Was driving tonight, and had to make a u-turn that I usually make. Installed my S-techs Wednesday night and this was the first time I got to check out the radius with them. On my stock and Progress springs, I would take up both lanes making a u-turn onto this 2 lane road. This time I only took up 1 full lane, and a 1/4 of the other lane....maybe less. I thought this was interesting because I've always hated my turning radius, but I believe that these springs actually helped make it tighter. Anyone notice a change in your radius after you've completed a suspension mod?

 

that's kind of interesting, because although i don't have something as definitive to compare it to like you do (don't make too many u-turns), just the other day, i pulled one and i was AMAZED that my car actually made it....i would say there was about a lane and a quarter space between my point of origin and where i ended up on the road...

but if you've noticed, our cars have speed-sensitive steering, and as you're moving faster, it seems to turn a bit tighter...maybe it's just that with the new springs you're making the turn faster?

 

it is true.. your turning radius gets better.....it happened to mine

 

I felt improvement after FSTB, a little more with H-Techs and a little more with Matt Blehm's Stage I LCA bar. The LCA bar improvement in steerting response and radius was very significant. And it a relatively cheap mod as well. As Matt says, it completes the "box" to the front end. I recommend it!

 

okay, too many people have agreed with you for me to just come right out and type "BS". So someone go ahead and theorize how this could possibly be true.

 

My turning radius hasn't changed from stock to coilovers...still terrible! I have such a hard time navigating tight parking lots and such

 

I feel you Andy. Gez, that one time I was at In-N-Out, omg, I had to scoot back and forth about 11 million times... Embarassing.

 

I'll do it then but conditionally. IF you have bad strut bearings or worn components and you replace those or go with new pillowball mounts I might agree. Otherwise the sterring racks the same, the power steering assist is the same, your tires are the same, and the stop bolt behind the wheel is the same. What's actually changing?

 

The turning radius is the only thing that I miss about my old sentra. The Maxima's radius is just plain horrible.

 

The maximum front wheel turn angle is limited by the steering bump stops on the back/inside of the knuckle. Changing your springs does not change the amount of travel. Therefore, the turn radius cannot be changed simply due to switching springs....it's all your imagination.

 

You guys take things way above the next level of someone trying to tell you their experiences. Maybe my radius stayed the same, maybe not. I'm sure it didn't, because I'm aware of what areas need to be worked to make the change significant and for it to occur. I simply stated that my experience from switching springs seem to make my turns tighter, and that I noticed it had helped my radius. That was all........It might help to not read into things too much, and just read what is written.

 

title of thread: "my turning radius got better"

sounds like you're stating a definitive fact.....I was just offering up a definitive fact about why that couldn't be possible unless the bumpstop lengths are changed. It may "feel" tighter because the springs either lean more or less while doing a u-turn....

I just don't want the newbies to think that they can improve their turning radius just by switching springs

 

yeah, that's what i was thinking...when i'm in the parking lot, making a slow turn into a parking space, it seems like the radius is MUCH bigger than when i go to quickly pull a u-turn at a stoplight...maybe, because of the springs, you were taking that same turn faster than you normally do, making it feel as though it were tighter it just seems kind of weird to me that it would actually get smaller when lowering your car, even though i felt the same way....i thought i would have never made the turn i did the other day, but i did....