Tuscan turning circle

[shamus1972]

Hi - The turning circle of my Tuscan is absolutely enormous! Parking manoeuvres in car parks generally consist of at least 3 points, sometimes more, whereas with other cars I've owned (non-TVR's) the same manouevre can be performed effortlessly! My guess is that my car is normal and it's just one of the quirks of owning a TVR, but I would just like comfirmation that there's nothing wrong with my car. If it is normal, does this present a problem when trying to "catch the tail" when oversteer becomes to much, and are all TVR's like this or is it peculiar to the Tuscan?

Thanks

Shamus

[apeebles]

Yep! Turning circle is very poor but handling is great on the move.....

[whitey]

thats because your steering has 1.7 turns lock to lock, which is very fast steering !! So much easier to correct oversteer as you do not need to turn the steering wheel very far.

Embarrassing 3 point turns in car parks can be avoided by simply turning the steering wheel to full lock dumping the clutch and giving it a large amount of throttle which will enable you to turn around quite quickly......

[vindaloo]

Yep they turn like the QE2!

[tuscan't]

The poor turning circle is a lot to do with the immense size of the wheels (esp the 18 inchers). They physically cannot turn any further within the space inside the wheel arch.

When I bought my Tuscan second hand it had 16s on it and I cut a deal with Mole Valley to change them to the 18s. They warned me at the time that the turning circle would be affected.

Tight multi-story car-parks - mmmm nice!

[squirrelz]

Surely the turning circle is affected by the width of the tyres/wheels not the diameter of the wheels?

Mind you, I suppose the 18"ers are probably wider than the 16s.

[tuscan't]

Yep the 18s are wider, that's what I meant.

Although the diameter could also have an impact with the wheels sitting higher in the wheel arch.

[MikeE]

I think it's entirely down to the 18" being wider as I suspect the radius (of the tyre) is the same as the 16".

[shamus1972]

quote:thats because your steering has 1.7 turns lock to lock, which is very fast steering !! So much easier to correct oversteer as you do not need to turn the steering wheel very far.

Would it also be fair to say that if the back of the car starts to slide, it doesn't have to slide very far before no amount of opposite lock will catch it again?

[mcspreader]

I've got 16" wheels. The turning circle is huge still but at least its not so bad when u clip a kerb.

It normally takes a 9 point turn to get out of my garage. EEK!

[hobbit]

My turning circle is not great but I find I can back in and out of parking spaces no problem. Always easier to reverse in of course.

As for 18" wheels - they look great but stay well away from kerbs as the slightest contact causes massive damage. I hit one kerb at slow speed being impatient and trying to squeeze through a small gap and was horrified to see the results.