I've got a 2012 Brembo GT and have NEVER experienced this. I move between the various steering modes all the time, and as someone said, my '12 has a HUGE difference in steering feel when in Sport Mode or with AdvanceTrac off.
I would assume the issue described is a bug in the 2011 EPAS software. And I would also assume that Ford had identified and resolved the issue for '12 cars and possibly even some of the later '11s.
I'm just surprised to hear that Terry and Amy Fair own Vorshlag. Does anyone here know them personally? If so, tell them an old member of TAMSCC says what up. I think they'll recognize this car.
Danny
Danny! Hey man, yea... Vorshlag is me and Amy, since 2002, located right here in Plano, TX. You gotta come stop by the shop some time. (
Address) Is that the old SVO-swapped Fox Mustang we sold you way back when??? Looking good!
There are several issues with the 2011-2013 electronic steering racks. It is the Achilles heel of these cars, in my humble opinion, especially once you have touched the suspension and/or put race tires on them. We have seen "AdvanceTrac Fault" issues in the past 6 months also, which seem to be tied hand-in-hand with the EPAS shudder issues. Like Sam Strano before us, I too am getting sick and tired of the electronic gremlins on our 2011.
I have spoken to several Ford engineers about it, sent them videos, to no avail. I don't know anyone high up at Ford, unfortunately, so we've been trying to figure it out on our own + with the help of some GRAND AM teams running 2011+ cars. Talked at length with the guy at Ford Racing that reprograms the M-3200-EPAS racks and he's pretty sure that will fix all of our problems.
So far the Ford dealers we've talked to / taken the car to are doing nothing, but from the calls/PMs/e-mails I've received from other owners seeing the same thing, I'd say its becoming a chronic problem on a significant number of cars. Just my observation - that's nothing even remotely official. We tried to use a that 2010 GT500 TSB notice (earlier in this thread) to get new EPAS firmware flashed to our steering rack but the Ford dealer we used borked it all up and it only made matters worse (see pic above). They re-flashed it back to stock and its been the same old problem for a while.
You can watch this video below (better than my first video) and see the shudder I'm talking about...
Demonstration of the steering shudder in our car just driving down the road
That was 6000 miles ago. Its just as bad now as it was then, just now my patience has worn thin. You can also see it at the end of the in-car video from a track event 3 days ago, below. It does it all the time and has for about a year now, and we've kind of gotten used to it in autocrosses and on the street, but its REALLY bad on R compound tires and worse at track events.
In the video below, after 3 hot laps on track the steering rack went into a
violent shudder, put the engine into some limp home mode, and I had to shut the car off and restart it just to get it to run right. After it gets like this we have to just come in the pits, let the engine cool off and reset everything. Its ridiculous.
In-car video of Terry in the Mustang at ECR June 23, 2012, for three hot laps, 2nd session of the day. Best lap of 1:58.2. Click for 720P video
I talk to the guys at Ford and they say "its not supposed to do that with the AdvanceTrac turned off!", but.... of course, it does. It will do the shudder no matter
which setting we have the traction control system in, any tire, any condition, as long as its above 45 mph. Of course, we
always race the car with
all of the sport mode/traction control system nonsense TURNED OFF. Every other mode has the electronic nannies applying brakes or cutting power, slowing you down, and should never EVER be used in any sort of competition setting. Yes, even in the wet. Unless you are a total NOOB that has zero car control. In that case, leave all that BS on!
I can't even stand driving on the street with the traction control in any sort of "on" mode.
I've been told by the folks at Ford Racing that the only real fix is to get the M-3200-EPAS steering rack, to the tune of $1200 (have found it for as low as $999). This is an otherwise stock 2011+ steering rack reflashed to turn all of the "auto nibble" and other electronic BS off. All of the OEM units are based off the same basic steering rack, just with tiny little tweaks to the programming. The M-3200 has all of that removed. It just becomes a power steering rack after that, not a "smart steering rack". This is what is used on all of the 2011+ World Challenge and GRAND AM cars...
The M-3200 and the stock replacement 2011+ steering racks have both been on back-order for months. We've been trying to get a new rack since January. Supposedly they are finally getting the QC issues worked out at the Mexican plant that makes the racks, and they are coming off back-order status June 29th (in 2 days). I already have one on pre-order...
You can read more about our trials and tribulations with the dreaded electronic steering rack and AdvanceTrac faults in our
2 year build thread, located on 4 different forums. It is by no means the end-all-be-all build thread, just our observations from autocrossing and tracking our 2011 GT since August 2010 and testing various suspension parts, wheels/tires, and other bits on it.
edit: we finally got this M-3200-EPAS steering rack in August 2012 and it fixed ALL of our steering shudder issues!
Cheers,
