VF Random chat thread

[hademall]

Did you get to the bottom of it?

I had a steering wheel stuck up me bottom. It drove me nuts!

 

[KING46Calais V]

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.
Thanks for the help, advice and laughs over the last year.

 

[MaxCommie689]

Merry Christmas to the band of JC brothers. Thanks for keeping this community alive.

 

[greenacc]

VF electric steering..
Does it self centre when driving straight like on freeways? My steering wheel is a bit off centre when driving straight. So will the electric rack keep trying to straighten out and create a swerving effect?

 

[07GTS]

the elec assist only works when it has load applied same as a mechanical pump, shouldn't affect just going straight

 

[lmoengnr]

VF electric steering..
Does it self centre when driving straight like on freeways? My steering wheel is a bit off centre when driving straight. So will the electric rack keep trying to straighten out and create a swerving effect?

No.

 

[Skylarking]

VF electric steering..
Does it self centre when driving straight like on freeways? My steering wheel is a bit off centre when driving straight. So will the electric rack keep trying to straighten out and create a swerving effect?

Power steering assistance, be it hydraulic or electrical, simply reduces the effort a driver needs to turn the steering wheel and point the vehicle in the desired dorection. Sometimes the power assistance is designed to be proportional to road speed but it doesn't go further than that.

Self centering is provided not by the power assistance but by having a positive caster angel along with the weight of the vehicle wanting to return to the vehicle to equilibrium given king pin inclination tends to lift one side of the vehicle's front as the stering wheels are turned away from straight ahead.... or so i've read

As yet we don't have drive by wire steering systems so we don't have direct computer control of the position of the road wheels. As i understand it, such drive by wire systems weren't legal ;ast time i checked.

Oddly the Tesla Cybercrap is the first vehicle to have drive by wire system where everything around vehicle direction and dynamics is up for grabs in terms of where the front and rear wheels point during any and all drive manouvers... the driver no longer has direct mechanical connection to the wheels... what can go wrong with that and will the Cybercrap even be legal to sell down under

 

[NJD-1992]

VF electric steering..
Does it self centre when driving straight like on freeways? My steering wheel is a bit off centre when driving straight. So will the electric rack keep trying to straighten out and create a swerving effect?

Did you have a suspension/wheel alignment done?

If the steering wheel is off centre, you need to have a steering sensor re-learn procedure done (So many tire/suspension shops aren't aware of this)

 

[Skylarking]

Did you have a suspension/wheel alignment done?

If the steering wheel is off centre, you need to have a steering sensor re-learn procedure done (So many tire/suspension shops aren't away of this)

Yes, EPS assistance needs to know the straight ahead position of the steering wheel so it can calculate the correct amount of assistance during a turn based on the steering wheel position and the amount of torque being sensed. Such means calibration should always be part of the wheel alignment process.

IIRC, in a more conventional hydraulic power steering system, having the steering wheels mechanical well aligned but with the steering wheel (and steering rack) itself off centre shouldn’t cause any real problem for the driver (other than the steering wheel won’t be centred when driving straight ahead).

However, in an electronic assistance system, when driving straight ahead, the control system will think the steering has been turned a bit which shouldn’t be a problem as the torque sensor won’t/shouldn’t sense any force being applied by the driver, thus it shouldn’t apply any assistance. The problem may come from the road surface and front end geometry around how much bump steer the vehicle has. Such bump steer would translate as a torque being sensed on the steering shaft, hence the control system may/will start applying force which will feel odd and may make any bump steer seem worse. That’s probably why calibration should always be performed whenever the steering system is aligned.

Well that’s my guess as the control system algorithm isn’t explicitly defined within the workshop manual. Like much these days, complex systems are simply treated as a black box full of magic and sometimes replaced when something may be odd

 

[greenacc]

Did you have a suspension/wheel alignment done?

If the steering wheel is off centre, you need to have a steering sensor re-learn procedure done (So many tire/suspension shops aren't away of this)

Alignment was done but like many assignments these days it did not achieve centred steering wheel. Surely this can be achieved but simply adjusting both tie rods ends equally to one side so they match the steering wheel direction?