Does a Miata need power steering?

Challenge car. Will likely never see parking lot use in current configuration. Runner is at most 225 width. Does it need power steering?

No, you do not need power steering.

My $2015 Miata didn't have power steering. I ran SM7s and while parking lot speeds were difficult, one on course it was fine.

Naw. A Miata is light enough with small enough tires that you really don't need power steering in any situation.

I'm running a depowered rack on my v8 miata and it is perfectly fine above 5mph

Nope. Cut the belt off the pump on mine when it started leaking. Run 245s and daily drive. Its fine.

Awesome! Thanks!

I've run it both ways and love my power steering - just makes life easier.

But it was fine without - especially if it's a dedicated racecar.

My old 91 didn't even come with power steering! My wife complained, I didn't care.

I prefer it myself. Only one Miata in the FM fleet has manual steering, and it's going back to power soon. There's no benefit to working harder.

But Challenge cars aren't normal cars.

The manual rack on the NA cars is not great and has a slow ratio. Cutting the belt means you're still moving fluid around so it's the worst case scenario. Removing the belt and looping the lines is the easiest decent way to depower, better is to remove the piston in the rack.

Looping lines is in the plan. Thanks!

I'm a fan of keeping power steering in most cases. With wide, sticky tires and a fast ratio rack, it makes a car a heck of a lot easier to drive. In some cases, not having PS limits the car because you either run a slow rack or you run a fast rack, but the effort is so high that you can't turn the wheel fast enough at times.

That last situation is a serious issue with my Jeep. Even at higher speeds, the steering is so heavy you can't safely drive the thing without PS (max rate of turning is VERY slow and doesn't really improve with speed due to lots of caster). It's to the point of me considering a loss of power steering in that thing to be one of the few failures that warrants an immediate AAA call.

Miatas don't "need" power steering in something like STS/STR trim. Once the tires and wheels are up to CSP/SSM levels however you're better off keeping the assist.

The (rare) manual NB rack is better than the NA, but it's still slow.

I like power steering for all the same reasons above -- faster to catch the car when power-on oversteer rears its head (and with 300+ rwhp that happens a lot more frequently than in most Miatas), and it's less fatiguing on extended driving stints on track.

That said, I lost the PS at Laguna Seca a couple weeks ago and managed to blow the contents of the reservoir all over the hot side of the engine, turbo, etc. Coming through turn 4 I had a bunch of smoke in the cabin, which was a little scary. Just smoke though, no flames, and it was towed back to the paddock and I winched it into the trailer. It turns out the bracket supporting the pressure hose had failed, and the hard line at the end of that hose had cracked where it connects to the banjo fitting on the pump. So it does represent more complexity and more stuff to break. Looks like this kind of failure isn't all that unusual on CSP cars.

No. I learned to drive with a 1967 Ford F-100 that my dad put 10-15 tires on and it didn't have power steering. 10-15 are 10" wide on 15" wheels. 9" wide wheels if I remember correctly. This is also the vehicle I learned to drift on dirt roads like a real redneck. My family had a tire and mechanic business. I also drove trucks and school buses that had no power steering.

itsarebuild wrote: Challenge car. Will likely never see parking lot use in current configuration.

Isn't half of the challenge driving around a parking lot?

I sold my recent '93 almost because it didn't have power steering. With 15x9s and sticky tires, you almost couldn't turn the wheel at slow speeds. It's also a very slow rack as stated above. In a Miata, the power steering definitely adds to the driving experience, unlike a lot of other cars. I wouldn't ever want another one without it.

Only Miata i've owned had no power steering and it didn't bother me in the slightest. I actually think it fit the character of the car (mine was partially stripped already). 205 wide Sport Comp 2's, so nothing super wide or sticky, but it wasnt objectionable at all.

In reply to tomtomgt356:

Love it!

No way.

And having it or not having it makes a huge difference in feel and ability to sense road conditions. Everyone today says their PS is just dandy because all they notice when they get into a car without it is the higher steering effort, but rarely throw the car around to see what a disadvantage PS can be.

I have PS in the Solstice and it is a good one with feel, but every time I got back into the fiero it was a great relief to drive manual.

Hell, my 3200 lb. big block Chrysler powered Jensen CV-8 used a manual MG Magnette rack without assist and was quite manageable and only a pain when parking.

Guess I'd better start driving my cars hard then As Dave Coleman says, don't mistake effort for feel.

My 1967 Land Rover doesn't have PS and obviously it's survivable. However, I would not be happy if my sports car had equivalent steering. My CRX and Mini both have manual racks and neither one would suffer if they were boosted. My 1966 Cadillac with the 427 has power steering, and the car would definitely not be better without it.

PS vs manual discussions always seem to be the opportunity to show off what a purist you are, but in reality a good PS rack is just fine and the driver doesn't have to work hard. The manual rack in the Miata was developed in 6 weeks because those purists complained that a true sports car HAS to have manual steering, and it's not as good as the PS rack. But hey, it's what the purists demanded!

The Miata manual is somewhat devoid of feel anyway. As a manual rack it's not the best. It's one of the few cars I think the power rack is an improvement. I'd throw the 2nd gen MR2 in this category as well.