Very heavy steering

[brussels]

It's not because I'm a girlie modern car daily driver, it really is heavy.

Before I start dreaming of power steering are there any areas I should check? Tyres are new, no idea what pressure they should be but they are in 15x7 wheels.

Bushes, steering rack... Ideas of where to check?

[KevJTD]

Official pressure on tyres is pretty low, only in the mid 20's from memory. I'd be more inclined to run nearer 30.
To check for tightness you need to isolate things in sections..
Take the track rod ends off each arm then rotate each wheel/hub through the steering movement, this will show if you have a stiff top bush or bottom ball joint.
Whilst you've both hubs disconnected you can try moving the steering wheel, should be lovely and light without any feeling that you're trying to overcome a sticky patch.
This will let you pinpoint areas where you may have an issue.
Don't forget the track rod ends themselves have quite a bit of movement to do too...

[Spacenut]

15 x 7 wheels will require quite a lot of offset to clear the strut I expect, so the resulting scrub radius could be quite large. If the top and bottom swivel joints check out, it could be that the large scrub radius is contributing to the heavy steering feel. Short of changing back to 6" rims with less offset you could try slotted strut top mounts, angled inboard at the top to push the king pin angle closer to the tyre centre line, but you will probably need to slot the hub carrier flange on the strut as well in order to restore the camber (the factory -2 degrees is more than enough for road use!).

Lauren

[bobkelso]

Hi, one first thing I will check is if coil lower ball bearing
(I mean the ball bearing under the lower coil plate) are shot.

Another small upgrade will be modify strut top ending to apcet
top mount from alfa 33 last model (90-94) that have another
additional small ball bearing also in the top mount.

[brussels]

Thanks, i'll go through the checks. Might do the 33 last model upgrade as well.

Great support on this site - thanks to all.