Questions regarding steering wheel and driving a car

[travis82]

If you start with your wheels straight (don't worry about your car being straight) and turn the steering wheel two full revolutions to the left, the front wheels will be facing left. If you turn the wheel two full turns to the right, the wheels will be straight again. You have to turn the steering wheel two full revolutions to get the wheels pointing to the right and two more turns to the left to get the wheels facing straight again.

By the way, the front wheels will straighten out all by themselves when the car is moving if you relieve the grip on the steering wheel and let it slide through your hands no matter which way the wheels are facing.

From what I understand, the steering wheel only controls the 2 front wheels of the car.

The steering wheel does not control the 2 back rear wheels of the car.


Why is it, sometimes you turn 1 round back to straighten the 2 front wheels? Other times, you turn 2 rounds back to straighten back the 2 front wheels?


How do I know should I turn the steering wheel 1 round OR 2 round back to straighten the 2 front wheels?

 

[Willie Boy]

Sixthson said: "Cars have steering wheels? Where are they found, under the hood? I'm perplexed."

No, they are found on another planet, Uranus to be exact!

 

[travis82]

He did have some questions here as well.


http://www.justusboys.com/forum/threads/453416-How-do-you-control-the-steering-wheel-of-a-car

Thanks. I can't find my old thread. I wonder how you managed to find it.

 

[travis82]

I think he is talking about all four wheels merely because he is not mechanical so assumes he needs to describe all four.

I'm glad he is getting so much help.

Travis, it is all intimidating when you don't have someone helping you learn by letting you drive a little in some remote parking lot or country road. If you can, get a friend or relative to help. If you can't, keep trying, but you really need that for the test to make sense to you.

Best of luck, kiddo.

Thank you. You're a nice guy.

- - - Updated - - -

Travis seems so cute with this....I hope he figures it out...I wish I was near him so I could help...

Thanks.

 

[travis82]

^ It also helps to understand how the steering works. One thing to remember is that you never know which direction your wheels are pointed unless the car is moving. As a rule, cars want to go straight until you turn the steering wheel.

If my 2 front wheels is straight, and I turn my steering wheel 1 round to the left, will my 2 front wheels be facing left?


If my 2 front wheels is straight, and I turn my steering wheel 2 rounds to the left, my 2 front wheels will be facing left.


Then what is the difference between turning 1 round or 2 rounds to the left?



If my 2 front wheels is straight, how do I decide should I turn my steering wheel 1 round OR 2 rounds to the left?

 

[sixthson]

Travis, when you finally get some behind the wheel time, you will forget all about how many "rounds" you have to turn. You'll get the
feel for the steering wheel and the road.

 

[Alistair]

If my 2 front wheels is straight, and I turn my steering wheel 1 round to the left, will my 2 front wheels be facing left?


If my 2 front wheels is straight, and I turn my steering wheel 2 rounds to the left, my 2 front wheels will be facing left.


Then what is the difference between turning 1 round or 2 rounds to the left?



If my 2 front wheels is straight, how do I decide should I turn my steering wheel 1 round OR 2 rounds to the left?

It's all in how hard you want to turn, or how small or large of a turn you want to take. Say you turn the steering wheel a quarter turn, your tires will turn maybe 5°. A half turn will be 10° a full turn of the steering wheel your tires will be turned 20°

The larger the turn radius the less you'll have to turn the steering wheel, the smaller the turn radius the more you'll have to turn the wheel. You'll learn how much is required by experience.

 

[gsdx]

From what I understand, the steering wheel only controls the 2 front wheels of the car.

The steering wheel does not control the 2 back rear wheels of the car.

Only the front wheels are controlled by the steering wheel.

If my 2 front wheels is straight, and I turn my steering wheel 1 round to the left, will my 2 front wheels be facing left?


If my 2 front wheels is straight, and I turn my steering wheel 2 rounds to the left, my 2 front wheels will be facing left.


Then what is the difference between turning 1 round or 2 rounds to the left?



If my 2 front wheels is straight, how do I decide should I turn my steering wheel 1 round OR 2 rounds to the left?

Whatever direction you turn the steering wheel, that is the direction the front wheels will turn. The more you turn the steering wheel, the more the front wheels will turn in the direction you are moving the steering wheel. When the front wheels turn as far as they can turn, the steering wheel will stop and you can't turn it any more.

If the front wheels are straight and you turn the steering wheel 1 turn to the left, the front wheels will be facing a little bit to the left. If you turn 1 more turn to the left, the front wheels will be facing a little bit more to the left. (It may take a few more turns to get the wheels facing as far left as they can go.)

Now, let's say you turned the steering wheel 2 turns to the left. The front wheels are now facing "a little bit more" to the left as explained above. Now, if you turn the wheel 1 turn to the right, the wheels are turning to the right, but are now facing "a little bit" to the left as explained in the previous paragraph. You still have to turn the steering wheel more turn to the right (2 turns total) to get th wheels facing straight.

Try this. Get someone to help you. Let them sit in the driver's seat. (If the car has power steering, as most do these days, the helper will have to start the car, but it is not necessary for the car to move.) Now, you stand in front of the car but to the side so you can see both the front-left wheel and the steering wheel and the driver.

If it helps, put a piece of coloured tape at the top of the steering wheel when the wheels are facing straight. Now, have the helper turn the wheel 2 full turn to the left and what the front wheel does. Now, have the helper turn one more full turn to the left and watch the front wheel. Then turn the steering wheel one turn to the right. You will see the front wheel turning to the right, but when the helper stops at one turn, the front wheel is still facing left. The helper must turn one more turn to the right to make the front wheel face straight ahead again.

As many times as you turn the wheel in one direction, you have to turn the steering wheel that many turns in the opposite direction to get the front wheels to face straight ahead.

As I said in an earlier post, the car will do this all by itself. It does not like going around corners. But it will only straighten if the car is moving. If the car is not moving, the front wheels will stay turned. There will be very few instances when you will want to turn the steering wheel when the car is not moving.

 

[talbot57]

Travis, you're best not to even think about the number of turns you are making. It is where you want the car to go that is key.

I remember when I was learning to drive, my instructor first asked if I had ever ridden a bike, he said the concept of steering is the same. He was so right. When you want the car to move straight again after turning, you do not wait until you are pointing in that direction, you have already started to turn back. Hopefully you will master the technique and then you will never think about number of turns again. Good luck Travis!

 

[Telstra]

Practice practice practice.
I can just simply drive ....

 

[gsdx]

It is where you want the car to go that is key.

Indeed. As I've said a few times here, "Look where you want to go." When you do that, your body will do it's best to get you there. That also applies to where you DON'T want to go. If you car is heading toward a tree and you stare at the tree instead of a way to miss it, chances are you'll hit the tree. It's called 'target fixation'.

This video explains the phenomenon using motorcycles, but the principles are the same for cars.

 

[Vannie]

Thanks. I can't find my old thread. I wonder how you managed to find it.

You can left click on your JustUsBoys "User name".Then left click "View Profile" On the left hand side of that page you can left click on "Find latest started threads"

That will show you previously started threads in case you wanted to look at them.

"User name"

"View Profile"

"Find latest started threads"


Good Luck with everything

 

[Kulindahr]

I think he is talking about all four wheels merely because he is not mechanical so assumes he needs to describe all four.

I'm glad he is getting so much help.

Travis, it is all intimidating when you don't have someone helping you learn by letting you drive a little in some remote parking lot or country road. If you can, get a friend or relative to help. If you can't, keep trying, but you really need that for the test to make sense to you.

Best of luck, kiddo.

I used to get immense gratitude from parents because I would take their kids out to practice driving. One of the places I took beginners was an old gravel pit that had nice sloping sides so there was nothing to ram into -- and the ground took tire impressions nicely after a decent rain, so we could stop, get out, and look at what the student had just done.

I got my earliest driving lessons on an old airbase, with 14 acres of open pavement. Someone had donated dozens of old orange safety cones that could be used to mark out "streets", curves, narrow lanes, whatever, and use of those was how I learned the rules of the road.

There used to be a driver's training school in the state that relied on the hundreds of miles of dirt, gravel, and rock roads in the nearby national forest for their training area.

So yeah, having a good place to train without worries about traffic or real estate is important.

 

[Kulindahr]

From what I understand, the steering wheel only controls the 2 front wheels of the car.

The steering wheel does not control the 2 back rear wheels of the car.


Why is it, sometimes you turn 1 round back to straighten the 2 front wheels? Other times, you turn 2 rounds back to straighten back the 2 front wheels?


How do I know should I turn the steering wheel 1 round OR 2 round back to straighten the 2 front wheels?

Travis, when you finally get some behind the wheel time, you will forget all about how many "rounds" you have to turn. You'll get the
feel for the steering wheel and the road.

This is why having a big open area to practice in is so important: you can just drive around and get the feel of it and not have to think about how many turns or how far you've turned the steering wheel.

I mentioned this thread to a buddy and he said he learned to drive at a amusement park, with the bumper cars, before any adult let him behind the wheel of a real car. Thinking about the times I've driven bumper cars, I can see how that would work.

 

[Kulindahr]

It's all in how hard you want to turn, or how small or large of a turn you want to take. Say you turn the steering wheel a quarter turn, your tires will turn maybe 5°. A half turn will be 10° a full turn of the steering wheel your tires will be turned 20°

The larger the turn radius the less you'll have to turn the steering wheel, the smaller the turn radius the more you'll have to turn the wheel. You'll learn how much is required by experience.

Nicely explained.

I remember the first time I drove a totally different vehicle and found that a quarter turn of the wheel didn't give me the same turn as the one I'd learned on. That was the point where I finally grasped that thinking about the steering wheel was (as my crew boss who set me to driving that vehicle put it) over-thinking the process. You learn to let your hands do the turning and your eyes tell you when it's enough.

 

[Kulindahr]

Indeed. As I've said a few times here, "Look where you want to go." When you do that, your body will do it's best to get you there. That also applies to where you DON'T want to go. If you car is heading toward a tree and you stare at the tree instead of a way to miss it, chances are you'll hit the tree. It's called 'target fixation'.

This video explains the phenomenon using motorcycles, but the principles are the same for cars.

OMG! They got video of me on the rented 'cycle in the Bahamas!


There was an episode of the old show Frasier which illustrated this principle superbly with a bicycle.

 

[Kulindahr]

Travis, if you're anywhere near the northern Oregon coast, I could give you lessons.

 

[Telstra]

Indeed. As I've said a few times here, "Look where you want to go." When you do that, your body will do it's best to get you there. That also applies to where you DON'T want to go. If you car is heading toward a tree and you stare at the tree instead of a way to miss it, chances are you'll hit the tree. It's called 'target fixation'.

This video explains the phenomenon using motorcycles, but the principles are the same for cars.

I don't ride motor bike,
but the most important advice missing here is slow down !!!

When you think danger is approaching like curve, the slower the safer.

 

[gsdx]

That's true except where target fixation is concerned. In many cases, people actually go faster.

 

[Yooper]

Something comes to mind from a Driver's Education teacher way back in the last century when it comes to steering...

'Aim, don't steer.'

(A bit of background: back in the Stone Age the State I was living in REQUIRED Driver's Education! The fellow student I was partnered with had never driven before she sat in the driver's seat of the Driver's Ed car my school had. The first couple of minutes didn't go well until the teacher made the comment above. It got much easier for her, and within a couple of minutes she had a 'feel' for the action required, and she did fine. You'll do fine. Don't panic. Aim.)

In case the car guys out there in JUBland care, our Driver's Ed car was an AMC Eagle!
It looked like this: