I Steering a Car: Investigating the Forces of Rotation

[cccc]

TL;DR

Questions about steering a spinning wheel. Does gyroscopic force oppose me?

In a car we turn the wheels to steer. The wheels however are spinning about their axis of rotation when the car is in motion. Does the revolving motion of the wheels cause a force that opposes trying to rotate the wheels around the other axis to steer? How much opposition is created?

Here's an image to illustrate. Suppose the wheel is quickly spinning about Z. I want to rotate the wheel about X to steer my car. I will not allow any rotation about Y. How hard is it to rotate the wheel about X?

 

[Lnewqban]

Welcome!
Spinning the steering wheels in the air could give you the actual resistance of the gyroscopic effect.
When rolling on the road and steering, there is additional resistance from the geometry of the steering system, which is built into make the wheels to tend to come back to a straight direction by themselves.

The gyroscopic effect depends on the rotational speed and moment of inertia of the tire.

 

[cccc]

So I'm just concerned about the resistance to turning the wheels due to the gyroscopic effect. To say it more succinctly, I need to know the relationship between the torque I apply on the X axis and the resultant rotation (speed, acceleration) about X all while Y is constrained so it cannot rotate that way. I know the mass of the wheel, its moment of inertia, rotation speed of the wheel etc.

This is out of my area of expertise (I'm an EE not a physicist).

[Post edited by a Mentor]

 

[Bystander]

Summary: Questions about steering a spinning wheel. Does gyroscopic force oppose me?

Here's an image to illustrate. Suppose the wheel is quickly spinning about Z. I want to rotate the wheel about X to steer my car. I will not allow any rotation about Y. How hard is it to rotate the wheel about X?

Wow, my "google-fu" has slipped big time---WW memoirs mention this effect yielding a "preferred direction" for aircraft turns; https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/the-torque-roll.21319/ . And, P-38 was designed to prefer neither direction (counter-rotating props) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning .

I would expect automobiles to exhibit similar biases; perhaps the CCW tracks in the northern hemisphere?