C&D has it right in their handling article - our cars have zero steering feel.

Any ideas on how to improve this?

 

Manual rack and pinion? I'm not sure if they make'em for S197's though...

 

Which C/D issue is it in?

But from what I've heard fairly consistently, EPAS does not provide the same level of "feel" as conventional hydraulic power assist.

The advantages of EPAS - the reasons you have it in the first place - lie in the small fuel economy benefit (the electric assist only draws power as needed, vs a hydraulic pump that must run continuously just as long as the engine is running) and in allowing more freedom in physically getting things to all fit together under the hood.

Any "fix" short of wholesale replacement of hardware probably involves reflashing some EPAS module, and knowing just where in its software/firmware you'd need to hack. IIRC, there already is a TSB out on the new GT500 EPAS that does a reflash, though it's for the nibble issue rather than feel.


Norm

 

C/D's latest issue has a "best handling car under $40k" article. Mits evo X takes it, but none of the contenders seem that good to me. A miata comes 2nd, but the write up makes it sound like crap! A mini cooper jcw is assessed 2nd last. I had an MCS for a while and thought it was great. It was reluctant to rotate under trailing throttle or brakes, though, which C/D seems to like.

I'm sure the EPS is a big part of the Mustang's problem, but I'm not likely to change that. I thought stiffer bushings in the front suspension/steering might help, but which ones?

 

Doesn't ring a bell, so I don't think I have that "latest issue" yet. An online search only turns up last year's article.


Norm

 

I noticed a lot more information coming through when I did suspension work. Struts, springs, ball joints, and a bumpsteer kit all helped significantly. They definitely make it more rewarding to drive, but the steerings not in your face with whats going on you do have to listen.

Try some good tires as well. A lot of information is lost in a soft sidewall.

 

Tires, a relatively wide wheel for the tire size, alignment, the control arm bushing most directly associated with camber, rack bushings are all going to play parts.

I think I've seen something on this topic fairly recently elsewhere.

 

Put some caster/campber plates in and dial the caster up to "11". I did it on mine and all of a sudden I am getting a ton of feel out of the front end.

It works the same on bikes but we call it "trail".

 

Maxing out the caster will indeed improve feel a bit. With more caster the wheels will having a higher "return to center" force, increasing the effort it takes to turn the wheel. It will also improve outside tire camber when cornering, but I don't know if most aftermarket camber plates give you enough caster to make that much of a difference.

 

I noticed that some plates are camber only plates and some are caster/camber plates I even saw some advertised as caster plates. So make sure if you're shopping to comparing apples to apples. I would not expect much caster change from camber plates I would from caster/camber plates.