DaveyR Posted May 29, 2013 Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 I've posted this in my car blog thread, but thought i'd pop it in here as it is the right forum for the potential issue I seem to be having. I just had my winter tyres removed and summer tyres put back on. Over the last couple of days I have encountered some quite alarming moments of understeer. 3 times now I've been going round a corner, not at enthusiastic pace at all, normal traffic pace shall we say, well below what I know the normal limits of grip of this car to be, to suddenly be treated to abrupt, juddering understeer. The front axle has the tyres that came off last year and the rear the brand new tyres. I think the fronts were on the rear previously, so I am guessing there are one or two possibilities. One is that the wear pattern on the tyres having been on a different axle is causing bizarre behaviour. The tyres don't seem perished in any way, so i'd be surprised if there was anything wrong with the tyres as it were. Additionally, when I took the tyres to be fitted, a young mechanic reversed another customers car right into the front drivers side of my car (this wasn't WIM I hasten to add). It wasn't a large impact and the contact was ahead of the wheel, plus nothing looks out of place, so I don't think that is related (happy to be corrected though). Does any of the above sound feasible, or can someone offer any alternative possibilities/ideas? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 29, 2013 Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 Shouldn't be the tyres but i am worried about that impact... Is the steering wheel still level when driving in a straight line? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted May 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 Hi Tony, thanks for chipping in Steering wheel is dead level when driving in a straight line and it doesn't pull to one side or the other at speed or when braking. The tyres do follow cambers and contours in the road more than the winter tyres did, but I've found the same with numerous cars and seems to vary with different tyres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 30, 2013 Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 The steering being straight belays the geometry to some extent..... Maybe a front-to-rear tyre move is in order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted May 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 That is something I had considered, my only concern being that as much as I prefer oversteer to understeer my next thread topic might read "Exited road backwards into bush" I think you're right though, that would probably be the best way of confirming/eliminating the tyres themselves as an issue. What's the easiest way of swapping tyres front to back with a trolley jack and axle stands? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 30, 2013 Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 I would do one side at a time just to be safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted June 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 Swapped the wheels front to back this weekend and has made a noticeable difference. The car no longer wants to move around over different surfaces/cambers and feels a lot calmer when cornering. Still sharp but less nervous again i.e. I can drive a nice neat line through a long sweeper and not have to keep correcting my line as the tyres decide where the car is going to go! The question is how will the tyres fare on the rear. So far they seem ok in that they don't seem to suffer the same decrease in grip at the rear as was evident on the front. So i'll just keep an eye on the behaviour and assuming all is well i'll keep running them this way round until i've gotten the best out of them and then they'll be replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 They will be fine on the rear since there's no direct link with the steering. Just get a feel for the rear tyres grip limits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted June 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 Thanks for the input Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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