I have to agree that the steering feels a bit too light and twitchy at higher speed for my taste. I find myself needing to concentrate on keeping it in the lane a bit more than many other cars I've had. I think increasing the castor on the front suspension alignment would induce more self-centering resistance and make it just about right. Otherwise, I love the handling and ride qualities.

Years ago I had a 1st gen MR-2 which had excellent steering feel at speed, with just the right amount of resistance.

 

hi can sume one help me i have a rx8 2004 my steering is heavy some times then goes back to normal

 

Please check the ground wire from your electric steering rack (the gold colored item in front of the engine down low). You may want to disconnect this ground wire and clean off the paint underneath it down to the bare metal. Also check the gray connector right at the electric steering rack (the gold colored item).

 

A couple of thoughts:

1. The steering is light and sensitive. Front tow out will make it very, very sensitive. Ask your alignment people to give you zero toe in the front. Make them show you the printout to confirm this.

2. You have the opporunity as a driver to add a new trick to your bag. Most likely your eyes are not looking far enough down the road. Look far. Look really far. Let your periphreal vision come into play. You will notice your hands will move very slowly the farther you look. Try it. It works. (it's also a secret to faster track driving).

 

Might be a little late on this one, comming from a avid drifter.

When I take my RX8 to some local runs I do notice the wheel is very light almost arcade like. But thats not as much of a complaint as the delay, yes there is a delay.

The throttle is not so bad but I won't go there. But I do agree that I do not recieve enough feedback through the wheel as I would like.

My only suggestion is switching to a smaller aftermarket wheel such as a momo or sparco, nardi all those brands. This is what I plan on doing in the near future but I am affraid I will get even more of pause from the EPS.

Also I would like to add that you should not get rid of the SRS system/ stock steering wheel unless you have an approved roll bar and up-to-date harness setup.

 

Simple solution to get somewhat heavier steering: Increase the effective track between wheel centerlines on opposite sides of the car. Two ways to do this, simple is to get a set of wheel spacers to "pop" the wheels out (there's plenty of room to do this within reason and not have to roll the fenders). Or get a set of aftermarket wheels with the wrong, ie, less positive, offset. When I went from the stock 18x8" +48mm to 18"x8.5" +30mm offset, it heavied up the steering noticably. That pops the wheels a lot, but with 225 (stock) tires and stock ride height, the tires clear the fenders fine w/o rolling. Wider wheels or lower might force rolling or a less dramatic offset change. Note that this puts some additional strain on components and changes the suspension geometry, putting the wisdom of doing this somewhat in question. (Sure looks better though).

 

Just saw this thread so here is my 2 cents.

If your car is twitchy or the steering just feels too light, the first thing you should do is get a proper alignment. Toe out will cause it to be twitchy. If you dont have enough caster, it will feel very light and the steering wheel wont auto center as easily as it should.

When you get your alignment, tell the tech that if the caster is at or near spec, to add a little extra caster. However if the caster is already way out, then bringing it back to spec should resolve the problem.

Smaller steering wheel or pulling the EPS fuse are both bad ideas.

 

I agree on the fuse but I disagree on the wheel part. The stock rx8 wheel is pretty big.

 

The size of the wheel is personal preference but unless you can keep the airbag with a smaller wheel, its a bad idea for a street car.

 

Only thing I have noticed is that every car is different, the 8 obviously applies to this as well. Ive driven a few 8's and ive noticed the steering feel was different in each one. My friends is really hard but mine is somewhere in the middle. My other friends was not heavy at all but very light, that scared me.