Power Steering vs Deleted Power Steering----The Final Verdict!
 

At least according to me :).

While home on leave, I drove my R1 (p/s removed) and my dad's R1 (p/s) back to back numerous times. I could't believe how sloppy his 7 felt compared to mine, so un-sportscarlike. No road feel at all. Yuck.

As they say, once you take it off, you won't go back.......

Your Dad's car feels "loose" because you got used to steering something heavy. It's like working out with 100 pound weights and then switching to 20 pounds; it feels like nothing at all.

The power steering in no way contributes to any sort of sloppiness in the steering gear, the mechanical connections are all the same with or without the pump installed.

Some people just can't feel anything unless they're hit over the head with a hammer :bash: Others are more sensitive :p:

I agree with damon B, I absolutley HATE not having my power steering. And ive had it, not had it for a week, then went back, and now I dont have it again ( long story) and I cant stand it.

IMO it just makes the car less controllable, and give the false feeling of more sensitivity not having it, then having it. On my fave numerous on ramps, I felt like I had to tug way to hard just to keep the wheel into the turn. This gave me a false idea that the more of a struggle I had to keep it in the turn, the closer I was getting to loosing it. In reality, it was just an illousion. With PS I am able to concentrate on how the whole car feels, , how the gas pedal feels, the brakes going into the turn, the rear end, my ass in the seat, etc etc etc. I wasnt just concentrating on struggeling with the damn wheel as I progressivley brought the G's up going into the turn. To me its just not ideal unless u at LEAST have a manual PS rack.

With powersteering, if you turn the wheel to far, to suddenly, because you have the freedom to do so due to power steering the car will start to slide, and you get understeer as the whole car slides and doesnt follow the turn. ( or is it oversteer? wait no oversteer is the rear end kicking out... I think? someone correct me on this) Some people im sure have gotten into accidents failing to understand how this works. And Im sure alot of people will say that PS elimination gets rid of this. well they're wrong, because I tried to make it do this testing the differences and it did the same thing, just with more force. And dont say that its easier to feel when this is gonna happen because if your anywhere near smart enough to understand the limits of turning the wheel with powersteering you wont have a problem.

Also , the car is much harder to regain control with if you lose it. You cant spin the wheel to countersteer as easily, so IMO its more dangerous as well.

PS all the way.

oh, im a strong supporter of ditching the A/C though :)

Oversteer is the rear end.

As for driving the car daily, I would also go with PS (along with ABS, etc.). I drove my car without PS, and it does feel like you're doing more work than you have to for some manuevers. I'm sure I could get used to it, but you do feel the 'weight' of the FD without it. While it's all a matter of preference, I'm for it.:)

I've been contemplating on deleting my P/S, but since I've installed the 320mm steering wheel, it feels like I did.. well to me it's like in between P/S and no P/S... stiff enough to feel the road but easy to steer in parking lots...

that sounds like the perfect deal :) hey btw what kind of seats do you have and how much did that entire link system run you?

The power steering on the FD is really nice. Excellent feel for the road. I have driven 1st gen cars without PS. Paralell parking can be a bitch, especially with wide sticky tires.

I can't imagine that the weight savings could possibly be worth removing it.

Weight savings and horsepower gains were minimal and not really a consideration. Changing my spark plugs takes all of ten minutes now, and there is less crap to deal with in the event of a motor pull. Also, now I have somewhere to mount my Greddy oil catch can :)

The ONLY time I miss mine is when I have a drink in my hand. Kind of a pain in the Jack in the Box Parkin lot turning with one hand. But other than that, as long as I'm moving at all its no problem. Now when I drive cars with it I feel like I'm not really driving from the lack of feedback. Hey, you can never have too much upper body strength :D

Sparco Torino Seats... the BF link system.. 4 guages and control unit ran over 1000. , I just don't remember the exact prices...

PM me if you have anymore questions...:)

If you like that removing the p/s makes the motor easier to remove, you have much bigger problems :p: Some of us don't make pulling the motor a habit ;)

Hey, you want a car with less than 300 at the wheels, that's your problem.......

how long would a motor making 350-375 last for?

Hey GoodfellaFD3S a guy i sort of know, that did drive a Dodge Viper GTS-R in the swedish GT champoinship. He lost his p/s in the first heat on the saturday run. I was watching and he lost over 2 sek on the lap without the powerstearing when he started to get tierd.

And he said that the only diffrence was that the stearing was lighter with the p/s.

And i don't think i would remove mine, no matter what. Cause it also helps on rebound frome bumps in the road or if u accidentaly hit a curb on the track.

But it's upp to each person to chose what they like or not.

that depends on if u are making those numbers on the Twins or if u are using an aftermarket turbo.

I think that with the new TD06H turbo i just got u wouldent need to run more than maybe 10-12 psi to get those numbers. And that is no stress on the motor.

Im running 15psi now on the twins and i did get 320rwhp with a bad fuel pump, and my motor is healty as a newborn baby. Oh that might be cause it have just run 3000 miles :)

Oh and i must say one thing, this forum is so great, it have helped me alot. Just found ut i had a bad fuel pump, and switched it and my car is running much better now.

I've been without PS for over 3 years now, and would never go back. I have no problems parking the car or maneuvering at slow speed. There is a big difference between running the ps system without the belt and with the pump eliminated. Another consideration would be switching in a manual rack from a FC.

My daily doesn't have power steering, and the only thing I don't like about it is the added difficulty/force needed in correction movements when the ass end walks. I've experienced snap oversteer while messing around on the dirt and it was a bitch to correct. In the 7 it is much easier without having to "force" the wheel around. Without PS it really feels as though you are fighting the wheel. I've also driven a 1st gen. without PS, actually the first car I had ever driven without it. Low speed maneuvering takes some effort, but corning at speed felt very nice without it. Now that my daily doesn't have any PS I've since gotten used to it. Parallel parking is kinda bitch though

But given my one snap oversteer "incident" on dirt and how I had to "fight" with the wheel I am going to stick with PS with the 7. Though I haven’t driven an FD without it, I can say corrections are easier in the PS FD versus the non-PS daily, but I don't know how much merit can be put on this because they are 2 completely different cars.

I guess it comes down to driver preference. Some don’t like it, some do.

ps
 

before i got my 3rd gen r1, i had a honda accord with a h22a prelude swap. that didnt have power steering. my rx7 doesn either cuz the idiots working on it messed up the pump. now that ive been driving for 2 yrs without ps, i dont particularly like ps. plus, its a reason people dont ask to drive my car.

If you like the feeling of deleted power steering, but don't like the nastiness of how difficult it is to turn; install a manual rack out of an FC. I love it, its probably one of the best mods I have done on my seven. You can still paralell park even. You just aren't pushing all the fluid around anymore ;)

Jason

Run some R-compound tires through a salom and you'll be the first one reinstalling the PS.

For the street no PS is OK, for any auto-x events it sucks! You can't turn fast enough and you can't correct quickly either.

I just hate it when your parking and driving slow.

You beat me to this one :)

If you are racing on a tight autocross course, without power steering, you can forget about getting a competitive time. You will get beaten by cars that you should beat. Lots of them!

removing the power steering actually DOES improve feel. normally if the wheels are pushed on by the road they are opening the spool valve slightly and pushing against the pressurized fluid. when you ditch the PS now all the force is translated directly to your hands.

but i agree on a tight autox course you just cant move the wheel fast enough without the power steering. however for a road course i think its much better without it.

Man I dunno. I drove my car with the p/s belt disconnected a few times. It was SOOOOOOOO difficult to turn. I almost hit a guard rail on a canyon road because I didn't have enough energy left to make the complete rotation of the wheel!!!!!!

Maybe I'm too weak.

P/S > no P/S