Speed Sensitive Power Steering (SSPS) - Adjustable?

[$ub$onic]

U might find it really hard to steer if u do that

 

[firstorbit84]

Thank goodness I don't have girly arms

Seriously though, it should only be bad when you're trying to park or going slow.

Ideally we can get the RS calibration to work. Any progress on that?

 

[Ubryaj]

I honestly don't know if driving the car without the EPS is safe. Not sure the steering column is setup to handle that extra stress. Going to try the RS calibration tomorrow. I'm doubting it will work. The PSCM might select the proper steering calibration based on the VIN.

 

[Eric Smit]

my Fiero didn't have power steering. ;P


-Eric Smit

 

[$ub$onic]

Neither did ur mom

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

She did have vacuum power though

 

[laborsmith]

I wonder where the Fiero engine was located?

My Sonetts had front engine front wheel drive and did not have power steering. Steering was heavy but doable. The steering mechanism was designed to be operated without power assistance.


Laborsmith

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

My ranger was front engine RWD and had no power steering from the factory, It was only hard to turn the wheel at a dead stop.

 

[sx sonic]

I couldn't imagine being able to make aggressive turns or more so recover from a,slide, drift, etc very effectively w/o PS on a car designed to operate with it. Cruising around, sure ino problem, but trying to quickly and precisely crank the wheel around, I could see that becoming problematic.

 

[laborsmith]

My ranger was front engine RWD and had no power steering from the factory, It was only hard to turn the wheel at a dead stop.

My '74 Jeep Cherokee was the same as to PS, it was a straight six with part time four wheel drive. The hardest thing to do was to get it into 4WD lo, the next hardest was turning the wheel while parallel parking.

Both the Saab Sonetts and the Cherokee had steering systems designed to work without power assistance being required. I do not believe the Sonic will be as easy to steer w/ PS disabled as the Sonett or the Cherokee.

I suspect the Sonic can be flashed with the RS steering algorithm and see no reason why Chevy could not authorize/facilitate it for a cost of $50 to $100.

Laborsmith

 

[Preloader]

I honestly don't know if driving the car without the EPS is safe. Not sure the steering column is setup to handle that extra stress.

This is the only valid reason why I don't go out and unplug it right now. Excellent point that deserves further investigation before we create a Nader fiasco. (yeah I'm winking at you Labor)

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

Swordsmith said the car wasn't very hard to control when it shutdown on him because of his UG cable. Easy way to tell if you can drive it disabled or not is to put it neutral and kill it, If it scares the sh¡t out of you start it back up and never think of it again.

 

[$ub$onic]

I remember when I wanted to find out if the emergency brake in our semi worked good...... I pushed the brake going 60mph..... never again..... there was black and brown skids ......

 

[Preloader]

I'm not fearing it being hard to control. I'm afraid of breaking the linkage and having NO control.

If the assist happens after the column, the column linkage would not need to be built extremely sturdy.

 

[$ub$onic]

Go slow then

 

[Preloader]

 

[$ub$onic]

 

[rdss]

My 65 Mustang did not have power steering, with the wide tires I had in it it was a pain to turn not moving, just starting a roll made everything better. I do not think that I would ever intentionally give up power steering.

 

[firstorbit84]

What happens if you lose power while the car is moving? You should still be able to steer, no? I can't believe they would make the steering column too weak to work without the power assist.

I think even the new drive by wire steering systems have a mechanical backup.

Someone shut off their ignition while moving and tell us what happens.

 

[theenico]

3 words: Steering Gear Ratio

Most cars designed to be manual steering have a wide ratio (20:1 for example).

Cars with power steering tend to have a closer ratio (16:1 for example).

Then you get into the levers if you have knuckles with removable steering arms. Corvairs were available with two different length arms. If you combine a close ratio steering box with the short arms on one of those, the steering becomes very quick. It also requires more arm strentgh, but corvairs don't have much weight up front so it's not that bad.