Steering Effort

[lexus trekker16]

I really like my GX 470, but I would like to change the steering effort to turn the wheel. At the present time, it takes very little effort to turn the steering wheel, even above 60 mph. As a result there is very little "feel" and it is easy to let the vehicle drift if you are not paying strict attention. Also, in turns there is little feedback. I have no reason to believe that the GX is not acting as it was designed or that anything is defective.

As I understand it, the steering effort is speed sensitive. Is there any way to "fool" the power steering into thinking that the GX is traveling faster that it acturally is , so that the effort will be greater? Or in general, is there any other way to increasing the steering effort and feel, preferably in a reversible manner so that the warranty is not affected.

On prior LS models, there was an electrical connector to the power steering that could be disconnected. When this was done the LS thought that it was doing maximum speed and the steering effort was set at the maximum. It created significantly more feel, but it was hard to steer at slow speeds.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[ADVocate]

I really like my GX 470, but I would like to change the steering effort to turn the wheel.  At the present time, it takes very little effort to turn the steering wheel, even above 60 mph.  As a result there is very little "feel" and it is easy to let the vehicle drift if you are not paying strict attention.  Also, in turns there is little feedback.  I have no reason to believe that the GX is not acting as it was designed or that anything is defective.

As I understand it, the steering effort is speed sensitive.  Is there any way to "fool" the power steering into thinking that the GX is traveling faster that it acturally is , so that the effort will be greater?  Or in general, is there any other way to increasing the steering effort and feel, preferably in a reversible manner so that the warranty is not affected.

On prior LS models, there was an electrical connector to the power steering that could be disconnected.  When this was done the LS thought that it was doing maximum speed and the steering effort was set at the maximum.  It created significantly more feel, but it was hard to steer at slow speeds.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

←

In my experience, the "weighted" steering only happens on properly designed systems. I was annoyed at how much over-steer occured with the GX. You do get used to it over time, but my former RR was awesome in that category. The GX feels like a kids car when it comes to steering (and also the throttle control sensitivity is a bit goofy as well).