S4 Drive Select - steering

[Fliptop]

Another query about my new B8...

I'm trying to understand how to set up the Drive Select to best suit me. most of it I get, but what I can't suss is the adaptive steering. In "Comfort" mode, it's ultra-light at parking speeds, but gets quite heavy at any speed. I tried it set to "Dynamic" the other day and at one point I turned into a left hand bend I usually quite enjoy, c. 50mph, and found myself running a bit wide wide on the exit as I physically couldn't turn the wheel to put enough lock on!

While my previous Saabs may not have been the last thing in handling (but not as bad as the press would have you believe!) they did offer decent steering so I'm used to steering with my wrists, not my biceps. It seems my scrawny arms aren't up to the job...

Is this on of those "they all do that, sir" moments, or do I need to get mine checked out?

Assuming this is all software controlled, if this is what they're like out of the box, can they be corrected in any way? Have to be honest, it's going to limit my enjoyment of the car if my cornering speed is restricted by my ability to hoy it into the bends.

I've never been a fan of heavy steering, you lose all the sensitivity to what's happening on the road and at the tyre contact

[S4WON]

I have full ADS, diff etc and tbh, leave it in auto most of time now!l

However my individual settings are as follows:

Engine: dynamic
Diff: dynamic
Suspension: comfort
Steering: auto

Play around with it.. Do you have the sports diff? If not that might be your issue with that favourite corner. What did u used to tackle it with?

[Fliptop]

Yes I have the sports diff but that's not going to affect the weight of the steering, is it?!?!

The corner in question has been tackled at silly speeds in a variety of Saabs and Mrs Fliptop's Civic Type R. 50 is quick but isn't an outrageous pace and there was no hint of losing grip, I just couldn't apply enough lock on the damn thing

Maybe I should take up weight training

My individual settings are currently similar to yours, except the steering is in comfort too. It's still pretty heavy at speed...

[jp-berwick]

I'd scan for a code tbh, assuming they are connected to diag (unlike my previous car lol), I've got the same setup basically and can fly through what you describe in advanced, have to what the back end lol.

Tracking ok?

[Fliptop]

Ooooold thread resurrection

I had already had the alignment checked to make sure and it was spot on at all 4 corners.

I sorted this by accident - when the front tyres were due for replacement I swapped the Conti Sport Contact 5s it came with for Good Year Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s (as they are my fave road tyre on the Saabs) and it was utterly transformed! Much less tramlining, steering far lighter and more positive, I really couldn't believe what a difference it made as I've used Contis before and found them to be OK. That's with the 19s on - 255/35/19, OE spec tyres.

It's currently on its winter 18s with my old 235/40/18 Conti WinterContact TS830s - a bit narrow for the S4 but they're what I had in the garage from the old Saab so I figured I'd use em up this winter. They also feel really good - so I am definitely of the view that it was the tyres that were the issue.

Next time it needs a pair on the back it's getting the F1s again... No more SC5s for me.

[TomRS]

Nice to see a fellow Saab'er had a 95 estate running around 380-390bhp before i moved to my RS6.... was a fun car B234 bottom end td04-20t w/forge comp wheel loads of other bits all poly bushed/coilovers etc.

Sadly the blew the headgasket about 5months after i sold it and its currently being stored in a shed and has been for nearly a year

[Fliptop]

Hey, Tom, you're not very far from me and I thought I had the fastest 9-5 in the North East....!

Let me know if you hear if the current owner decides to part with it, I might be interested in robbing any juicy bits that would help mine. Not put FB3 on the dyno since sorting a few intake & exhaust restrictions (and another map by the genius that is Mr Noobtune) but it's knocking on the door of 390/400 now, pulling 1600 mgs of air per cycle well over 5200 rpm...shove a gallon of thinners in the tank and the ignition advance will hopefully see it to the right side of 400

On the other hand, the bastard has had one thing break after another recently. "Bulletproof" Quaife Gearbox gave up the ghost after a day of hooning at Cadwell last July. Almost £2grand later it's only got 5 gear not the 6 it should have while I wait for Quaife to make another pair of 6th gears, but at least it's working...until I sorted out the boost control at which point the the rad grenaded itself, and the day I mended that the PAS lines threw in the towel and shat CHF all over my drive.

Touch wood, it's not all mended again and ready for a day at Donington this Saturday. Cross fingers, touch wood, etc etc...

[MikeFish]

Yes contis are <beep>.