[-Eidos]

Recently came across this post and the conversion kit to convert the electronic steering rack to a E9X hydraulic steering rack caught my eye:




Knowing that hydraulic steering is a huge boon that is lost when moving from older BMW's to newer ones, this is the first product that I've seen that attempts to bridge this gap (For those that prefer hydraulic steering).


Curious what everyone's thoughts here are.

[CalAcacian]

I mean, this is from Wisefab. It's an angle kit as well as a electric to hydraulic conversion. I imagine you would not want to use this kit for street driving or track driving. Despite the adjustability, it's designed with drifting in mind. The suspension changes it is going to cause are not oriented for regular driving.

For one, you'll be looking at massive front camber. Our cars operate well between roughly 1.7-3ish degrees of front negative camber depending on the rest of the setup (with anything above 2.5 or so being very track oriented). Wisefab kits generally (I have no experience with this specific one) are designed for 4-7 degrees of front camber. This is very beneficial when drifting, but is terrible for grip and street driving and will have you wearing out front tires at an insane pace.

Caster is also likely heavily increased by the Wisefab kit, because of the beneficial effect of self-centering steering when drifting. It lets the car do some of the work for you, but isn't necessarily ideal for street and grip.

Basically, this is a terrible idea if you are just looking to get better steering feel. Wisefab is an awesome company, but they make highly specialized parts that are not intended for most street or grip driving applications.

That being said, if you're going for a drift car, I think it would be awesome. Lone Star Drift recently featured an F30 that came out, and it looked amazing drifting.

[-Eidos]

Originally Posted by CalAcacian

I mean, this is from Wisefab. It's an angle kit as well as a electric to hydraulic conversion. I imagine you would not want to use this kit for street driving or track driving. Despite the adjustability, it's designed with drifting in mind. The suspension changes it is going to cause are not oriented for regular driving.

For one, you'll be looking at massive front camber. Our cars operate well between roughly 1.7-3ish degrees of front negative camber depending on the rest of the setup (with anything above 2.5 or so being very track oriented). Wisefab kits generally (I have no experience with this specific one) are designed for 4-7 degrees of front camber. This is very beneficial when drifting, but is terrible for grip and street driving and will have you wearing out front tires at an insane pace.

Caster is also likely heavily increased by the Wisefab kit, because of the beneficial effect of self-centering steering when drifting. It lets the car do some of the work for you, but isn't necessarily ideal for street and grip.

Basically, this is a terrible idea if you are just looking to get better steering feel. Wisefab is an awesome company, but they make highly specialized parts that are not intended for most street or grip driving applications.

That being said, if you're going for a drift car, I think it would be awesome. Lone Star Drift recently featured an F30 that came out, and it looked amazing drifting.

Maybe one day there will be a solution. I enjoy seeing development on our platform.

[F87source]

Yup drift orientated which is why they tout at 65 degree steering angle.

This kit if retrofitted will probably cause alot of errors and will require a crap ton of coding to rectify. Also you will now have to worry about over heating power steering fluid and pulleys (if the kit requires) for power steering pumps so more parasitic loss.

IMO electric power steering is such a fantastic way forward from hydraulic, less things to worry about like over heating components (my sti rack required cooling or it would bust seals), less parastic loss and more efficiency.

[PackPride85]

Lol seems like a giant headache and costly just for moderately better steering feel on the street/track.