Metallic or grainy type noise inside wheel when turning after long use

So after over a month or so of driving the SC2 for a few hours here or there, I finally developed my first unwanted sound(s) which I know I have read here before but couldn’t seem to find it again(sorry) as to what the fix was, perhaps lubricant?

issue: Put the SC2 through about 8-9 hours of straight use(small track or vehicle changes) and I would say on about hour 7 or so, I started to feel and hear a grainy like sound while turning. It is almost a sharp like popping sound. Ran a few laps Sunday, noise and feel were not as evident but still there. Last night, decided to enter a race, also the noise and feeling of the grainy/snappy sensation also is there.

Is this something I can fix at home? Thanks in advance.

Is this something that always starts after a certain amount of driving? Do you have Sport, Pro or Ultimate?

Sorry, SC2 PRO. It has been pretty seamless as for operational noises throughout, even with 2-3 hours of driving. However this noise started after around 7 or more hours of driving in a spec miata at Charlottes ROVAL. The sounds NOW, even after a few moments of driving, are there(a day later). Almost feels like sand is inside the gear shaft(20 years of automotive technician experience) as it rotates. I haven’t attempted to diagnose myself or attempt to take anything apart.

Thanks for quick response!

YES, it happened after several hours of driving. Now, it is there always.

SC2PRO

What sort of setup you have? Can you share a picture of it?

Sure, I can share pics of setups, software and hardware. If you guys really want, I can put a video up on my youtube page of the cheerful noise…if that’s what it is going to take to get some actual feedback here. Kind of thought there would be a bunch more info in here by the time I made it back considering the response I see in other threads.

This setup was configured with the help of a (winning)team sponsored friend, who uses a sc1 and hours upon hours of driving over said weekend(not just my personal opinion). We feel this, was about as optimal as you’d want to be, given small changes here of there depending on vehicle chassis on the wheel setup. I have years of technical background in the automotive industry, and I don’t need any of that to tell you that this sounds/feels like a sandy/failed/dry bearing/shaft.

Why the setup is what I choose personally?

As for the feel of the wheel to me, the smallest size front wheel I run on my actual personal track car is a 295mm 18" wheel with a V8 sitting on top of them. It has power steering but truthfully it’s a mans car on a track day lol. Point is, the feel feels F#$@&^G amazing to me with my configurations. I can run hours of laps, and skip the gym for a minute. If you have not driven a 3000lb car with that size tire, and a (underdriven)belt driven assisted rack, then you just wouldn’t understand, the struggle is real. :wink:

Lets try out my fliker skills real quick…

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Well, with those settings, each and every direct-drive wheel will have graininess. It is just how it is.

Change Reconstruction to 5 or 6, Damping to 25, Friction to 15, Inertia to 25. Test again and let me know if it feels better. If this feels a bit heavy, you can turn Static Force Reduction to 5-10%, but the fact you’re running it at 70%, but iRacing slider at 25nm, shows you have a long way to go.

You can change back afterwards.

I would guess to say absolutely nothing wrong with the servo at all, but your settings. Filters are there for a reason, use them. You can not compare to SC1 directly, and the fact that your friend is on a winning team, doesn’t really matter, as the settings are simply terrible for settling down iRacing 60hz ffb.

Edit: Also, if you’re driving in iRacing, with the top slider at 25nm, you will be clipping on mist cars/tracks like crazy. Set that up to 40 or so. Reduce Static Force Reduction to compensate. Also, tick the linear checkbox.

Cheers,
Beano

First off, thank you. I appreciate the feedback, and I can humbly say, it feels better, smoother than before, and my lap time just decreased with that setting change. It feels more like how when I first received it honestly but, then readying various forum responses, and their own setups, mine changed quite a bit from what I read here and there. Buddy came over, made a sh1t ton of changes, I admit it did feel good but…sound came after a few hours. So, humbly, thank you, it does feel better.

I admit…I didn’t pay attention and read the last bit you stated about iracing setup…and jumped in the C7DPI, and had a laugh…and possibly broken arms, ya bastard(kidding-) Quickly reduced the powa… and I was able to get smoother feeling laps with your suggestion.

Time will tell on the sound. We’ll see if it comes back under extended use. Going to run some more laps, and see how it feels.

Thanks for the reply, and forwarding my progression to taking over the E world. :wink:

Cheers,
Smoove

…Side note: Maybe I did something wrong but…

Just tried that setup on an INDY car at VIR. Tank slapper right out of the pits. Uncontrollable like I just broke both tie-rod ends and wheel bearings. Think i’ll call it a night.

Ha, you’re welcome!

For the Indycar, change the pinion from 8-tooth to 6-tooth…that will help a lot. Plus, you may need to set Damping 60-70%, Friction 30% and Inertia at 40% at those power-levels…turn Static Force Reduction to perhaps 15-25%…

Might be good then :wink:

How are things with your wheel now?

Thanks for the Indy settings, I have not tired them yet. I did try and get back into the spec miata, which is what I spent the majority of that original weekend(the weekend where I heard the sound). I did run quite a few laps and truthfully, with the new changes, my feel was quite a bit off. In my original setup I will admit, my steering wheel feedback was pretty awesome. I had zero complaints. All that I would really have to do to change from car to car, was the torque setting in iracing. Usually doing just that, I would be solid. Except for that sound and feeling showed up.

Now with these new changes you gave me, I find I am fighting sensitivity settings that are much greater than my original “noisy” setup. In my “noisy” setup, all that I had to do really was go into my iracing settings, and change one or two things and I would have the feel I wanted. Now, with the new settings in the wheel software, my iracing on the fly settings are now, less than a desirable for a quick fix. For example. I did all of your original changes, then once in the iracing software, I attempted to modify the feedback more or less Unfortunately it had a lot of slop in it, like a lot. Like a vehicle with a bad tie rod and the steering of the vehicle, was delayed, etc. I had a race winning configuration, originally.

I honestly do not like having to go back and forth now in the software, to try and get this settings find tuned each and every time. Honestly I gave up after a while, making the wheel nowhere near fun to work with. I would rather go back to my other settings to be honest.

In that regard, I would like to go back to the original noise concern, and to what the thoughts of it are/were other than …

“Well, with those settings, each and every direct-drive wheel will have graininess. It is just how it is”

Because I have driven other direct drives, and never experienced this. If you could explain to us, why this is happening and how to get around having drastic changes per car. Am I/ we expected to go into the software and change it for each vehicle? Every time? I know I have to go in and load the software each time and enable high torque mode, which is kind of a drag, especially since I have to hit “save settings” icon multiple times for it to save which will not populate until I make some sort of change . I have to make some sort of a change for it to allow me to “save…”

You can probably see I am a little frustrated. Just trying to get my feeling back, you’re telling me that those settings are the cause of these sounds and feels, can you explain to me what the sound is and why is it making them? I have more resistance now with your settings, you would think MY settings would be easier on it based on the lighter feel. Can you shed some light, and if you are going to offer settings for one, or two cars, I would imagine we would need a variety of more settings advertised, per car.

…But I just want to fix my sound.

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On your original profile, try Simucube Reconstruction Filter at 3 max - This will reduce resonances
Now you need to dial in back your sensations tuning Ultra low Latency Mode - raise that percentage one by one.

Those settings for the GT3/GTE cars I have shared earlier, was commented on by a real-life Porsche driver in our one Whatsapp group. He said it was quite cloe to reality and he rather enjoyed those settings.

Challenge I see all the time is that people are running rather unrealistic settings on their wheels, then complain about certain things. DD wheels are wonderful, but they also highlight the deficiencies from qute many simulators we have today, as well as Direct Input interface.

Hopefully things will improve going forward.

After enabling high torque mode it is not necessary to hit the “save” button.

Can you feel the graininess when the device is not powered? If so, can you make a video with sound of it?

Sometimes there are features in products or product combinations that once you notice it, you cannot “unnotice” it. Forexample in this tv review the reviewer explains this feature in the human mind and also says to the viewer to stop watching if they do not want to notice a non desired feature in a tv (which was later corrected by the manufacturer). The flaw or feature in the firmware of the tv is shown after 13:41.

In any case, please share a video where the noise is audible. It might be normal signal noise from the simulator, such as 60hz ffb update rate that is known feature in iracing. By only reading the text we cannot actually judge where the sound might originate and that is it normal or not.

Hey Beano have you had a chance to try your SC2 Pro yet? I asked because I have a Pro on pre-order and was wondering if you are getting the same noises and grainy feel with yours. I know the Ultimate is a totally different motor and you may not be experiencing these issues unless you are using your Pro. This will be my first DD wheel and I was wondering with all your experience with the DD’s that you’ve owned or tried it would be nice to know if this is an issue or nothing to worry about.

Hi Mate,
I got the new servo-Mount yesterday. This weekend everything will be changed-over and ready for testing. I will then make video and update my thoughts there, it should be ready and done by Sunday.

I will list link here when uploaded!

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Thanks, I’m looking forward to your findings.