Scary handling at speed

T

T1berious

Member
Hi,

I'm hoping someone here could shed some light on this as what has become a mild irritation is turning into a WTF?

I recently changed my rear tyres due to a puncture I stuck with Continental Sport Contact 3's. They've been on for about 300 miles and at motorway speed the front end feels very light. prior to changing the tyres "making progress" was a rock steady experience.

I've booked the car in for a 4 wheel allignment, as it's getting scary at anything approaching "making progress" speeds.

Anyone else suffered this?
 
Have you got SportContact 3 all around or have you got the OEM SportContact M3 on the fronts?

The 'M' in front of the 3 is important, as one's a 10 year old tyre designed for the e46 M3 (and fitted to the Z4M), and the other is a decent all-rounder.
 
T1berious said:
Hi,

I'm hoping someone here could shed some light on this as what has become a mild irritation is turning into a WTF?

I recently changed my rear tyres due to a puncture I stuck with Continental Sport Contact 3's. They've been on for about 300 miles and at motorway speed the front end feels very light. prior to changing the tyres "making progress" was a rock steady experience.

I've booked the car in for a 4 wheel allignment, as it's getting scary at anything approaching "making progress" speeds.

Anyone else suffered this?
Click to expand...

I found this with OEM Conti's when i first got my car. Recently changed to Vred's all round and the problems dissapeared!
 
I found the front end was a bit floaty when making progress at 'normal' motorway speeds( :D ) on the original Conti front tyres. The problem went away when I changed to Vreds on CSLs
 
Here's what I got fitted to the rear, "Continental Sport Contact M3 (BMW) 255/40 R18 Z (95)" I'm guessing that these are the OEM items and I'm also willing to bet the house the fronts are the same (as in OEM).
 
T1berious said:
Here's what I got fitted to the rear, "Continental Sport Contact M3 (BMW) 255/40 R18 Z (95)" I'm guessing that these are the OEM items and I'm also willing to bet the house the fronts are the same (as in OEM).
Click to expand...
They are the OEM ones, and are of the 'old' original Conti SportContact 1 spec.

The SportContact3 is better, and the new SportContact 5/5P is much better - being similar to the Michelin Pilot Super Sport.

The Conti's are cheaper than the Michelins, but so are Vreds.
 
Would the having of the SportContact3 at the rears really affect the car more than just replacing with the Original SportContact 1?
 
I had a similar experience in my E89 when I just changed the rears! Stayed with OEM so they were the same make as the fronts. It used to start wallowing a little going into bends at speed. Was fine before!! I even took the car back to the dealers to check out the rear suspension! Nothing wrong and a few thousand miles on them now and it handles fine again!! I put it down to partly worn fronts and new rears!!
 
pvr said:
Would the having of the SportContact3 at the rears really affect the car more than just replacing with the Original SportContact 1?
Click to expand...
There'd certainly be an effect due to the difference in tyre technology, but no idea how much or even if average Joes could feel it?

If anything, you'd expect the rear to feel a bit different after fitting new tyres there, rather than the front.
 
I changed from RFTs to Vreds about 10 months back and certainly noticed that at 80+ it can feel floaty and not too planted. I upped the pressures to 35psi and put the sport button on and it feels better.

Oddly, I don't notice it if driving shall we say, with gusto. I was at the Ring last week and had a mad half hour en route following a mate in a VX220T and the car felt brilliant, as did it on track, not even the slightest hint of floatyness.

Odd really.
 
Lance said:
Oddly, I don't notice it if driving shall we say, with gusto. I was at the Ring last week and had a mad half hour en route following a mate in a VX220T and the car felt brilliant, as did it on track, not even the slightest hint of floatyness
Click to expand...
I find I get a bit of 'floatyness' at 150mph through Schwedenkreuz and Kesselchen - although my seat/sphincter interface holds me tightly in my seat :oops:
 
mmm-five said:
Lance said:
Oddly, I don't notice it if driving shall we say, with gusto. I was at the Ring last week and had a mad half hour en route following a mate in a VX220T and the car felt brilliant, as did it on track, not even the slightest hint of floatyness
Click to expand...
I find I get a bit of 'floatyness' at 150mph through Schwedenkreuz and Kesselchen - although my seat/sphincter interface holds me tightly in my seat :oops:
Click to expand...

[pedantic mode on] you mean the dip before SX [/pedantic mode off] because if you are seeing 150mph thru SX we than have a new Schumi amongst us. No Z4MC can pull 150mph up Kesselchen as it doesn't have the ponies either, but we get your point... :poke:
 
Cheburator said:
mmm-five said:
Lance said:
Oddly, I don't notice it if driving shall we say, with gusto. I was at the Ring last week and had a mad half hour en route following a mate in a VX220T and the car felt brilliant, as did it on track, not even the slightest hint of floatyness
Click to expand...
I find I get a bit of 'floatyness' at 150mph through Schwedenkreuz and Kesselchen - although my seat/sphincter interface holds me tightly in my seat :oops:
Click to expand...

[pedantic mode on] you mean the dip before SX [/pedantic mode off] because if you are seeing 150mph thru SX we than have a new Schumi amongst us. No Z4MC can pull 150mph up Kesselchen as it doesn't have the ponies either, but we get your point... :poke:
Click to expand...
Quite correct, but my eyes tend to lose focus as I near warp speed, so it could equally have been 10mph :oops:

Either way, the car is VERY light, even with the tiniest of steering inputs.
 
Fugplatz is the bit before SX, used to see 150+ up there and Kesslechen on the bike/s, a lot less in the car.

There was Z4M coupe there at the weekend, sure he's on here, plate something like 'moflot'.

I only have a 2.5, do all cars feel slow round there, or is it just mine?
 
Everytime I've changed my rear tyres I get a floatyness for the first few hundred miles. Goes away once they scrub in. I thought this was a Vred attribute but it obviously effects other brands.

For the record I never mix tyres.
 
I changed all 4 to Bridgestone S001, on the standard 18" rims, stability at 'Autobahn' speeds improved greatly compared to the elderly Conti M3 OEM (which were getting hard). How old are your front tires? If they are still from the day the car was manufactured (most likely even older), you should have changed them, regardless of the amount of rubber left.
 
Re the OP's post. Yes. Don't worry. It's the new tyres making it feel like that. I had an identical "floaty" issue which has now gone after around 800 miles.

Have a read of this:
http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29084
 
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