Man, after driving a 00 F-150 for 4 days my car's steering feels loose and darty. The F-150 actually has nice, firm, and linear steering. I wish Nissan would have done something about the "Buick-like" steering in these cars. It's way overboosted and slow to react. This is my biggest complant about these cars. Even with lowering springs, tower braces, sway bat, and grippier tires the car feels loose. I really wish we could find a different steering box for these cars. Anyone else feel the same way? My 94 Z28 and 90 CRX Si felt 10 times better.

Dave

 

My 96 GXE feels that way, but Erics 97 SE feels really tight. I think they changed the steering ratio from 96 to 97.

 

hey dave....
i agree with you. it is like you are driving an old granny car. Everybody that has driven my car has commented on that. It sucks. I know that 97+ they adjusted the power steering and gave it a tigher feeling. Maybe we could remove the power steering pump...want to be the first to try? :-)

Francis

 

I accidently left my rear tires at 40 psi from the track and my fronts were at 35psi. I aired down the rears to 34psi and took the fronts back up to 38 psi. It seems to have helped a bit, bit the initial feel still is horrible. The steering wheel has a slight amount of play which is very annoying.

Francis-
I'm seriously gonna look into the 97-99 steering box. I might grab some measurements off of ALEX KC 98 Maxima SE and then I'll refer to the shop manual to see how easy it would be to trnasfer the system.

Dave

 

I'm waiting to here about the Prelude seats and if you get the ***** to try the PS pump let me know......
good luck!!

 

Dude just remove the PS pump. I garentee that will get rid of that granny feel steering. Of course its gonna take some muscle too.

 

the SE feels much firmer. the GXE is very overboosted and "mushy".. After adding allt he suspension goodies to my car, I've begun to get some feel in things, but it's still pretty bad compared to most cars.

I loved the way Ryan's 93SE steering felt compared to mine. those of us with GXEs may consider checking the FSM and find out what differences are between the SE and GXE.

I'm guessing the 97+ boxes are all the same, but maybe the 95-96 SE and GXE boxes are different, as are the 3rd gen SE/GXE differences.

dunno... just thought I'd throw out a few bones to chew on..

 

The steering racks are the same. The only thing I suggest is lowering the pressure of the PS fluid to the rack. My owners manual suggests that ATF should be used for PS fluid. Maybe you guys can try that.

 

In 97, Nissan added "speed sensitive" steering to the Maxima. Unfortunately, even in my 97 the steering is way too loose despite all the mods.

 

Hey Davy, did you check the fluid level yet? If it is near the right level then go ahead and take out the power steering pump. After that eat a can of spinach and grow some Popeye forearms. That would definetly get rid of the granny steering.

 

dave-
you can get energy suspension polyurethane bushings for the front sway bar.. that'll help tighten up the front and make the steering a bit more firm..

or just adjust the rear sway bar for more aggressive turning..

i ran at the track, 41 front, 38 rear and the car handled great...

u could try flushing out the steering fluid, eh?

 

Thanks for the input guys. I really may look into the 97+ system IF I feel nuts and I'm gonna pull out a little fluid if it's real high.

Just disconnecting the power steering pump will do more damage than good. It will ruin the system plus the on-center feel will feel even worse. We had a big dicussion about this over at newcelica.org. One owner did this mod and realized too late it was the wrong thing to do.

Chebosto-
I might look into the sway bar bushings and endlinks. I looked at my steering rod connection boots on the hud and they feel like they've got nothing in them. Are they suppose to be grease filled and firm? I might have to look into this.

Francis-
I've go one Prelude seat mounted on the passenger side (one bolt already fits). I'm going to the shop tommorrow to get an estimate and hopefull an install on thursday/friday.

Dave