Not sure about others but my Superb on the motorway in this recent windy weather has felt totally unsafe.

There's about 2 or 3 inches of travel in the steering wheel before any actual change in direction happens.

Sport mode makes it a little better, but honestly it's awful!

 

We have an A3 cabrio and a new A-Class, both small cars and both have much more direct steering.

 

Can I use VCDS to improve this? I'm not looking to permanently put the car in "sport" steering mode, I've tried this via Carista and it's not good enough.

I actually want to change the steering weight properly. My friend said he was able to change the steering profile on his old Polo GTI (60 plate) to Audi A3 sport, A3 non-sport, Fabia II VRS, and many other options.

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated otherwise I'll end up in bits strewn across the M6...

What your friend did is what you tried and did not find was enough.

Less steering assist and how it is done is a bit different from model to model but basically it is the same thing, go in and change the setting from the Factory setting.

Steering weight won't affect the slack you are describing. 

 

Either you are exaggerating or something is very wrong with your car. 

 

Or the winds are so strong that it takes so much yaw angle (2inches worth of steering movement) to turn the car. But that should only affect one direction. At centre on, you'll be flying in the wind direction....

I've never experienced this with my car. I was driving down a narrow road on top of the South downs in that gale on Sunday and it went straight as an arrow

 

Maybe the Sportline Spoiler and defuser is doing the opposite of ground effect. 

And the tyres and pressures could be an issue.

 

Best check what changing the setting with Carista has left steering assist set at and not full / max 'Disability' assistance.

VW group characteristic no?  Go drive near enough any Ford or Mazda and you will feel direct and amply weighted steering.  

Are your front tyres over inflated (eco is silly hilly on most cars) or is the boot full of lead? Doesn't sound right for any car to be honest.

3 hours ago, KeteCantek said:

Steering weight won't affect the slack you are describing. 

 

Either you are exaggerating or something is very wrong with your car. 

 

Or the winds are so strong that it takes so much yaw angle (2inches worth of steering movement) to turn the car. But that should only affect one direction. At centre on, you'll be flying in the wind direction....

 

1 hour ago, NJRJ said:

Are your front tyres over inflated (eco is silly hilly on most cars) or is the boot full of lead? Doesn't sound right for any car to be honest.

I think these hypotheses make a lot of sens. Something looks wrong with your car... 🤔

I've never experienced that driving in high winds on a freeway doing 115 km/h.

 

Steering response is good, as expected.

 

Something doesn't sound right with urs.

When stationary and engine stopped so no power steering assistance, can you move the steering wheel your '2 or 3 inches' with no effort as if there's slack in the system?

Thanks for all the replies, think I'll take it to the dealers to find out what's up. I've had the car 3 years now and it's always been like this, even without the added sportline bits & larger wheels. My tyre pressures are all set to 34, did it a few days ago before a long trip.

 

16 hours ago, penguin17 said:

VW group characteristic no?  Go drive near enough any Ford or Mazda and you will feel direct and amply weighted steering.  

Not sure tbh, Audis apparently have some sort of "comfort direct" steering or something? Even the A3 feels well planted compared to the Superb...

 

1 hour ago, D402 said:

When stationary and engine stopped so no power steering assistance, can you move the steering wheel your '2 or 3 inches' with no effort as if there's slack in the system?

I'll try this and report back, thanks hadn't thought to check.

 

I'll also check what Carista says. I've had a few wheel related problems recently so it hasn't felt right anyway (below), but my car still feels very clumsy on a windy day, wouldn't be surprised if I get pulled over for suspected DUI.....really, it is that bad.

 

 

1) New PS4 tyres fitted to front by KF (Kwik Fit).

2) Soon after, a wheel weight fell off. Massive vibration, went back to KF to get it re-weighted.

3) KF drove the front of my car over a high curb and ripped the splitter off, but wouldn't admit blame.

4) Decided KF are a bunch of plebs, went to Skoda, got the front of my car put back together at a cost of £100

5) Skoda said my tracking was well off, as were the weights, PLUS I had a slight buckle in RHS front wheel.

     They rotated my wheels front to back and said the buckle was only very slight and was corrected with weights (I have 2 spare alloys so will probs replace that wheel at some point). They did weights/tracking again and off I went.

 

Vibration is still there, starting to wonder if it's a wheel bearing now....

     

I tend to run the tyres hard and miles are mostly motorway and don't have the problem

 

I would suggest tyres or tyre pressures.

 

Only car I I have ever driven that felt like that was a 1.6 Sierra when it had 5-6 CWT in the boot and no passengers, going uphill was interesting.

21 hours ago, penguin17 said:

VW group characteristic no?  Go drive near enough any Ford or Mazda and you will feel direct and amply weighted steering.  

Nah, I just came back from driving a Camry (2004) for a couple weeks and that nearly matches OPs description of slack. In comparison, my 280 is like a sports car

5 hours ago, drewellis said:

Thanks for all the replies, think I'll take it to the dealers to find out what's up. I've had the car 3 years now and it's always been like this, even without the added sportline bits & larger wheels. My tyre pressures are all set to 34, did it a few days ago before a long trip.

 

Not sure tbh, Audis apparently have some sort of "comfort direct" steering or something? Even the A3 feels well planted compared to the Superb...

 

I'll try this and report back, thanks hadn't thought to check.

 

I'll also check what Carista says. I've had a few wheel related problems recently so it hasn't felt right anyway (below), but my car still feels very clumsy on a windy day, wouldn't be surprised if I get pulled over for suspected DUI.....really, it is that bad.

 

 

1) New PS4 tyres fitted to front by KF (Kwik Fit).

2) Soon after, a wheel weight fell off. Massive vibration, went back to KF to get it re-weighted.

3) KF drove the front of my car over a high curb and ripped the splitter off, but wouldn't admit blame.

4) Decided KF are a bunch of plebs, went to Skoda, got the front of my car put back together at a cost of £100

5) Skoda said my tracking was well off, as were the weights, PLUS I had a slight buckle in RHS front wheel.

     They rotated my wheels front to back and said the buckle was only very slight and was corrected with weights (I have 2 spare alloys so will probs replace that wheel at some point). They did weights/tracking again and off I went.

 

Vibration is still there, starting to wonder if it's a wheel bearing now....

     

Sounds like that is it. I suspect some bad suspension geometry misalignment. 

Thanks again for the advice, an update:

 

I’ve since had the rear discs and pads replaced with brembo OE equivalent. I’ve driven in some pretty stormy windy weather since that and the car feels better. Still nothing like the A3/Merc but much, much better.

 

Does anyone know if the Lane Assist uses the rear brakes as well as the steering?

I think that’s how it works in some other cars, but the Merc just uses brakes without steering I think - their “lane assist” is more of a “lane führer”...

 

Anyway I think the problem is somewhat sorted. I need to inspect the splash guards under the engine as they have been replaced but I’m not convinced it’s all there, or perhaps they’ve fitted one from another version.

It looks like there may be a piece missing, I’m pretty sure it was all completely covered before, now there is a large gap where you can see the ground.

If anyone could verify I’d appreciate it. Mine’s a 2016 petrol 220bhp, I’m sure they probably differ.

 

many thanks

It always amazes me that more car manufacturers don't put an easily accessible way of  adjusting the steering. My st has a menu on the dash to change between normal, sport (less assistance) and comfort (more assistance). Although I believe while playing around in our octavia yesterday I pressed a button that brought up 4 options, normal, eco, sport and one you can choose your own setting where one if the variables was steering. 

11 minutes ago, caprixpack said:

It always amazes me that more car manufacturers don't put an easily accessible way of  adjusting the steering. My st has a menu on the dash to change between normal, sport (less assistance) and comfort (more assistance). Although I believe while playing around in our octavia yesterday I pressed a button that brought up 4 options, normal, eco, sport and one you can choose your own setting where one if the variables was steering. 

Yes you can alter steering feel via one of the preset Driving Modes or the configurable 'Individual' mode; done via a button near the gear lever on the S3.