Why Is It Bad to Turn the Steering Wheel While the Car Is Stationary?

Why is it bad to turn the steering wheel while the car is stationary?

Blake has some good information below but I'll add a bit more.The action of 'steering' - turning the steering wheel while the vehicle is not rolling is often referred to as 'dry steering. Tires - because when they are not rolling they are purely 'grinding' as they are turned. Try this - stand on one foot and try to 'turn your foot.' Do you feel torque and hear the grinding? Picture this with hundreds - perhaps thousands of pounds of pressure pressing down instead of you paltry few. Oh, and the 'grinding' action just wears and tears 'miles' of tread-life off or your tires.Ground (pavement) - look around in a parking lot where cars do a lot of turning and notice the black 'skid marks' (many of them 'circular') and some of them that actually 'tore up' the asphalt. That represent the number of times and places someone ' dry steered. 'And vehicle - the 'twist' you tried on your own foot up above. Multiply that by a few hundred times for the torque on your steering parts. Blake mentioned the power steering - which is a powered assist for the steering gear box, the machine that turns your steering wheel action into tires moving. There are many moving parts underneath the vehicle that are put under severe stress when you turn the steering wheel. Some time when you have the chance, either watch underneath the front of someone's vehicle while they steer it or have someone turn your steering wheel while you watch it. If this is done while the vehicle is moving - even ever-so-slowly - then it is a relatively non-stress action. But do that when the vehicle is not moving and it's like trying to turn your foot - as you did in the first step above. Steering is always easier, whether you've got power steering or not, when the vehicle is moving - just a bit harder when you don't have power steering. Back when nobody had power steering we called that 'armstrong steering.'Don't dry steer - even with a car. It wears out your tires much faster and will wear out your vehicle front-end parts much more quickly.I've got over 50 years in the fire business between the Air Force, a large municipal department, a smaller (than the municipal department) paid-volunteer department, and being a member of the board of supervisors for the second-largest department in the state.I KNOW what it takes to perform and provide fire and life-saving services with regard to money, manpower and equipment. It isn't necessarily cheap, but you have to ask - what is it worth if it doesn't meet YOUR needs when you need it?Why is it bad to turn the steering wheel while the car is stationary?

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How do you fix the rocking motion in a steering wheel when it isn't related to tilt/adjustable steering?

The max freeplay your steering wheel should have is 30mm. You can measure this with masking tape and measuring tape. make a mark on the console somewhere and a mark on the steering wheel. Move the steering wheel to its end of the play and make another mark on the console and measure that. To diagnose the free play, get underneath the vehicle and grab and pull each component and check for looseness. The major cause of steering wheel free play is the inner and outer tie rod ends. Check the idler and pitman arms, steering gear mounts, wheel bearings, and steering shaft joints. If all of these are ok then you need a gear lash adjustment. Usually only on recirculating ball designs you can adjust the lash. These checks can be made by a visual inspection. You might need someone to help you rock the steering wheel back and forth while you feel and listen for any looseness and play in the suspension. Good Luck.

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How to Restore your Plastic Steering Wheel

Be sure to also see How to Make Your Own Wood Steering Wheel and Banjo Lessons: Steering Wheel Restoration A simulated wood-grain steering wheel made of plastic was standard equipment on 1967 Corvettes, and plastic-rimmed steering wheels were the order of the day from the late 1940s through the mid 1970s for most American-made cars. Over time, these steering wheels are prone to cracking, especially in areas of the country where the temperature changes significantly from summer to winter. You can send your plastic-rimmed steering wheel out to a professional restoration/refurbisher and pay between $100-$200 to have the job done, you can purchase a replacement wheel for $300 or you can do the job yourself for under $60 total and have plenty of material left over for other projects. And since we like to keep our car restoration project's cost to a minimum, this is what we decided to do. It's not a hard job, but it does take time since there are several steps involved. Here's how to go about it. After spending quite a bit of time trying to match the color of the wheel to automotive paint charts with no success, I decided the only way to get an exact match was to mix my own paint. A trip to the local hobby/model shop was made and these Testors Gloss Enamels for Plastics were purchased: #2732 Engine Red, #1124 Green and #1144 Gold. They come in 1/4-oz. bottles and cost about $1.50 each. I used the cap from a 35-mm film container as a mixing tray. Some plastic-stemmed cotton swabs and a disposable art brush are also required. Depending on the color of your steering wheel, you may not have to go through this tedious trial-and-error mixing process to achieve the right shade. In addition to automotive paint touch-up stick colors, be sure to check nail polish colors to see if you can find an acceptable out-of-the-bottle match for your wheel's color. You can use a coffee stirrer or another swab stem to thoroughly blend the green, red and gold paints together. It is absolutely imperative that you mix these colors thoroughly. When mixed, apply a drop to the steering wheel to check the color match, but make sure you do this color-check in daylight. If necessary, you can add a drop or two of red to lighten the shade of brown, or a drop or two of green to darken it. Be sure to wipe your sample drops from the wheel with a clean cloth before they dry. Adjust the color as necessary until you are satisfied with the match. It should not be necessary to add any more gold to the mix, since you only want a hint of metallic in the final color.