I notice the steering wheel is pretty tight comparing with other cars. is it because it is a MB (Does all MB has tight steering wheels?) or because it is a rear wheel drive? thanks.

I also notice most other cars (especially the japanese made or newer smaller cars) the steering wheel will quickly return to the straight position automatically while the car is moving, which doesn't happen on my crossfire too. Just wondering.

 

The Crossfire has an older type of steering system called reciprocating ball. New cars have much more sophisticated types of steering systems. The car is a sports car however, and as such it's reflexes including steering should feel tight. As for Japanese cars and the front wheel straightening out, you are probably noticing this mainly on front wheel drive cars. As the front wheels turn under power, they want to go in a straight line; therefore, the wheels straighten out. If you accelerate hard on a front drive car, you'll experience what is refered to as torque steer. Torque steer is the action of the steering shifting quickly from right to left as the front end gains traction and tries to straighten itself out. Hope that helps a little.

 

I would say it's "tight feeling" because it's a luxury car. It's a Mercedes thing. Others have mentioned that Rack and Pinion is more complex, but that's not true. Rack and Pinion is actually much simpler than the Recirculating Ball system. There are two immediate advantages of the recirculating ball steering system. First, its mechanical advantage is much higher than that of rack and pinion. Second, it tends to prevent bump-steer when the suspension design limitations do not allow for the designer to completely remove it.

So here's some automobile engineering education for you.

The self-centering on a car typically comes from a combination of wheel camber, wheel toe, and most importantly, suspension trail. When these components are engineered correctly, the wheels will impart a self-centering force on the wheel knuckles, which are then transferred to the steering rack through tie rods and other linkages (such as the pitman arm and drag link).

However, the recirculating ball steering found on the Crossfire prevents any motion of the wheel knuckles from affecting the rotation of the steering column. Therefore, while the car wants to self-center the wheel, the mechanics of the steering rack prevent this from happening.

So, you might be asking, what the heck does the car do with all the self-centering forces that are being resisted? Well, they are basically being absorbed by the steering damper and the steer gears themselves.

So, when it comes to road "feel", the answer is simple - the Crossfire has no road feel through the steering at all! It's complete and utter isolation.

Should you feel disappointed that there's complete isolation? Well, consider this - the legendary E39 M5 - the one that we never got here in the US, came with a recirculating ball steering system. I've never heard an M5 owner complain about their steering either...

 

So you mentioned about the resistance of the wheel, however, I notice when I stop my car, right before the car get to a full stop, the steering wheel will turns left or right quite a lot automatically if the road is not flat. Is this normal or problems with my car?

 

That's just from the wide tires on uneven road surfaces. Almost every car with large and wide front tires will do that.

 

How much is "quite a lot"?

 

depends on the road condition, about a quarter turn on the steering wheel, maybe more sometimes.

It doesn't pull so seriously on other cars on the same road.

 

I think the reciprocating ball was all they had room for, I believe the slk230's have rack and pinions

 

The only thing that makes sense to me is that the power steering pump is actuating the steering system relative to some steering preload placed on the steering wheel by the driver. If you hold the steering wheel, do you feel the steering wheel jerked out of your hands?

 

What are the other cars? My srt does it and I've had 3 other sports cars that did the samething from the size of the tires. You could have your alignment checked. Check the tire pressure to make sure it's the same on both sides. I still say it's the tires though.

 

Sounds like somebody who actually knows what they are talking about. Impressive!

 

Let me try my best to describe it. Right before the car comes to a complete stop on an uneven road, the steering wheel will start to turn all by itself either left or right direction. The steering wheel would turn maybe a qurter turn or sometimes even more. It is a smooth action, just like when you drive a car up onto a curbside and the steering would turn automatically. BUT in my case, I'm not driving on the curbside, just an slightly uneven road, which i never experience that in other cars (at least not pulled so seriously). Of course I can hold the steering wheel and keep the car straight, but I can feel a force pulling the wheel to one side. About the same force that we turn our steering wheel to make a turn, but in this case I'm keeping the wheel straight.

 

I think it is not the alignment problem, because it only happens when the road is not flat (usually at the same stop sign near my house). In most cases, when I let go the steering wheel, it will keep straight no mater how I stop the car.

other cars means a 06 toyota corolla, 00 nissan altima... But this crossfire is the only sport car with big size tires and rear wheel drive that I've own, so I don't know if this is normal.

 

Mine did (does) the same thing, made me QUITE unhappy the first few weeks I owned it - but some days it pulled left, and some days it pulled right on the same patch of road. So, I decided it probably was not an alignment issue.

So, after posting pretty much the SAME question, and getting pretty much the SAME answers, I figured it's what they say it is - them big ol' tires - and stopped worrying about it.

Now (since I expect it), I hardly notice it anymore.

 

Big tires, larg contact patch.

 

I have the same problem. I didn't pay much attention until my friend drove my car and pointed it out to me. The skin on my left hand is much tougher than the right because of this!

 

Mine does it too, I think its the stiff suspension not compensating for the uneven road when the tires are under pressure from the brakes, not so much the tires just being wide.. because theyre really not that wide.

 

The degree to which steering is affected by is largely a function of the relative positions of the steering axis (the vertical line through the upper and lower ball joints) and the centre of the tyre contact patch. The self-centering behaviour is generally a function of Caster (the rearward inclination of the steering axis) But so many other factors can have an influence, relative tyre inflation, tread pattern, toe, camber and general geometry changes throughout the suspension's movement. I can't say I have noticed anything particularly different about the Crossfire's behaviour.

 

Didn't the E39 M5 come to US with the recirculating ball steering system? My neighbor has one. Granted there was a European spec version but it was not all that different from what NA got, I think the braking system was slightly different.

 

I'm not familiar with US-Spec E39 M5's, sorry.