Car 'expert'?

[DC]

Does anyone know if I can change the steering wheel of the car to make it more stiff?

I'm used to driving a stiff steering wheel car - mechanics said it is sporty steering wheel which feels 'stiff'

And I'm buying a car for college from someone I know but the steering wheel feels so light(?) and turns so easily without any effort.

Is there anyway I can make it stiffer or is it possible to change out the steering wheel?

The car is 2011 camry

[SenKa]

18 hours ago, DC said:

Does anyone know if I can change the steering wheel of the car to make it more stiff?

I'm used to driving a stiff steering wheel car - mechanics said it is sporty steering wheel which feels 'stiff'

And I'm buying a car for college from someone I know but the steering wheel feels so light(?) and turns so easily without any effort.

Is there anyway I can make it stiffer or is it possible to change out the steering wheel?

The car is 2011 camry

To answer your question, that would be solved with a performance steering box. The camry is made to be semi-luxurious and thus has a very involved steering assist, which a performance orientated steering box would solve.

[Canada EH]

19 hours ago, DC said:

Does anyone know if I can change the steering wheel of the car to make it more stiff?

I'm used to driving a stiff steering wheel car - mechanics said it is sporty steering wheel which feels 'stiff'

And I'm buying a car for college from someone I know but the steering wheel feels so light(?) and turns so easily without any effort.

Is there anyway I can make it stiffer or is it possible to change out the steering wheel?

The car is 2011 camry

You talking about the wheel itself or the steering.

You can change the wheel itself to anything you want. Just rent or buy a steering wheel puller and your good to go. People do it all the time. However if you want tighter steering then you'd have to get a mechanic to help you out there, because it involves mechanical abilities.

[Radium_Angel]

22 hours ago, DC said:

The car is 2011 camry

That car has power steering. Hence the lightness of the wheel.

Disable that, and go back to manual steering, and you'll develop plenty of muscles

 

[Canada EH]

30 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

That car has power steering. Hence the lightness of the wheel.

Disable that, and go back to manual steering, and you'll develop plenty of muscles

 

That is what my wife says

[Monkey Dust]

2011 it probably has electric power steering (rather than an older hydraulic setup) and the weighting of the steering will be controlled by and ECU, and therefore it can be changed. Though you'd have to find someone who had bothered to crack the Camry's power steering ECU...

 

It should be noted steering weight and feel and not the same thing. Feel is what you want, it lets you know what the front wheels are up to. Weight is just that, it feeds you no extra information than light steering. And from a sporty perspective modern Ferraris have light steering, so weight isn't necessarily un-sporty.  

[chnapo]

You could actually use steeper gears for steering, they are available for certain cars. Let's say that in order to fully rotate your wheels, you have to do 3 rotations of steering wheel. With steeper gears, it will be for example one and a half. That will effectively make it 2 times harder to rotate your steering wheel AND it will give you much sportier feeling. It is used on racing cars. It will put more load on your power steering though so it may or may not decrease its mileage, it is difficult to say whether it will or not.

[johnny5c]

A 2011 has a hydraulic rack and pinion that doesn't have any adjustments for flow.  On older models people would swap out the stock rack for one from a Lexus ES or LS that had less turns lock to lock but haven't seen anyone try it with a newer one.  If your car has high miles on it I would definitely check the tie rods, ball joints, and hubs for wear to eliminate any steering slop.