6 replies to this topic

[Burnard]

Hey, 

I was just chatting to a friend who drives a landrover and found out that they have steering dampers as do beetles, and a fair few modern cars too.

This got me thinking, would such a thing work on our minis to help reduced that awful snappy steering when one wheel looses grip and also aid stability at high speed too?


Would be interesting to hear opinions on this and if anyone has tried it before. 


Chris.

 

 

[nicklouse]

as Beetles and Landrovers use steering boxes rather than steering racks yes a damper can be useful for them.

 

cant say I have noticed any steering issues on the Mini.

[dklawson]

It is my understanding is the same as Nicklouse's that the dampeners are used primarily on steering boxes, not racks.  

 

Though I have not experienced this personally, I have friends who report that when the dampener fails, the steering can begin an unstable oscillation observable on both the road wheels and steering wheel.  Again, hearsay on my part, but I have been told that it is often necessary to get the car back to very low speed or stopped to stop the oscillation.  I saw a Jeep experience this recently while driving on the highway.  I have never seen this on cars with rack and pinion steering.

[Spider]

Many of the 4WD's have them or get them fitted, they are on those with Boxes as well as Racks. Trouble with fitting them to a Mini is where do you put one so it will be effective?  I did look at doing this mod for a while, but gave up as the space available, didn't allow for a damper that would be worthwhile.

[Dan]

They are needed on cars and mainly trucks with cheap steering boxes (cam and peg, worm drive, etc.) because there is a necessary amount of lash in the box to make it useable and safe, this lash allows the steering to wander as said above. As I understand it more expensive recirculating ball steering boxes offer much more control and don't wander. There really is no need for a damper on a Mini. For the 1% of the time it might be useful, which is almost exclusively in completely avoidable circumstances, it will be fighting you the rest of the time. It would make parking and low speed manoeuvring awful. As above I can't say I've ever had a problem steering a Mini, it's sort of what they are famous for.

[Cooperman]

Never had any problem with the steering, even flat out on gravel on forest roads. In fact, the steering is one of the things that set the Mini apart from other cars when it was introduced and is part of the retro feel of this classic car.

If it is a problem, fit a larger steering wheel, or go back to the standard size if a smaller one is fitted. The only time I've disliked the steering was when driving a Mini with a 12" wheel, it was horrible on a bumpy road, and I never go smaller than a 14" on my own cars.

Edited by Cooperman, 02 December 2014 - 09:42 PM.

[Spider]

Yes, Dan and Cooperman are correct in saying that a Mini doesn't need a steering damper.

 

I looked in to it because this is the type of road that I frequent;-

 

 

 

 

I can very much assure you that after some 1300 km of that, you'd really like a steering damper!