
At the next hotel stop, they thankfully found a mechanic...
I think it might be true because the steering geometry (inc wheel turns lock to lock and the diameter of the steering wheel etc) are optimised for the power steering?
Our old 2L (boat anchor) Sierra Estate wasn't PS and apart when at standstill, the steering was very light but when slow speed manoeuvring you had to wind the wheel like a forklift with the palm of your hand. ;-)
My mate had an old Saab where the PS had failed in one direction and that looked interesting to drive. ;-)
I think it was something we all got used to. I ran a power steered mk2 Golf for a few years, then went to test drive one without - found it very difficult! Partly method (never steer at standstill), partly fitness. Also, ISTR the non-powered system had more turns to lock.
Power steering seems to have had quite an impact on human evolution :-)
Worst case I had was the 1969 AMC Ambassador estate I had in the 80's, it had a habit of stalling, and with no power input it was like a steering lock was on it, you literally could not turn the wheel, even if you were rolling along, engine running and you could turn the wheel with a finger while stationary. It also had what were called at the time 'power' brakes on drums all round, anything more than a gentle stroke of the brake pedal would involve occupants being slammed into the windscreen, and that actually occurred when I let my wife drive it in a Tesco car park, she touched the brakes and the dog hurtled over the seats and hit the screen!
When I was commuting to BT in my MM van I thought there was something wrong with the steering as it felt it was getting heavier. I checked the tyre pressures, made sure the trunions were greased and everything was running freely and it was?
Then I got the results for my blood test and they showed the remains of glandular fever and a differentially high white blood cell count (or some such) so it was me getting weaker. ;-)
The first car I owned with PS was the Rover 218SD and I think that would have been very heavy to drive without.
The Mk2 Escort based kitcar still has the same front end as the donor and with that the front coil springs actually wind up and down as you steer the car. I am due to replace the front damper inserts at some time (ready for when it's 40 years old and goes TAX exempt) and am contemplating going for a bearing top mount as I do to allow the springs to rotate freely and hopefully make the steering lighter. This is only necessary now all our (other) cars have PS and you notice the difference!
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