I know it's a subjective question. But I'm trying to figure out how heavy the steering should be. I've had my IS300 for nearly 2 years, but about a month ago I got a UCF21 LS and have been driving that. Obviously the LS steering is boosted much more than the IS, but the IS feels downright hard to steer. I'm not sure if it's something that's always been that way and it just seems harder now that I'm used to the LS or if something has gone awry in the month I've been away from it. My wife has been driving it and she complained it felt hard to steer, but she just came from a Camry...

So, any thoughts? When I drove it today it damn near felt unboosted. I know it's not completely unpowered, I've had the power steering go out on my Supra and driven vehicles without power steering. But I just can't recall if it should be that hard.

If something is wrong any thoughts on what it could be? PS pump going bad?

 

Have you checked to see if you have fluid?

 

Absolutely. Fluid is good and I haven't heard any dying pump, slipping belt, or seized pulley noises.

 

hmmm, then maybe its that your used to driving the LS.

How strong is your wife? hehe

 

When I go on vacation I notice that the steering feels a little heavy the first couple days back.

When I came back from Hawai'i & my car had sat for 16days the steering felt quite noticably heavy for a few days but I made sure to do some slaloming etc to try and loosen everything up. Everything turned out fine.

Try doing some handling & let us know

 

It's possible it just needs a workout. It sits quite a bit since my wife started driving it. We live over her photography studio, so unless she's going out on a shoot it sits for most of the week. I'll have to go take it for daily blasts down the backroads and see if it loosens up. Need to do it anyway. Tried taking my favorite route through the local park in the LS... might as well have been driving a barge. LS=Highway/comfy IS=Fun

 

The IS is not the easiest, but is well assisted. I did notice my first MSM '01 was easier to steer than my CW '02, but nothing major.... just a difference in how easy it is to spin the wheel around with one thumb.