WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 6, 2016 22:45:25 GMT
I'm wondering if something is up with my BMW's suspension, steering or tyres. My impression is that it feels less secure than it used to where the Tarmac is less than perfect - which means just about everywhere, although given a rare smooth stretch it runs on perfectly straight.
On other surfaces, though, it squirms and tramlines - not dramatically but noticeably to me holding the wheel. The left lane of the westbound M4 near Langley is particularly unsettling as the wheels track the edges of the HGV ruts. On country roads there are moments when I get the impression the front wheels are slipping, although I suspect this may be an illusion.
Now this is a car with BMW's M Sport kit: the suspension is well on the firm side, and the tyres are thin and wide, 235 at the front and 255 at the back, on 18-inch wheels. So I've always felt the bumps, but usually in terms of vertical motion rather than lateral deviation.
My first thought is tyres. They're Bridgestone run-flats, new when I bought the car and still with plenty of tread after 15,000 miles, and they're set to the pressures on the hard-to-read label inside the driver's door. But they're not Michelins - the brand that cured my Volvo's squirm eight years ago - so I have wondered whether the car would feel nicer if they were. Maybe this compound doesn't respond well to low temperatures; they all have winter tyres on in Germany now, don't they?
Otherwise I suppose it's usual suspects time: tracking and wheel alignment. Or maybe 'sporty' cars just feel nervous at times and I'm noticing it more at the moment. It's nothing appalling, but nobody else I talk to would even care so I just, y'know, thought I'd mention it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2016 7:21:51 GMT
There are some tyres on some cars which go off the boil when a surprisingly small amount of tread has been worn off.
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Post by Humph on Dec 12, 2016 18:53:04 GMT
Might just be especially "greasy" roads after previous salt spreading and subsequent milder but damp conditions.
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WDB
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Squirming
Dec 12, 2016 19:24:56 GMT
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Post by WDB on Dec 12, 2016 19:24:56 GMT
Could be. I've always known it could be upset by broken surfaces and ruts; this is on a more 'micro' scale. If I steer slightly right to correct my line on a straight road, the car feels momentary as if it wants to go
further to the right. It doesn't, of course, but it's an odd feeling.
Coincidentally, last week I visited a friend in RLBS, who has a 335i coupé with the same 18" wheels as mine. He got so fed up with his car's behaviour that he junked the run-flat tyres in favour of plain rubber, sealant and a compressor. Not sure I'd go that far but he says it's transformed his car; I might prefer to be sure of getting home.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2016 9:59:34 GMT
Might just be especially "greasy" roads after previous salt spreading and subsequent milder but damp conditions. Had a near miss with someone suffering this last night I think. I was on a roundabout in the left lane, a little Yaris went steaming past me on the right and as he exited the roundabout (two lanes) he lost it, and the car spun 180 degrees and ended up face to face with me as I exited the roundabout. I managed to get on the brakes and stop or we'd have had a head-on. A Focus which was following somehow managed to miss him and get by on the right. The wife was in the front seat and had about 37 kittens, the kids were in the back and barely noticed anything happen. Ee were on our way home from a carol service, and I suddenly lost all my seasonal goodwill to this silly pillock who had either overcooked it on the roundabout, or had bald tyres, or possibly even both. But we got away with it this time.
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WDB
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Squirming
Dec 13, 2016 10:10:53 GMT
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Post by WDB on Dec 13, 2016 10:10:53 GMT
There was fine, wetting drizzle all afternoon yesterday and all the roads were pretty slick. I suspect that had more to do with your Yaris driver's mishap than any characteristic of the car.
The only time I've come close to losing a car like that was on a wet roundabout (off the A45 into Birmingham Airport) when I gave the 9-3 a bean too many. The front went first, though, which made it easy to catch.
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Post by Humph on Dec 13, 2016 10:12:46 GMT
I have no immediate plans to have a crash, but if one occurs, I do feel, perhaps superstitiously, that if I'm ever going to have one, I'd rather be in a large hunk of Stuttgart metal than a wee hatchback.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2016 10:14:31 GMT
Yes Humph. I did conjecture that, had we collided with the Yaris last night, the consequences would have been significantly less acute for us.
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Squirming
Dec 13, 2016 10:55:19 GMT
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Post by Hofmeister on Dec 13, 2016 10:55:19 GMT
I have no immediate plans to have a crash, but if one occurs, I do feel, perhaps superstitiously, that if I'm ever going to have one, I'd rather be in a large hunk of Stuttgart metal than a wee hatchback. To be honest, I'd be happier T boning your pimp mobile in my Swedish Supertanker |
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Post by tyrednexited on Dec 13, 2016 11:00:04 GMT
To be honest, I'd be happy T boning your pimp mobile in my Swedish Supertanker ....there, corrected it for you........ |
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Squirming
Dec 13, 2016 11:00:59 GMT
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Post by Hofmeister on Dec 13, 2016 11:00:59 GMT
I haven't "lost" a car on the roads since the days of my ford Capri, losing that regularly was a right of passage.
And before you start, the things I have hit have been under circumstances of complete control.
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Squirming
Dec 13, 2016 11:03:06 GMT
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Post by Hofmeister on Dec 13, 2016 11:03:06 GMT
Yes Humph. I did conjecture that, had we collided with the Yaris last night, the consequences would have been significantly less acute for us. Might have corrected that list to one side? |
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Post by Humph on Dec 13, 2016 11:06:26 GMT
I find just avoiding hitting things at all is the line of least resistance. Call me old fashioned if you want...😉
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Post by tyrednexited on Dec 13, 2016 11:10:54 GMT
The only time I've come close to losing a car like that was on a wet roundabout (off the A45 into Birmingham Airport) when I gave the 9-3 a bean too many. The front went first, though, which made it easy to catch. ....Back in the day when Pontius was still a pilot and the Dead Sea was simply "poorly", I put a Mini (really!) through 360 degrees on the corner outside The Bull at Sonning. Blamed on a combination of both Brown and Black Ice, though, to be fair, if I had been asked to take a breathalyser test (introduced, but not in widespread use) I would probably at best have been marginal. I was both lucky, and reasonably skilled; there was nothing coming the other way (early hours of a very dark morning) and I had the presence of mind simply to "go with it", and take it through the full 360 (ended up exactly where I should have been round the corner, and continued on my way, albeit in a cold sweat). It was (literally) a sobering experience. I was always a reasonably restrained drinker when driving, but that made me become even more so - something that continues to today. |
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Post by tyrednexited on Dec 13, 2016 11:14:27 GMT
I find just avoiding hitting things at all is the line of least resistance. Call me old fashioned if you want...😉 ...that's a bit rich old chap. I know you've sub-contracted most of that stuff to the other half, but there is the small matter of the K......  |
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