Vince33

hey lads my steering wheel became much stiffer after the change and its so annoying. i replaced the original impreza momo with a sparco lap 3. now its hard to turn especially when the car is not moving. i cannot use only my one hand when im doing a turns, i have to use my 2 hands instead. i cannot make fast turns, its awful!!! any ideas whats wrong? i reckon thats because of the weight, the sparco is about 3 times lighter....
help

bish667

iTrader: (1)

I remember once when i took my nardi steering wheel off to reposition it and when i put it back on i misplaced 1 of the 2 washers that was below the nut.
The steering did feel a lot heavier until I found the other washer and put it back on, dont know if this helps at all.

Vince33

WASHER ? be more specific mate, what is that?

bish667

iTrader: (1)

When i took the nut of there was 2 washers underneath it.
The nut that holds the steering wheel on.

The washers were quite thick.
Sorry i'm not good at explaining things.

Vince33

There is nothing wrong, its installed just as how it should be, no scrapin or rubbing sounds

Ive made a 2 videos, look at the difference, its so freakin huge

Bloody damn aftermarket steering wheel. When im spinning the sparco with a hand, my arm hurts so bad So i have to use both of them. There is nothing like the stock momo steering wheel...I can turn it with only 1 finger

Stock steering wheel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxU7vVy9yUE

Aftermarket sparco st.wheel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iOGEcNdXnE

Is that because of the weight? Theres not much sense in that....

pjarvis6666

iTrader: (1)

Did you remove the circular bit with the ribbon inside?? the wires for the horn and airbag?? as you need to position it up right as per the instrucions.

Vince33

of course i removed all that stuff. i couldnt install the adaptor hub. the steering column cover (that plastic thing) was removed

daijones

Presumably the sparco is a lot narrower, 350 or 330mm compared to the bus sized original wheel? If so, the wheel is exerting a lot less leverage so the steering will be heavier

Vince33

Damn, what steering wheel should i get, i want it to be like the stock one,easy to spin?

bish667

iTrader: (1)

Eh?

I changed from the Nardi to a narrower wheel and the steering is not any heavier, I also used to have another steering wheel on the car a long time ago which was also narrower and steering was not heavy then either.

Steering wheel I have now is 330mm, nardi was 350 or 360.

Vince33

I guess yours is heavier than mine, that must be the only reasonable explanation. The momo is 3 times or 4 times heavier than the sparco.

This guy shares the same issue
http://www.3si.org/forum/f1/people-a...l-help-424628/

****.....that **** is weird !!!

bish667

iTrader: (1)

It is a very strange problem indeed, I went from a nardi to an OMP one, OMP is lighter than the nardi but I would think all aftermarket ones would be quite light.
Steering definately isnt any heavier than the nardi, only feels different due to the different position the wheel sits at and that its smaller but can turn with no hand no problem like before.

Bloody steering wheels

Vince33

im starting to hate them so much and now im thinking of getting an original STI steering wheel from the newer years 05-08....they are heavier cos they have an airbag module and a big horn button

Vince33

Its from the diameter, it has to be that

350bhptype~R

iTrader: (4)

yes i think it is mate i put a small diameter momo wheel on my old classic ra and the steering went much heavier mainly when static but did affect the whole driving feel , felt like i was back in my youth rs turbo days!!!

djandyg

iTrader: (2)

This is what i was going to say. Smaller wheel, less leverage.

Vince33

do you have any advice? should i return to my previous stock steering wheel or i should buy 350 mm ?
its hard to spin mostly when static yeah

daijones

The 05-08 wheel is 375mm, so still quite big but an improvement on what went before. It's what I'm on. Still a bit light for my liking, and too wide to feel really engaged. I'd like to drop to a 350 but I don't trust my driving - or that of others! - enough to lose the air bag

The steering will be a lot heavier when the car's static because you're forcing the tyres to turn in place, they're not being assisted by forward momentum. Probably best not to do it too much, it doesn't do the tyres any favours.

daijones

From 350 to 330 isn't such a drop. Looks like the OP went from one of the big old wheels - 390 or so? - to a 330, which is a lot more of a drop, so more likely to be noticeable. What counts as heavy depends on a number of things, including the power steering set up and the expectations of the driver. I'd guess you prefer heavier steering to the OP.

bish667

iTrader: (1)

That makes sense, didnt realise the OP would have had such a big diameter change on it.

Changing mine didnt feel much/any heavier to me, all i know is it feels good to drive

Vince33

whats the size of the stock momo steering wheel? 360-370mm?

53

iTrader: (41)

Also your new wheel isn't integrally bossed so it will take even more effort being 2 parts rather than one

A 350 wheel is perfect IMHO

daijones

Post 2005 it's 375mm, before that - the four spoke wheel as opposed to three spokes - it was bigger, not sure how much

Vince33

I should get the new sti steering wheel if i found one cheaper from a breaking...should i ?

daijones

The advantage of that would be you keep the airbag, and it sounds like you quite like a lighter steering feel, so it could be a good option. They come up on ebay now and again. Might be worth getting a test drive in a post 05 car to see how you like the feel. Having said that, I'd love to get rid of my standard wheel and go down to a 350: after five years the standard 375 wheel still feels too big to me

Vince33

I bought the standart steering wheel again for a 25 quid, what a bargain !!! Gonna change the leather and im gonna use it again. It feels much better than my sparco