Car Q

[Soulpieced]

Alright, so I'm gonna be taking White Thunder (my 2000 Mercury Sable) to the shop to get brakes checked and such. The car is fine for the most part, and I don't really care about the lack of power, but the ONE thing that pisses me off to no end is the ATROCIOUS turning radius of the thing.

Now, I drove an '89 DeVille for 3 years, and never had any problems with the size, but with the Sable I seriously will miss a perpendicular parking space 1/4 times. Is there anything I could ask about other than the obvious low power steering fluid that could be done to make the car's turning radius any better?

[Edited on 5-17-2004 by Soulpieced]

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Funny, I call my ass after a night of kimchee and beans, "white thunder".

[Parkbandit]

Unless you customize it.. no. There's nothing you can do to make the car turn sharper.

I had a SWEET car about 10 years ago. It was a Honda Prelude with 4 wheel steering. I could turn on a fucking dime.

[Soulpieced]

So basically I'm :violin:

[Parkbandit]

Originally posted by Soulpieced
So basically I'm :violin:

There is one way to lower the turning radius of a car without customizing it.

As my highschool driver's ed teacher said:

"Slow car, fast hands"

Meaning.. when you make a turn.. slow down as much as possible and QUICKLY turn your wheel all the way into the direction you are going. That will be the tightest you can make your car turn.

[Soulpieced]

Yeah, that's what I do now, but without bowing out way to the other side, I still have problems just getting into perpendicular spaces.

[Wezas]

Swing wide!

The turning radius of my new car is worse then my '89 Sentra. I feel your pain.

[Parkbandit]

Great... now I miss my prelude.

Bastard.

[Tsa`ah]

Originally posted by Parkbandit
Unless you customize it.. no. There's nothing you can do to make the car turn sharper.

That is factually incorrect.

One good thing about the big 3 (Ford, Dodge, GM) is that they don't alter the design too terribly from model year to model year and they like to keep certain parts interchangeable between models.

In order to change your steering radius you have to change your steering ratio. There are two ways to do this. Custom or swap.

Swap is cheaper. Find out what your steering ratio is and then find out what steering racks and pinions are interchangeable with your Sable.

I'm not a Ford guy, cause Ford sucks rat ass, but I'm willing to bet the rack and pinion from a mustang or Thunderchicken will interchange.

Just find a Sable forum and ask.

[Soulpieced]

Like I said, I'm taking it to my Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealer back in North Carolina for a checkup on the brakes and other things. I was going to ask about the turning radius as well. If getting it swapped costs < 400, I'd consider it. Thanks for the info Tsa'ah.