Steering

[Unimog 406]

I am going to to drop my tyre pressures as suggested here.

Why - that bloody steering is quite frankly dangerous at speed. I have just done 125 miles mainly on Welsh country roads. I overtook a van at one point and nearly ended up side swiping it. The steering constantly needs adjusting and at speed it starts to turn into an oversteer, understeer situation.

On a motorway it’s a bit better but still requires continuous driver correction to keep it straight.

I am not happy with that steering at all.

Before anyone decides I must have twitchy hands or I am not a very good driver, or only used to driving a few modern vehicles, think again. Without details I am a very safe and experienced driver and well used to driving vehicles at speed. The actual handling even with KO2 tyres doesn’t worry me, but that steering makes me as nervous as hell.

The only steering I have experienced as bad is ancient Landrovers, which I would never attempt to drive at the speeds the Ineos should be capable of.

Hopefully lowering tyre pressures will help, if not I will wait and unhappily pay an aftermarket company to be able to supply me with a steering solution that is safe.

FYI - I am talking about overtakes on some not so wide roads at 60mph

Update
I have spoken to my agent who has arranged an appointment for me tomorrow Tuesday at 10.00 for a vehicle inspection with my steering issue. I also sent an email to my (reliable) contact at Ineos customer services and copied my agent with the following.

Paragraph 1
"I have reported today to my agent Jardine Kent that the steering on my vehicle is dangerous and not fit for purpose. This may be a known problem and there is a remedy available. I am experienced enough not to take chances with my safety and others. The steering is unpredictable when taking evasive action at 50MPH and not safe when attempting to drive a straight line on a motorway in excess 60MPH."

If any of the Forums contributors who have steering concerns as Shaky, Sloany and myself on this issue why not pass on our details of concerned owners vehicles either jointly or privately if prefered?
It would make sense to collectively work together and assist Ineos with access with as much information as is available.
We have all been waiting a long time and want the Grenadier to be a success.

Would any one like to comment.
Graham

 

[CountyV8]

All I can say is mine is fine coming from V8 110s it is as good as it gets for RB steering with 42 psi seems very good have not tried lower yet not had a wheel lift or squeal yet lovin it how much do you want to push a 2.7 ton vehicle ?

 

[YellowLab]

Update
I have spoken to my agent who has arranged an appointment for me tomorrow Tuesday at 10.00 for a vehicle inspection with my steering issue. I also sent an email to my (reliable) contact at Ineos customer services and copied my agent with the following.

Paragraph 1
"I have reported today to my agent Jardine Kent that the steering on my vehicle is dangerous and not fit for purpose. This may be a known problem and there is a remedy available. I am experienced enough not to take chances with my safety and others. The steering is unpredictable when taking evasive action at 50MPH and not safe when attempting to drive a straight line on a motorway in excess 60MPH."

If any of the Forums contributors who have steering concerns as Shaky, Sloany and myself on this issue why not pass on our details of concerned owners vehicles either jointly or privately if prefered?
It would make sense to collectively work together and assist Ineos with access with as much information as is available.
We have all been waiting a long time and want the Grenadier to be a success.

Would any one like to comment.
Graham

Fully agree - we SHOULD be hearing of issues so we can walk into this with open eyes; do not want to buy this purely on emotion and then the first time someone in my family drives it - forgets to correct the turning in a corner and then as Jeremy pointed out - keep turning back around. I'm all in with the emotional bond here and will remain positive - but not going to let an over flowing glass of optimism drown the logical approach....

 

[Cheshire cat]

Fully agree - we SHOULD be hearing of issues so we can walk into this with open eyes; do not want to buy this purely on emotion and then the first time someone in my family drives it - forgets to correct the turning in a corner and then as Jeremy pointed out - keep turning back around. I'm all in with the emotional bond here and will remain positive - but not going to let an over flowing glass of optimism drown the logical approach....

All I can add is that the problems experienced regarding steering issues is not the norm. That said, I fully agree, it needs sorting for those that are suffering from dangerous steering.

 

[YellowLab]

Just attach a spinner knob to the steering wheel (esp. for those that believe their Grenadier to be a truck)!

View attachment 7814646

Sadly illegal in the US -

 

[Zach4X4Foothills]

Actually they are legal in all 50 States.

Are Steering Wheel Knobs Illegal? | Vehicle Answers

Steering wheel knobs are not strictly illegal in any of the 50 states. However, some states impose limitations on using them if their design poses a potential safety hazard such as catching on clothing.

vehicleanswers.com

 

[Eric]

Actually they are legal in all 50 States.

Are Steering Wheel Knobs Illegal? | Vehicle Answers

Steering wheel knobs are not strictly illegal in any of the 50 states. However, some states impose limitations on using them if their design poses a potential safety hazard such as catching on clothing.

vehicleanswers.com

That's a nice catch all, not illegal but....

 

[YellowLab]

Actually they are legal in all 50 States.

Are Steering Wheel Knobs Illegal? | Vehicle Answers

Steering wheel knobs are not strictly illegal in any of the 50 states. However, some states impose limitations on using them if their design poses a potential safety hazard such as catching on clothing.

vehicleanswers.com

In California, steering wheel knobs are explicitly prohibited under California Vehicle Code Section 27001. I would never want one on a wheel anyway...

 

[DaveB]

In California, steering wheel knobs are explicitly prohibited under California Vehicle Code Section 27001

Starting to sound like the only thing not prohibited in California is being homeless and living on the street.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vc6CHRrtH8&t=474s

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzLC48jZPrc&t=292s

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf2_Xl9rI4w

 

[YellowLab]

Starting to sound like the only thing not prohibet in California is being homeless and living on the street.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vc6CHRrtH8&t=474s

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzLC48jZPrc&t=292s

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf2_Xl9rI4w

What does that have to do with steering issues?

 

[DaveB]

What does that have to do with steering issues?

You put the word prohibited in bold making it the main point of your comment.
Therefore my comment was a response to the main point in your comment.

 

[YellowLab]

You put the word prohibited in bold making it the main point of your comment.
Therefore my comment was a response to the main point in your comment.

Sorry David - I was responding to a steering issue and that those knobs are prohibited in CA - you had to go further and use it as a back hand insult to the state where I and many on this board call home. If you want to turn this into a youtube fest to find bad things about where people live and shove that at them - maybe Facebook is more your place to hang.

 

[DaveB]

Sorry David - I was responding to a steering issue and that those knobs are prohibited in CA - you had to go further and use it as a back hand insult to the state where I and many on this board call home. If you want to turn this into a youtube fest to find bad things about where people live and shove that at them - maybe Facebook is more your place to hang.

Hi
My apologies, I wasn't meaning it as an insult
I was suggesting that the government should focus on more important things than worrying about a knob on a steering wheel.
The homeless situation all over the world is an issue but I often feel that priorities are misplaced

 

[DCPU]

I do however have a problem with travelling at higher speeds on faster roads in a straight line, so far I have been unable to adapt my driving to be comfortably in a relaxed manor at faster speeds this includes "A" roads and motorways without constant small/minor corrections. I cannot find any sweet spot in the steering set up or for that matter a speed which matches the vehicle set up?

Have you tried driving a couple of other Grenadiers?

 

[Wayneos]

I was watching this video and thought the steering marker and/or the steering itself was off from dead 12 o'clock.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBaSQSmD-4g


Thought I would do a quick image check of the alignment of the top steering wheel marker relative to the two small buttons on the steering wheel spokes. They are the reference points.

The two small buttons are dead level (the original screen capture of the video was out by .5 degrees. I rotated the entire image .5 deg to compensate and buttons are now level). With that done, A dead horizontal line (green) through those buttons and two vertical lines through them. Top line centred on the 'marker', also in green.

The red line is dead vertical.

The orange line begins at the bottom, same as the red line and runs up through the centre of the 'marker' - You can see the difference. There is a 1.2 degree difference from what should be dead centre to the centre of the marker stitched into the wheel.

NOTE: It's possible, maybe, that lens distortion might affect this but given the wheel is centred in the camera frame, I doubt it.

It would be handy to have someone build a rig that can measure this for real.

So it's possible that the top steering wheel markers are off centre relative to the rest of the wheel.

 

[DCPU]

You might have got me out of cutting the hedge this morning...

 

[EDWARDO]

Update
I have spoken to my agent who has arranged an appointment for me tomorrow Tuesday at 10.00 for a vehicle inspection with my steering issue. I also sent an email to my (reliable) contact at Ineos customer services and copied my agent with the following.

Paragraph 1
"I have reported today to my agent Jardine Kent that the steering on my vehicle is dangerous and not fit for purpose. This may be a known problem and there is a remedy available. I am experienced enough not to take chances with my safety and others. The steering is unpredictable when taking evasive action at 50MPH and not safe when attempting to drive a straight line on a motorway in excess 60MPH."

If any of the Forums contributors who have steering concerns as Shaky, Sloany and myself on this issue why not pass on our details of concerned owners vehicles either jointly or privately if prefered?
It would make sense to collectively work together and assist Ineos with access with as much information as is available.
We have all been waiting a long time and want the Grenadier to be a success.

Would any one like to comment.
Graham

I have to say above 60 mine feels abit loose and have had a situation where when you over take on the motor way and back off the car can wobble, i think something needs to be looked at as lets face it if you want to get somewhere off roading you need to get there on a motorway if you live in bucks like i do, be interesting to see what they do as id be keen to have it addressed.

 

[BillyBunter]

Interesting that some people have steering issues that make them feel unsafe at speed. I have had mine on the motorway and dual carriageways at up to 80mph and did not feel unsafe at all - though 70 feels like a much more comfortable long distance cruise speed if only for the wind noise. When I first picked it up I did not want to go over 60 but that's because I was not used to its bulk at first. I mean, obviously I would not want to take it at speed on a winding B road but that's because it is huge. I certainly do not have this same experience, fortunately.

In my experience its not an intrinsic flaw in the steering on all cars as I and others have not had this experience. I wonder what could be wrong on those few cars that do seem to drive as described?

 

[BillyBunter]

I have to say above 60 mine feels abit loose and have had a situation where when you over take on the motor way and back off the car can wobble, i think something needs to be looked at as lets face it if you want to get somewhere off roading you need to get there on a motorway if you live in bucks like i do, be interesting to see what they do as id be keen to have it addressed.

Edwardo - do you live round the corner form me? Donny Grey (maybe black) in the South Chilterns area?

 

[YIPPE]

I have no issues of feeling unsafe with steering. But the wheel is slightly off, a few degrees clockwise and going straight. Will have adjusted at a service.