STEERING DRAG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 June 1938, Page 9

STEERING DRAG

DUE TO VARIETY OF CAUSES. Do not jump to the conclusion that there is something inherently wrong with the steering of a car if it “drags” to one side or the other. Steering drag is a shortcoming that arises from any one or more of a variety of causes over which neither the designer nor the manufacturer of the car has any control. But it is a defect that should not be overlooked by the car owner; as soon as possible the cause or causes should be eradicated, either by himself or at a service depot. When there is steering drag that necessitates the driver, even on a road without any camber whatever, continuously holding the steering wheel to prevent the car from straying to right or left, the probability is that at some time or other one of the front wheels has been “barged” into a kerb more or less diagonally, and that the blow has either bent some part of the steering or knocked that side of the axle back on its spring. A brick on the road, run over at a fair speed has been shown to have a similar effect, while “bumping up” a kerb to get into a garage day after day is simply asking for trouble in this way, and if the fault be neglected excessive front tyre wear will soon take place, to say nothing of steering precision being lost. Another cause of steering drag—the most frequent cause of mild attacks that come and go —is lack of uniformity in tyre pressures. One tyre, front or rear, may lose air quicker than the other three, in which case the steering will drag towards that side with increasing intensity, until the tyres are given their periodical inflation to restore their pressures to normal. The same sequence may recur again and again unless the defective tyre be attended to. Even uniformly under-inflated tyres will cause steering drag in some circumstances; while those on one side run in a tram track, for example. Drag will also occur irregularly if the front wheels have become out of alignment for any reason; if one front wheel then runs over a "greasy" patch of road and the other over a dry surface, the latter wheel will tend to “take charge,” which may mean that the car does not follow the line the driver intended to take, but swerves away from it. Don’t put up with steering drag; it is not only annoying and tiring, but dangerous in some circumstances.