Steering feels very heavy

[raguvun]

I have a 'J' reg Fiesta, which i bough recently and has got wide tyres fitted to it. Great to look at but the steering is very heavy when manouvering the car especially going round corners etc at a slow speed. I now wish to teach the wife to drive the car but this is causing a problem. Do you think if I changed the tyres to standard width, this will get rid of the heavyness on the steering. Or is this due to some other problem.

[NORMANTHEDOG]

the tyres will have a awful lot to do with it,espeacially with no power steering.

[woodchopper]

Narrower tyres will make the steering lighter - will also reduce the grip especially in the corners.
Make sure the wheel rims are the correct width for the the tyres you fit to them.

[chevrolet1.8]

i had a mk 2 cortina years ago and fitted wider wheels/ tyres and although it didn't have power steering, because of the fact the steering wheel was so large it didn't feel heavy. the only thing was it was fitted with a steering box and i went through 3 of them because something inside kept breaking.

[dilligaf]

Make sure you have sufficient air in the tyres. Under inflation could be part of the problem.

[xbrowniex]

I agree with dilligaf, everytime I inflate my tyres the steering lightens up, don't go over the limit for the car though!