I'm tired of bruising my thighs when I get in my car-will a smaller steering wheel be harder or easier to steer a 1962 Impala w/o power steering?
As the size of the wheel gets smaller, the leverage factor decreases. So, it would make the car harder to steer. Stu
A bigger wheel gives you more leverage, so a smaller wheel will make it harder to steer. That's why the cars from the 40's-50's have those giant wheels! If you don't have a stock wheel you might need one that size on there. If you do, do you have wide front tires? That will make it tougher too. Or, spend some more time at the gym!
It'll be hard to turn going under 5 MPH, but once you get moving it's not so bad. I took the big wheel out of my 50 and threw an octagon wheel on it, so instead of my legs getting it my hands get beat to hell!
I put a 13" wheel in my truck. Took it out after trying to park the damn thing, nd put a '54 Cheby wheel in it for the leverage. I use the marks on my Tshirt from the rim of the wheel to tell me I'm getting too fat, again.
I had a aftermarket 14" wheel in one of my cars and replaced it with a factory 16" wheel. I really like the feel of the 16" wheel and its fine with manual steering to me. How big is your stock steering wheel? It's huge right, like 18" or something?
yeah, it's big. I was even thinking of cutting off the bottom half, anything to give my manhood some room to breathe
DON't do that! The space will give you a false sense of security until you make a turn, maybe while looking out the back window, and that cut end hits you in the cojones....
Yeah, and if its small enough, you can still drive it with handcuffs on! Its an old joke, but it cracks me up
Hey, I only posted that because Jeepers made such a big deal about NOT being a "Lowrider" a while back... I just had to!!!
With a small wheel at high speed you have more tendency to oversteer. The smaller wheel is harder to park with, non of this really becomes an issue until you start getting down towards those 10 and 12 inch wheels. Stay around 13 or 14 inches you should be all right.
I went to manual steering awhile back on my 57- (The power steering kept braking so I just made it official) And I noticed a difference in feel between tires, if you don't mind just cruising you should throw some skinny bias-plies on it. But be prepared not to fall asleep if you run bias, They tend to "follow the road", And the road doesn't always know where it goes
i had a steering wheel out of a cavalier in my 61 wagon for awhile. ive put the stock one back in though. it was a little harder to turn the wheel when it was going slow or parking, but really not that big of a deal.
We have a small chain in the '53 and I hate it. It feels like it takes a ton of effort just to make a right or left turn, and dont even get me started on u-turns. It almost feels like driving a clown car. I am used to my big Galaxie wheel...and the chain even feels small compared to my Camry wheel. Jonah switched the wheels out in the '53 because there wasnt enough room and he had to drive an auto trans with two feet otherwise. But I still hate it...just my two cents.
Like Everyone else has said, Small Steering wheels need a lot more leverage to get the turn Done. The Original Steering Wheel is in the back seat of my Biscayne, and the Previous owner put a tiny aftermarket wheel on it. It isn't much bigger than the steering wheel was on my old Carter Go-Kart. It's a pain to steer. I have to turn the wheel all the way around a couple times to do a right, then all the way to the left to not go off the road. Why not get one only an inch or so smaller than the stock one? There probably wouldn't be that much difference, as opposed to 4 inches smaller.
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