Steering technique: turning the steering wheel when turning. Creaking, crunching when turning the steering wheel, what do they mean

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

Let's talk about steering skills. Few drivers think about, for example, how correctly they hold the steering wheel, considering this an unimportant nuance that does not affect the quality of driving; Or what should be the turn of the steering wheel when turning. In fact, there is a whole technique for handling the steering wheel. Having mastered it, the driver will be able to avoid many unpleasant situations on the road.

How to hold the steering wheel

Besides, skillful steering will help diagnose one or another emergency technical situation that may occur in the steering mechanism. Most often, these are malfunctions of the suspension elements in the front of the car. However, in order to understand such nuances, you need to learn how to properly handle the steering wheel. Otherwise, you simply will not understand whether the creak when turning the steering wheel is due to a breakdown in your car, or is it just a small hole in the road.

Unfortunately, very often drivers, whose experience is more than five years, consider themselves experienced, and therefore protected fromall sorts of traffic problems. They absolutely do not pay attention not only to the noise when turning the steering wheel, but even to how they hold the steering wheel. Meanwhile, the wrong steering grip can play a fatal role on the road. Nobody is immune from this. Today there are two handlebar grips:

• deep - sometimes called closed or full;
• shallow - incomplete.

In the first case, the hands lie completely on the steering wheel: it passes exactly along the palms, while the fingers completely wrap around the rim. In the second case, the steering wheel passes through the phalanges of four fingers, while the big one is located inside the steering wheel rim.

Both options, according to most driving school instructors, are correct. However, for beginners who have recently mastered the technique of driving a car, it is recommended to use a closed grip, as the most convenient and safe. Such a landing behind the wheel will help in the event of an unexpected collision with a wheel on a small obstacle or stone. This is just the case when, with a shallow grip, a beginner can simply knock the steering wheel out of his hands, which will lead to a change in the trajectory of the car. And here the emergency is not far away.

Proper driving position

It would be useful to note that the correct position in the driver's seat is the position in which, leaning back in the seat, the driver must reach the steering wheel rim with outstretched arms, without bending them at the elbows. This moment is regulated, as a rule, by the location of the driver's seat itself, as well astilt of his back.

The next important factor in the process of mastering the technique of working with the steering wheel is the angle of the driver's hands. Instructors and experts agree that the so-called “hourly” mode of hand placement is correct. In order to understand how it works, it is enough to imagine that the steering rim is a large clock with digital markings, and the driver's hands are imaginary hands. The correct position of the hands is considered to be the mode when the left hand is at "ten o'clock" and the right hand is at "two".

At the same time, the arms should be slightly bent at the elbows: this will protect the driver's muscles from leakage and help to quickly respond to the traffic situation. This position of the hands will allow you to effectively turn the steering wheel when turning.

Hand movement

There are also three main types of driver hand movement while taxiing:

• working;
• idle;
• grab-release.

Working movements begin at the moment of capture and "stretch" until the moment of release. In this case, the hands move along the trajectory of the steering wheel. Then comes the idle movement, in which the steering wheel moves in free mode from the moment it is released. And finally, the third movement that your hands make is from the moment of directly grabbing or releasing in order to fix the steering wheel to the moment when the steering wheel turns when turning. With these simple skills, you will soon learn how to make anymaneuvers both in the city and on the highway.

What not to do with the steering wheel

The advice of the "experienced" can be attributed to several opinions about the manner of torsion of the steering wheel and the direct grip of the rim. It is not worth it with an open palm, pressing on the rim, trying to unscrew the steering wheel. Of course, you will succeed, since modern cars are equipped with electric power steering. However, this style of taxiing significantly reduces the safety of the car entering the turn. Your palm can simply jump off the steering wheel tangentially at the most crucial moment, without screwing it to the desired position. And this will lead to an accident.

Another important point: never let go of the steering wheel when the car is moving. This option significantly limits the maneuverability of your car.

It's not worth it, if you're not an athlete racer, to steer with gloves. Sooner or later, your hands will sweat, and you will remove an unnecessary thing in the car. Not only will you have to do this on the go, but sweaty hands can have a significant negative impact on the entire subsequent driving process. The steering wheel can simply turn in your hands. This is especially felt when the steering wheel is turned when turning. In addition, sweat can seriously damage the leather braid.

When you are maneuvering in a parking lot or just turning the car around, it is undesirable to turn the steering wheel to the full stop and put pressure on it. Very often in these cases, you can hear a rattle when turning the steering wheel or a hoarse buzz. Pretty bad sign, indicating that the electric booster is overloaded.

Turning technique

Having learned how to properly hold the steering wheel in your hands, you can also master the turning technique. It is quite simple and does not require any theoretical background. It just needs more driving practice.

Based on the above aspects of holding the steering wheel, drivers with different experience need to remember that the quality of corner entry is directly related to the current speed of your car. In other words, even if you hold the steering wheel correctly, but do not calculate the speed at which the turn is made, an emergency situation is possible.

When starting a turn, you need to clearly calculate the so-called "angle of attack": the ratio of your actions with your hands and feet with the current speed of the car. If you enter a turn at high speed and at the same time sharply change the angle of the steering wheel, you can get a rollover of the car. As well as too smooth steering movements when turning and slow speed can increase the turning radius. This can also lead to an emergency.

Steering wheel sensor

However, progress does not stand still, and modern car manufacturers are increasingly installing auxiliary electronic mechanisms on their products that make life easier for the driver. One of these mechanisms is the steering angle sensor - a rather important element of the safety of the entire car. Such sensors are installed to determine the direction of movement, set directly by the driver. Its operating principleis to determine the angle of rotation, the direction of rotation and the angular velocity of the steering wheel.

It is this sensor that is an element of such car safety systems as: directional stability, cruise control, adaptive lighting, as well as active suspension. There are three types of sensors:

• potentiometric;
• optical;
• magnetoresistive.

As you can see even from the name, they differ from each other in the principles of physical measurements. The potentiometric steering angle sensor refers to the contact type of devices. The principle of its device is the location of two potentiometers mounted on the steering column at an angle of 90 ° relative to each other. This allows you to determine the relative and absolute steering angles. However, due to low reliability, such sensors are practically not used today.

The second type of rudder angle sensors is much more complex and modern. Such a measurement system includes: an encoder disk, light sources, photosensitive elements, as well as a unit for determining the full engine speed.

Universal steering angle sensor

And finally, the magnetoresistive sensor, which is considered more versatile than the two described, because of its ability to determine not only the relative and absolute angles of the steering wheel, but also its angular velocity. The device is based on magnetoresistors. Measurements in this case are taken from the magnets located on the steering wheel.

Each position of the magnets has its ownsteering wheel location. Based on this, the electronic control unit determines the angle of rotation, its direction and speed.

The car, which includes a steering angle sensor, allows even inexperienced drivers to make risky maneuvers. Therefore, when buying a car, you should thoroughly study its electronic security system.

Rely on the sensor, but don't drive yourself

But, relying on sensors, you should still not forget the basic instructions of driving experts. And they say that for the most part, the main negative element of driving, which leads to accidents, is speed. It is she who, in case of exceeding the permissible values, turns your car over, throws it into a ditch or an uncontrolled skid. Therefore, if the speed limit is not respected, auxiliary sensors are unlikely to help.

Self Diagnosis

Having mastered the steering wheel control technique, having learned how to competently enter turns and perform specific maneuvers on your car, you can think about primary diagnostics related directly to the steering mechanism. Quite often, when turning the steering wheel, a knock is heard, incomprehensible sounds, to which we do not attach much importance. However, timely diagnosis and determination of the nature of the malfunction can significantly reduce your financial costs associated with repairs.

So, you turned the steering wheel in either direction and heard a knock. What does this fact mean? Most likely, you need to pay attention tosteering wheel condition. As a rule, when turning the steering wheel, a knock is heard at the moment when they fail (make an unpleasant metallic noise).

If the knock is also accompanied by such a measured rumble, then the point is in the hub bearings. A rather unpleasant failure, considering that ignoring it after some time will lead to the fact that the bearing can simply fall apart in the hub, seriously damaging it.

As a rule, you can finally verify the failure of the hub bearing only by lifting the car. It is when the wheel is not fixed that you can hear a uniform hum when turning the steering wheel.

But if you just have loose wheel nuts, you can get into an almost comical situation. The fact is that a visit to the masters at the service station will result in you not only spending time and money, but also in good ridicule. You hear clicks when you turn the steering wheel, you worry, but it’s just the wheel nuts that have come loose. And there is no need for any special repairs, it is enough to tighten them with a key.

Replacing a grenade is expensive

And finally, the most disturbing symptom. If you hear a characteristic crunch when turning the steering wheel, this means that your CV joint or, as the people call it, a grenade has failed. True, this applies only to cars with front or all-wheel drive. Rear-wheel drive cars do not have such an element in their design.

If a crunch is found when turning the steering wheel, first of all, you need to clearly establish from which side it comes. Because, unlike tie rod ends, this element can not be changed in pairs. In other words, if your left grenade is out of order, there is no need to change the right grenade for preventive purposes.

Having decided on the “sick” side, you should prepare for serious financial investments. It is almost impossible to make such repairs yourself. Moreover, it is better to buy such important components of the car chassis from the original manufacturers, so as not to incur additional unnecessary costs in case of purchasing a low-quality product.

There is a less painful repair option if you have a creak when turning the steering wheel (i.e. not yet a crunch). Your grenade will be removed and washed. Sometimes, in case of incomplete failure of it, it helps. But in any case, as with the wheel bearing, in addition to replacing the damaged assembly, work will be required related to the collapse and convergence of the car's wheels. Because during installation, the angles of inclination of the A-pillars will be violated.

All the situations described, when various clicks appear when turning the steering wheel, speak of a rather expensive repair. In order not to have to repair the car, you need to look under it from time to time, making sure that the CV joint anthers are intact or your steering tips are reliable. And, as you know, a good diagnosis is already half the repair.