Car handles like garbage after $1500 in new parts

B

blackntansport

Member
alright, so I put new front control arm bushings on, new rear trailing arm bushings, new struts front and back w/ obviously new mounts, new flex disc, driveshaft bushing and bearing, plus a bunch of other parts, then had an alignment done... handles like s**t, pardon my french. and it just got worse. someone stabbed my passenger rear tire while I was out of town on a snowboarding trip. didn't make it all the way through but it was an obvious blowout hazard so I replaced both rear tires. suddenly the handling went from kinda squirrely to downright dangerous. it won't stay in the lane worth a damn, feels like its constantly trying to turn into any and every obstacle be it to the left or the right so i doubt it's the alignment I had done. when I change lanes it feels like the back end isn't entirely attached to the car, just kinda subtly oscillates back and forth for a second when I get in my new lane, real unnerving, feels like snap oversteer... repeatedly. when I accelerate it pulls the left fairly hard and when I decelerate pulls back to the right. its like it's got torque steer.

there's no way this is just the new tires right? I went from pilot sports to nitto motivos. I don't know what to check next. sway bar system? tie rod ends? inner bushings in the rear? possible the scissor lift discount used when they replaced the tires contacted someplace it shouldn't have and screwed something up? this only started happening after the nittos were put on. I've got an appointment tomorrow at discount to have them recheck their work cause this level of misbehaving by the car after them doing work is unacceptable.
 
So your new rears are a different brand to the existing fronts? This can easily cause bad handling and I've had it myself, get a set of four matching tyres fitted & see how it feels then.
Regards
 
Are nitto a budget brand? I've never head of them over here. If so, it could indeed be the tyres.
 
By your description there's no way different rear rubber causes that much of a bad handling car. I know there's lots of scary posts on the web regarding different brands of rubber on the rears etc but coming from experience of having a tyre stabbed whilst in the office and having to quick sharp get a pair of rears I see little difference in handling, I have the run flats on the front and none run flats on the rear until its time ( this summer ) to get a nice new set on all 4 corners of decent rubber. In fact I saw an improvement.

If by what you say, its all over the road and won't stay in lanes and dives for the dips in the road i'd sway to the alignment thats been done, lots state after a shitty alignment the car pulls heavy to one side.
 
RLFILMSCO said:
By your description there's no way different rear rubber causes that much of a bad handling car. I know there's lots of scary posts on the web regarding different brands of rubber on the rears etc but coming from experience of having a tyre stabbed whilst in the office and having to quick sharp get a pair of rears I see little difference in handling, I have the run flats on the front and none run flats on the rear until its time ( this summer ) to get a nice new set on all 4 corners of decent rubber. In fact I saw an improvement.

If by what you say, its all over the road and won't stay in lanes and dives for the dips in the road i'd sway to the alignment thats been done, lots state after a sh***y alignment the car pulls heavy to one side.
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Ive had my car behave like this after replacing the rear tyres with a different brand to the fronts-it was extremely dangerous at speed & i was only saved from swerving off the road by the electronic stability control, very frightening experience.
After another tyre swap it was back to its normal self.
Regards
 
I just find it hard to believe that just by having a different brand of rubber it renders the car physically dangerous and life threatening. Unsure who BMW can build a car that is so on a knife edge it would do that. I guess everyone has different experiences but mine actually rode better.
 
Stupid question, but have you checked your tyre pressures?

Did you do the fitting yourself? Are you absolutely sure you torqued everything up properly?
Have you got a print out of what they set the alignment to?
 
If you've got the staggered wheel set up (wider at the back than the front) do check that your tyres are fitted on the correct rims. I had one narrow front rim and one wide rear rim on the front (with the correct tyres fitted for the front) and the same on the rear - it's easily done and a mistake that made the handling on my Zed very unreliable and dangerous at times - worth a check.

Secondly, I've never heard of the make of tyre you've got fitted and budget tyres might amplify the normal tendency of the Zed to dive and weave and tramline with road imperfections. I've had similar experiences with worn runflat tyres - a dreadful feeling - so do check out reviews for your tyres and if you didn't have problems with the Pilot Sports before all this then I would suspect your nitto motivos.
 
Just switched to a new set of alloys with Nokian WR's winter tyres in the past couple of days.

The car needed an alignment doing before (it pulled slightly left) but now, with new rubber, it's lethal above 60-65mph - steering wheel oscillating wildly left & right, & the car's all over the place.

The offset & tyre sizes are identical front & rear, so no mix up here.

I'm booked in for an alignment.

Could be you need one too? I had an alignment done on my old E46 after a complete front-end suspension replacement. The garage completely fluffed the alignment & it was awful, until I had a proper one done somewhere else.
 
paulgs1000 said:
If you've got the staggered wheel set up (wider at the front than the back) do check that your tyres are fitted on the correct rims. I had one narrow front rim and one wide rear rim on the front (with the correct tyres fitted for the front) and the same on the rear - it's easily done and a mistake that made the handling on my Zed very unreliable and dangerous at times - worth a check.

Secondly, I've never heard of the make of tyre you've got fitted and budget tyres might amplify the normal tendency of the Zed to dive and weave and tramline with road imperfections. I've had similar experiences with worn runflat tyres - a dreadful feeling - so do check out reviews for your tyres and if you didn't have problems with the Pilot Sports before all this then I would suspect your nitto motivos.
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Hi Paul, I think you mean the staggered set up is wider at the rear than the front (otherwise matey is likely to drive through the nearest hedge! :oops:
Regards
 
Smartbear said:
paulgs1000 said:
If you've got the staggered wheel set up (wider at the front than the back) do check that your tyres are fitted on the correct rims. I had one narrow front rim and one wide rear rim on the front (with the correct tyres fitted for the front) and the same on the rear - it's easily done and a mistake that made the handling on my Zed very unreliable and dangerous at times - worth a check.

Secondly, I've never heard of the make of tyre you've got fitted and budget tyres might amplify the normal tendency of the Zed to dive and weave and tramline with road imperfections. I've had similar experiences with worn runflat tyres - a dreadful feeling - so do check out reviews for your tyres and if you didn't have problems with the Pilot Sports before all this then I would suspect your nitto motivos.
Click to expand...

Hi Paul, I think you mean the staggered set up is wider at the rear than the front (otherwise matey is likely to drive through the nearest hedge! :oops:
Regards
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Whoops - brain not connected at that time to my fingers - have corrected - but you get the point :lol:
 
Smartbear said:
So your new rears are a different brand to the existing fronts? This can easily cause bad handling and I've had it myself, get a set of four matching tyres fitted & see how it feels then.
Regards
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this could be though I've tended to have different rubber on the rear due to them wearing out much faster, never can figure out why that is :P usually I've got something with a higher tread wear rating on the rears, never had a problem before. I mean in the four years I've had the car I've never seen her behave this way.

ben g said:
Are nitto a budget brand? I've never head of them over here. If so, it could indeed be the tyres.
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supposed to be an american brand. never had them before but I was assured that they are a performance tire... think I'm inclined to call bollocks on that. my suspicion is that the sidewall is made of something akin to marshmallow. the guys at discount tire kept trying to blame it on anything else, despite the fact that it didn't drive like this until after they worked on it.

RLFILMSCO said:
By your description there's no way different rear rubber causes that much of a bad handling car. I know there's lots of scary posts on the web regarding different brands of rubber on the rears etc but coming from experience of having a tyre stabbed whilst in the office and having to quick sharp get a pair of rears I see little difference in handling, I have the run flats on the front and none run flats on the rear until its time ( this summer ) to get a nice new set on all 4 corners of decent rubber. In fact I saw an improvement.

If by what you say, its all over the road and won't stay in lanes and dives for the dips in the road i'd sway to the alignment thats been done, lots state after a sh***y alignment the car pulls heavy to one side.
Click to expand...

it does seem that no one in houston can do alignments worth a damn. I often have one done, only to find when I go to drive away they've got the steering wheel tilted about 45 degrees. this is why I hate having other people work on my car. every time there is an issue afterwards. every. single. time.

Wildfire said:
Stupid question, but have you checked your tyre pressures?

Did you do the fitting yourself? Are you absolutely sure you torqued everything up properly?
Have you got a print out of what they set the alignment to?
Click to expand...

it went back in to the tire shop today and I watched everything they did this time. they checked the air, if they messed that up, idk... I should probably check.

I think the conclusion I'm forced to draw is that I need to pay more than $90 for an alignment and I need to get new, quality rubber, all around.

sadly at this current moment I'm a bit tight on disposable income for the car having now spent almost 2k in the last month, and having had the ac suddenly start spitting odd smells and warm air in my face today, immediately after leaving the tire shop as if my car was begging me to sell it and get something reliable that isn't trying to kill me.
 
I genuinely don't think that poor rubber would exhibit such terrible characteristics. Sounds like the alignment is off.

Check the tyre pressures and ask for a print out of what the alignment is set to.

If you did the work yourself, check all your torque settings and make sure everything is tight.
 
How many miles do you have on these tires? Remember new tires can take a few hundred mile to brake in and wear off the mold grease that can make them tricky to drive the first few hundred miles. That said, Nitro tires are made by Toyo which I believe is now owned by a Chinese based company. The Nitro brand has been around for many year and was many years ago a US company but has had many changes of ownership over the years. Nitro tires are actually made in the US and in Georgia I believe or at least they were not too long ago. Nitro is a discounted brand but many find them a good value but you will find as many bad reviews as good reviews on the brand. I know someone that had them on an M roadster and he was happy with them.
Also, welcome to the forum... :thumbsup:
 
WLH said:
How many miles do you have on these tires? Remember new tires can take a few hundred mile to brake in and wear off the mold grease that can make them tricky to drive the first few hundred miles. That said, Nitro tires are made by Toyo which I believe is now owned by a Chinese based company. The Nitro brand has been around for many year and was many years ago a US company but has had many changes of ownership over the years. Nitro tires are actually made in the US and in Georgia I believe or at least they were not too long ago. Nitro is a discounted brand but many find them a good value but you will find as many bad reviews as good reviews on the brand. I know someone that had them on an M roadster and he was happy with them.
Also, welcome to the forum... :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

only got about 70 miles on them, maybe I'll get a new alignment from one of indy shops in the area with more of a reputation than the local NTB and give it a few hundred miles, see how it turns out.

not entirely new to the forum, just can't remember my old info :P been awhile since I've posted here. use the diy threads and shipkiller's threads and info all the time though. these forums have resulted in the end of much head scratching and cursing while covered in grease.
 
Who done your suspension?
Was it yourself?
I dont know what the setup is for the top mounts on your car but years ago someone working on our MR2 put the top mounts on the car the wrong way round and the car felt as you have described, all over the road, felt like everything was loose and really dangerous.
When I got it home and checked the top mounts that had arrows embossed into them were pointing the wrong way (out instead of in I think)
Once swapped round it was perfect.

Just an idea.
 
I drove a friends M3 CSL a while ago that was on quality aftermarket suspension, a very well set-up track/street car. His daily tires were some dirt-cheap Asian brand, don't even remember the name, the car drove the same way you're describing. It felt like there was lag between what you wanted the rear axle to do and when it did it. It was scary! He said that after a few hundred miles that they sorted themselves out though..

I'm convinced that bad tires will exhbit symptoms like you say. Perhaps give them some mileage though before uninstalling them as they may bed-in and improve..
 
I ran my car on 4 budget tyres for 2 months last year, i wanted to see the difference changing from run flats made. the difference was vast.don't know about the U.S. but if i paid a fortune on quality boots, i want them balancing and guaranteeing.
 
Sounds exactly like the problem I had when I had runflats on the front but not on the back. Constant feeling of snap oversteer above 40mph. As soon as I changed the fronts too everything was solved.
 
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