Bit Of A Long Shot But Any Bmw Owners On Here?

[Anees]

Hi guys,

This is a long shot but LOC has never failed to amaze me before so I live in hope.

I have a problem with my daily driver (BMW 330D).

Info is here:

http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/ind...?showtopic=4185

Basically the crux of the matter is that Tony Bones thinks my issues are all down to the Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric tyres I have just bought all round for the BMW; which I bought based on the reviews and the fact that they seem to be the best tyres on the market.

To test the theory that my tyres are to blame I need to borrow a set of alloys with ok tyres so that I can swap over my wheels/tyres and see if they fix the issue.

I have tried on a BMW forum I am a member of but nothing so far....... hence I thought I may as well give LOC a go.

I do actually have a friend with a BMW 330D (used to be Gord's old car) but he is away for a few weeks and he has lent his car to his brother in London so abit stuck!!

Ideally I would need 18" BMW wheels, but I think I should be able to get away with 17" wheels as long as they clear the brakes.

Any help appreciated.

[Parthiban]

Very strange problem there mate, sorry I can't really help but very haven't been on the WIM forum for a while so was quite surprised to see that stuff about the F1 Asymmetrics............I've got those tyres on my IS200 on 18" wheels, and the level of grip still surprises me even though I've had the tyres for a while now.

The thing I'm a little confused about is that from what I read before I bought them, the F1s have a stiffer sidewall which can in some cars make the ride more harsh (my ride is definitely a little harder than before, but I also swapped to 18s at the same time so can't tell which made the bigger difference) so totally confused as to how the tyres could be creating bodyroll?

Also a bit surprised as to how tyres can make such a difference - it really is an eye opener if that is the cause and will be following this to see what happens............

[P4UL T]

Sorry I cant help Anees, but a few people on the ST Drivers forum I now use have had the same problem with the F1's

Good luck

[Anees]

Sorry I cant help Anees, but a few people on the ST Drivers forum I now use have had the same problem with the F1's

Good luck

Its such a shame because the ride quality on the Goodyears is really nice and I have them on a Honda S2000 and they are amazing. What tyres did people on the ST Drives forum go for then Paul?

[P4UL T]

The ST comes with Conti Sport2 from the factory and seem to work very well.

Loads of us are replacing with the Vreds and they are working great.

[Anees]

The ST comes with Conti Sport2 from the factory and seem to work very well.

Loads of us are replacing with the Vreds and they are working great.

Hmm.....

I had Vredestein Ultra Sessantas on the Aristo in 18" Tyre size and they were great and it sounds like they would be a good bet in this case too. I did have Falkens previously but I just don't like the virtually non-existant rim protector.

Cheers for the info Paul :)

[Parthiban]

Is this something to do with tyre batches? I'm confused as to why mine is fine, but it appears dazz who has 18s and F1s had the same problems........

Need to start visiting the WIM forum again :)

[Anees]

Time for an update.

I was let down getting the spare set of wheels I needed, but a BMWLand member (who ironically worked in the next street!) offered to lend me a set of MV2 BMW Replicas. They were 225/40/18 8J wide all around so not the same as the staggered setup I ran but anyway, still would be helpful.

I collected the wheels, drove to my friends garage and he swapped the wheels over.

Old MV2 wheels fitted:

We went for a drive and unfortunetly it was wet and the tyres (which were virtually brand new) on the replica MV2 just would not grip at all. They just couldn't handle the torque of the car and even at 30mph a gentle prod of the accelerator and they would spin up!

After taking the Stigs "brave pills" we hit the motorway and gently increased speed - we had no confidence in the car and were scared to go past 70mph, but we pushed it to 70mph+ and the car was even worse then before!

When we got back to the garage we actaully parked outside and my friend/mechanic decided to see if he could see anything obvious with the car. As soon as he got out he noticed something and then asked me to see if I noticed it too.

I did!! :o :o

The top of the passenger side rear wheel looked alot more "in" compared to the drivers side - like it had alot more camber! We got a few people to check and all agreed. One wheel was angled more "in" then the other!!

After a measure, the gaps between the tyre sidewall and the inside of the wheel arch at each side were:

Drivers - 45mm

Passeger - 49mm !!!

I have tried to explain what I mean with pictures but its not that easy to do. The difference is much more blatent in reality.

The fact that I had wide 9" rims with 255 tyres with a big rim protector on the car before made this extremely hard to spot before because they virtually filled the arches! The thin 8" wheels with a virtually non existant rim protector made it much easier to spot this difference!

Now obviously the report report looked OK so I will be going back to the Geometry Centre and having a word! Something has seriously gone wrong! :o

I will be on the phone on Monday to get the car back in. Now if the car goes back on the Hunter Geometry machine and it says the rear wheels are correct then I'm sorry but I think the machine needs calibrating or something???

So glad to have the Goodyears back on, the tyres on the MV2 rims were "fullrun"?? and scary in the wet!

[Parthiban]

Blimey, that sounds like quite a big issue if it was actually visible to the naked eye, yep that geometry machine must be totally off!

Let us know how you get on, and also how the F1s are once you have it sorted........glad it's not necessarily the tyres then as I still think they're fantastic!