any way to quicken up the ix's steering?

[ihavefingers]

im somewhat new to ix's and e30's in general, but is there any way to give the ix quicker steering? i was just at a rally cross/track/offroad park near here a little while ago for my first time, and you really have to fumble with the wheel alot, i found myself driving mostly with one hand so i wasnt constantly tangling up my arms. and its also pretty hard to get a very quick reaction from the car, which can be a little scarry in slippery situations.

so is there any way to maybe put in a new steering rack? my friend just got done putting in bushings on his lexus, and he said it made his steering quicker, im not sure how that would work with just bushings?
so if anyone could give me some help that would be awesome!

[nando]

how good are you at welding and/or machining aluminum? You can probably get an E36 rack to work, but you would need to reverse the mounting ears since the ix rack sits on the opposite side of the subframe.

the other option is a steering quickener. But there is no bolt-in quick ratio rack for the ix.

[jmenacker]

Any place where a steering joint or control arm bushing is worn requires additional movement before force is transferred from steering wheel to tires. Worn joints and bushings will cause slow/sloppy reaction at the tires compared to steering wheel movement.

Most steering components are going to be shot after 120K miles or so. It might be time to rebuild the front end.

Once the front end is tight, it might help to take a driving lesson or two at a race track. Quickest steering does not involve crossing hands.

Joe M in WV

[moatilliatta]

id like to compare the e36 racks with the ix racks. and see what there to be work with.

[smcdermott326]

I would think that new upper strut bearings would help too to reduce resistence.

[ihavefingers]

Any place where a steering joint or control arm bushing is worn requires additional movement before force is transferred from steering wheel to tires. Worn joints and bushings will cause slow/sloppy reaction at the tires compared to steering wheel movement.

Most steering components are going to be shot after 120K miles or so. It might be time to rebuild the front end.

Once the front end is tight, it might help to take a driving lesson or two at a race track. Quickest steering does not involve crossing hands.

Joe M in WV

unfortunatly you have to sometimes cross hands when doing rally cross, maybe not on something like an evo, but this car definatly, on sharper corners, you have to be spinning the wheel like crazy. you would have to do atleast 3/4's of a turn coming in to get enough oversteer, then about a full turn in opposite lock. it was so nice trying out my friends sti, it took so much less effort, you hardly ever had to do more than 1/4 turn. you could go through hairpins without having much over 1/2 a turn through the entire corner combined, in the ix, you go through a hairpin with about 1 1/2 -1 3/4 turn through the whole thing, its alot of wheel motion.

anyway is there a place where i can buy like an entire front end urethane bushing set? and what else should i try to replace? smcdurmott said upper strut bearing maybe. i figure if im gonna do alot of work on the front end, might as well get as much as i can over with.

[kishg]

smaller steering wheel might help too..

[nando]

id like to compare the e36 racks with the ix racks. and see what there to be work with.

basically the same except the mounting ears are on the wrong side. ix tie rods should bolt right up.

[jmenacker]

unfortunatly you have to sometimes cross hands when doing rally cross, maybe not on something like an evo, but this car definatly, on sharper corners, you have to be spinning the wheel like crazy. you would have to do atleast 3/4's of a turn coming in to get enough oversteer, then about a full turn in opposite lock. it was so nice trying out my friends sti, it took so much less effort, you hardly ever had to do more than 1/4 turn. you could go through hairpins without having much over 1/2 a turn through the entire corner combined, in the ix, you go through a hairpin with about 1 1/2 -1 3/4 turn through the whole thing, its alot of wheel motion.

I was taught to keep hands at 10 and 2. Shuffle both hands to set up for 10 and 2 at the apex and let the wheel slide on its own back to nuetral. No crossing involved. http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=109&i=8194 Works for me, especially through fast slaloms.

Joe M in WV

[nando]

oh yeah, shuffle steer FTW. the funny thing is, after years of forcing myself to learn it, I started doing HPDEs where you aren't supposed to. so now I gotta break the habit.. doh!

[ihavefingers]

I was taught to keep hands at 10 and 2. Shuffle both hands to set up for 10 and 2 at the apex and let the wheel slide on its own back to nuetral. No crossing involved. http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=109&i=8194 Works for me, especially through fast slaloms.

Joe M in WV

yeah maybe i should change my habbit, ive always been spoiled with cars that dont have this problem, where you hardly ever have to take a hand off the steering wheel, sometimes i find it easier just to use one hand to do the turning of the wheel, then use the other to grab it once its in the right position. drivings alot more involved in these cars i guess! its kinda fun, but pretty scarry sometimes, i could see it getting me in a ditch.

[moatilliatta]

ix's are really starting to piss me off. RWD is so much nicer.