I found this on a

GP3 Wheel alignment. Maybe?

 

These are short videos of the lazy "Retrun To Center" of the JCW steering wheel. The GP3 is in the first 2 videos. It's not super obvious at the slow speeds but you can see the GP3 has more spring in the return, the JCW seems lazy by comparison. A t 40mph it's more noticible but i wasnt able to document that today.

 

From your videos it seem both are a bit “num” right on center, but the JCW is noticeably less “excited” about returning to the center area than is the GP. With small movements of the steering wheel The GP still seems to reluctant to re-center. I know both my R56 and R50 would come back to center. Compared to the Gen1 and 2 cars I have, my JCW feels like it has some dampening that they don’t have and that is what is causing the steering to not return. I don’t know if this is really the case, but it is the way I would describe it.

From what I can tell the only alignment difference is the GP has -1.5 deg camber vs the -0.5 on the JCW. I know the wheel track is wider, wheel wide is wider and tires are wider, but don’t know if those difference would effect the steering. I have my summer tires on NM wheels with 15mm more offset (further outboard) and are 0.5” wider than the stock wheels and don’t notice any difference in the steering. So it would seem that is not the benefit the GP has.

I wonder if it is the added camber that promotes the stronger recent earring of the steering wheel?

 

Yes, they are both "numb" on center. The GP3 rack is either a bit quicker/rolls the body easier, it also returns more aggressively at sharper angles and at 40mph. Also note that the JCW has 215/40-18 45ET OZ wheels but it acts the same with the stock wheels/tires.
For comparison, I recently test drove a 2019 Shelby GT350 and a 2018 Alfa 4C. The 4C has unassisted steering. The rack is fast. It was nice to have a "natural" steering feel after so many years of boosted racks.
The Shelby returns to center like a wound-up rubber band airplane I used to play with in the 70's .

 

[QUOTE=MikeMJCW;4664452]These are short videos of the lazy "Retrun To Center" of the JCW steering wheel. The GP3 is in the first 2 videos. It's not super obvious at the slow speeds but you can see the GP3 has more spring in the return, the JCW seems lazy by comparison. A t 40mph it's more noticible but i wasnt able to document that today.

Looking at the video of the JCW it seems to be what I am experiencing though not that easy to tell for sure. Although yours appears to be slow to recentre, does it eventually return? I have to manually pull back to centre at those speeds, but wondering if road camber is causing it to pull to the side?

As you say, it feels as though there is some (unwanted) damping being applied to the steering when returning to centre. Not sure if it is just when approaching centre that it is doing it or throughout the whole unwind. It would be nice to know what is causing this and if it can be improved.

I can’t imagine that anyone who likes “drivers” cars or is an enthusiast would find this trait desirable (correct me if I am wrong!)

 

It sort of recenters but not fully and yes, I don't find it desirable at all. Dulls the driving experience. You can see from my earlier thread I brought it in twice for the EPS calibration. Tho I still like the car it would be nicer if the wheel had resistance/feedback.
I noticed you mentioned that you've been driving for 40 years, same here. I ranted about this before, every 80's car I drove seem to unspool/return aggressively whether hydraulic or manual racks.
Seems like you have to hunt to find cars with lively electric steering.

 

My 2 cents - Mine returns to within 95+% of the center. It doesn’t seem to want to stay on center without a little bit of correction, which my Gen 1 and 2 MINI don’t need. At first it bothered me, but now I don’t notice it as much. Not sure if it is just me getting used to it or it is physically “loosening” up or both.

I think it is not road camber as I can feel that at times.

I can fully appreciate your thought “I can’t imagine that anyone who likes “drivers” cars or is an enthusiast would find this trait desirable”. I would consider myself an enthusiast to the point of taking the JCW to the track for 6 or more days a year, as well as having some very fun twisty roads around here to drive “spiritedly” on. This is not what I would consider to be a desirable trait. I prefer the steering in my R56 for general feel and responsiveness, which is most noticeable on the road. However, I will say that out on the track this issue in the JCW isn’t noticeable. In fact, the “dampening” is a good thing as it cuts down on the twitchiness of the car at 120 mph. It is like the sport mode steering feel in the R56, but without the hair trigger throttle that sport mode adds in. Out on the track I am always “steering” the car; it is never left to “steer” itself. That is, I have 2 hands on the steering wheel for all steering inputs and even to return it to center is a steering input. I wouldn’t call it “pull it to center”, but it is a definite, conscious input. So any lack of self centering isn’t a factor or noticeable. One thing i really like about the car is the lack of vagueness with steering inputs. A twitch of the steering wheel produces a twitch in the car. All about the car so directly connected. So, this winds up being a bit of conundrum where this issue is something I “live with” on the road and don’t notice on the track, where the car, from the factory (with the MINI optioned suspension), is superb.

Hope this makes some amount of sense and helps to some extent.

And, just my 2 cents…

 

So it seems that all newer JCWs do have the same steering behaviour. I still find it strange that no reviews (professional or owners) mention the slow self centring (I have probably read them all!). I think if I had test driven before buying I probably wouldn’t have gone ahead as good steering response for me is high up on the priority list. It is so frustrating as everything else about the car is pretty much spot on.

I expect a lot of owners do not track them and would be driving them in cities or on winding roads so would want better manoeuvrability that quicker self centring would provide.

I suspect that little would be gained from doing a full alignment to the current JCW spec, an EPS reset or changing tyre pressures.

I had another play today and all though it does weight up a bit more steering into tighter corners, it feels almost as heavy when you want to bring it quickly back to centre - when you really want it to be noticeably lighter (feels like it doesn’t want to be hurried).

 

Personally, I would have the alignment checked/reset as necessary, if for nothing else, piece of mind. It has helped a little for others. I had mind done early on. Didn’t change anything but it made me feel better knowing that everything was in spec.

As for tire pressure, as I noted before, there is no reason to have it up in the 40+ psi range other than gas mileage. Pressure that high messes with handling and ride, and possibly accelerated tire wear. You will find 36 psi or so will be good for this car.

 

Oddly, I found that going to the "if you are going fast all the time (80MPH+ I think) use these pressures instead" pressures specified in the owner's manual improved my handling and ride alike. Tire size was 205/45R17 at the time I made that observation, full stock.

To be clear, I didn't expect that result. But it was what it was soooo... *squints at car, blames... coolant or something*

 

Has anyone with this issue managed to get it resolved?

I still haven’t managed to drive a similar car to compare yet and still not getting used to the steering behaviour. Drove for an hour and a half on mixed roads and can honestly say it is has the worst steering on any car I have driven. Just to summarise, when driving at moderate speeds on country roads slight adjustments to the steering doesn’t recentre and so are constantly adjusting. It is just so different to what my brain is used to and after a while became so stressful and infuriating that I couldn’t have driven much longer!