Turnabout with no power steering

johnrd

My car is quite old and has no power steering , do the instructors take this into account when you are doing the turnabout as the steering is quite heavy and it would be hard to do it in 3 moves!

BDW

I was told that it doesn't have to be three turns as in some places it'll be impossible to do even with a car with power steering.

should be no problem.

what car do you have we have a 1990 bluebird (1987 model) and a 96 suzuki vitara both with power steering, I know the first ka's had no power steering possibly a few others

just for a matter of interest

chris85

It is as many turns as you want. Its not a three point turn, its a turnabout. Just dont hit that kerb at all. not even a little touch

Will be a bit of extra effort with no power steering but no problems.

Zapp Brannigan

The turnabout has to be a minimum of 3 turns, don't think there's a maximum limit to how many turns you can make.

johnrd

BDW wrote: »

what car do you have we have a 1990 bluebird (1987 model) and a 96 suzuki vitara both with power steering, I know the first ka's had no power steering possibly a few others

just for a matter of interest

its a 1992 peugeot 205 gti

Alanstrainor

johnrd wrote: »

its a 1992 peugeot 205 gti

sweet!, yeah and as i said in another thread today, and others above, it's called a turnabout not a three point turn so dont worry about it.

SeanW

It's called a "Turnabout" because you don't have to do it in 3 turns. The upper limit is somewhere in the teens.

If you do the turnabout properly, you will not need to turn the wheel when the car is stationary, that will make it less physical.

IIRC the way I was taught to do the turnabout was like this.

Check your left mirror, signal left, check mirror/blind spot and pull over whe you are told to do. Stop, pull the handbrake and go into Neutral.
When instructed to turn the car around, check right mirror, signal right, check mirror/blind spot and pull out, slowly, while locking the steering wheel to the right.
Just before you intend to stop, slow down and begin turning the wheel left, preferably having it locked left by the time you stop. Stop, handbrake and reverse, check all around, and with the wheel locked hard to the left, begin moving backwards. Again, just before you need to stop, lock the steering wheel to the right. If you are not in a position to move off, repeat the aforementioned procedure, otherwise drive on if told to do so.

By only turning the steering wheel while moving, you will save yourself a lot of physical effort, save a lot of wear on the car and tyres, plus the tester might think better of your driving in general.

Alanstrainor

SeanW wrote: »

The upper limit is somewhere in the teens.

There is no fixed "upper limit" it's dependant on a number of things eg, road width, car length, and the turning circle of the car. It's down to the tester to decide whether the number of turns was excessive or not, but if the manoeuvre is carried out competently and without an excessive number of turns then all's dandy. I doubt they'd be nasty about it but i can't see someone taking 11 turns not being marked down for it, unless of course they're driving this:


Oh and i totally agree about only turning the wheel while the car is moving, it should help the OP loads.

bigpinkelephant

just remember not to cross your arms while doing it :pac:

michelleans

bigpinkelephant wrote: »

just remember not to cross your arms while doing it :pac:

but it's so tempting

I've got no power steering too, but wouldn't even notice it when turning, reversing etc...

Do you get marked down for not locking the wheel before coming to a halt in the turnabout in the test? My dad always insisted that I turn the wheels the way I'd want to go starting off again while coming to a halt, so I assumed it was important.

dh0661

johnrd wrote: »

My car is quite old and has no power steering , do the instructors take this into account when you are doing the turnabout as the steering is quite heavy and it would be hard to do it in 3 moves!

I'm a little confused here, are you worried about driving instructor or driving licence test. If the latter is causing you some anxiety, would you consider borrowing a car with power steering for your test?.
If you are worried about instructor, well don't worry, instructors are exactly that, they will instruct you on where you are going wrong and what you can do to improve your driving abilities.

Zapp Brannigan

Also you will get faults if you steer the wheel while the car is stationary. Only begin steering once the car is moving.

Wishbone Ash

johnrd wrote: »

do the instructors take this into account when you are doing the turnabout

Whether the car has power steering or not is irrelevant for the turnabout.

Thousands of us did the test without power assisted steering!

J_R

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Also you will get faults if you steer the wheel while the car is stationary. Only begin steering once the car is moving.

Not always, Should be avoided, but:-

A fault should not generally be recorded where an applicant turns the steering wheel while the vehicle is stationary (i.e. 'dead' steering).

From Notes on the Driving Fault Marking Guidelines - Turnabout

Also there is no upper limit.

Know of a a very petite girl who did the test in a car with no power steering. Tester brought her into the narrowest lane in town for the turnabout.

She lost count of the number of times she went over and back. She was going to stop and reverse back again but tester said "Oh Go on, Go on, you'll make it this time". She did and passed.

Wishbone Ash

Another thing to bear in mind is that some cars have a much shorter turning circle than others. My large rear wheel drive has a very sharp 'cut' which makes u-turns very easy compared to most smaller front wheel drive cars.

I was driving a Citroen Dispatch van recently and the turning circle was awful. I initially thought there was something wrong with the steering but the owner said that was the way they are. I had to do a turnabout on a narrow Dublin street and I think it took about 9 manoeuvres. :eek:

J_R wrote:

She was going to stop and reverse back again but tester said "Oh Go on, Go on, you'll make it this time". She did and passed.

LOL