Power Steering Feels Stiff

[Fuilna]

Hi there, I have a month-old new 2010 sedan model. I accidentally tried to turn the wheel against a wall and that created some alignment problems and the power steering felt more easy than when I first bought the car.

Took the car to the dealership for an inspection, and they said there was no other damages than alignment, so they did an alignment, 2 days ago. It was driving fine afterwards, good tracking and normal steering feel.

Now, today when I drove the car home from work, I noticed that power steering was harder than usual. It wasn't so hard that I have to exert any significant force, but it was noticeably stiffer than 2 days ago.

My power steering warning light doesn't come on and I've checked the fluid container, if it was leaking, then it had many days to leak, but it is still WELL above the line.

If it had anything to do with the damages coming from that wall incident, then it had over 2 weeks to manifest and mind you I did a road trip during this time frame.

I did a little sound check too, I don't hear anything unusual.

Just a little baffled about this problem.

[Jeff-TheBiz]

Bring it back in to the dealer that did the alignment... just to be safe.

[Fuilna]

Bring it back in to the dealer that did the alignment... just to be safe.

Hey Jeff, thanks for the reply. Now I did drive it back to the dealer today and according to their explanation, nothing is wrong. I did a road test on the highway to see if I can accept this new stiffness, but the increased stiffness seems to reduce directional stability especially when perturbed by rough roads or grooves on the road surface.

Upon further examination of the tires, I noticed that the vertical deflection of the two front tires are significantly lower than the rear end tires, I measured the inflation pressure to be about 30 psi.

Do any one of you Mazda/Bridgestone experts have a plot of the cornering force or footprint area versus vertical deflection with psi/psi_rated as the parameter? I want to see if this can pin point the problem and the only thing i have to do is to go to a gas station and fill the tires with more air.

[sarujo]

My 2010 GX lists 35 PSI for front and back tire inflation as per the sticker on the door. I can only assume yours is the same. Put air in your tires as recommended and see if that makes any difference.

[mazda lover]

you missing any Viagra tablets that your power steering might have munched on...? leave any in the glove box gone missing?

[Fuilna]

I did pump in the air into the tire. See no difference, steering still stiff, the entire system just feels like it has a lot of friction. Probably friction in the pump. Going to take it in to the dealer again.

[passfinder]

Hello, I have 2010 Mazda 3i, sedan 2.0L and I have the same problem. Please let me know if you finally find out why he steering feels stiff.

[passfinder]

Hello everyone. I have 2010 Mazda 3i, sedan 2.0L and I have the Power Steering Feels Stiff . Please let me know if anybody know why this problem exist, what did you do if you had it and how did you fix it. Thank you.