totalloser

Fair enough. I'd still cast a vote for the best bang for tight steering would be the steering frame brace.

Having said that, I'll note that acetal (delrin) to those who don't know, is a nearly magical material. Super easy to machine, remarkably resistant to impact and wear and high lubricity. Somewhat susceptible to abrasion in dirty environments (really dirty) but otherwise THE best material IMO for a part such as that bushing.

The front end on my old Tacoma has been riding on acetal bushings for a decade.

But from repairing steering columns more than a few times, the most common failure I have seen is the sacrificial plastic liner that links the two shafts together. This is a part that is designed to break in a front end collision. It allows the column to collapse instead of crushing your chest with the steering wheel. Unfortunately now and then it lets go and makes the column really sloppy. The redneck fix for this is to drill two holes all the way through the two shafts where the plastic injection molding ports are, tap in roll pins and grind the ends off. Hopefully the roll pin will fail in a collision, but this is a repair that could compromise the safety of the driver, so beware. I'd venture safer than a sloppy column since it'll keep you OUT of a wreck, but if the roll pin is tougher than the firewall, that's bad.

I shouldn't have called it silly, it's not. Go no gauges are your friend for manufacturing QC if you don't already use them.