My car just scared the carp out of me
Discussion
I will try to give as much info as possible here as I know a lot of details may help to diagnose what has gone on.
-My car is an X reg BMW E46 330D with 80000 miles on (FSH)
-It is the first RWD car I have owned, not he first RWD car I have ever driven though
-I do motorway miles and weekend pootling
-Before today I have noticed that the cars "hips wiggle" when going ove undulations in the road and accelerating - a good example is comig down a slip road and merging into the slow lane where lorries have worn grooves
-I am comfortable when cars loose traction - I understand the fundiments of what will make it happen and how to correct it in FWD and RWD cars but I am by no means the stig.
-As an aside - The other night I purposeully went somewhere private ad wet (
) to see how the car behaved when it lost traction and I was surprised to see it UNDERSTEER a lot of the time, until "over-pushed" - ie the back end did not seem to slide out predictably or progressively.
Today on the way to work I got a puncture. The argument I faced was with a van with a trailer in tow doing close to mach 3 down a thin country road or with a kerb at 20mph ish... I chose the kerb and duly set about changing the tyre (without my nice clean work shirt on) in the rain.
The tyres are now mismatched - Fronts are different and the spare was a P-6000 whihc is now passenger side.
I acknowledge these need changing and will be done tomorrow, this has only been included for the sake of completeness really
Now on to this evening...
I overtook a very sedate driver (doing 35 in a 60) and had eons of room so was in no hurry. I put my foot 1/3 of the way down and began wafting up closer to it and prepared to move out (dry road). As soon as I steered right, around the sloth-vehicle and went over a small undulation in the road the "hip wiggle" I believed to be characteristic went wild and the car almost kicked round on me (TC ON).
A minute or so up the road, going in a straight line, the back swang the other way, almost like ti was steering itself with no warning and scared the hell out of me.
My questionsare as follows:
-What may be causing it
-Why did it do it under gentle throttle in the dry but wouldn't slide properly when provoked with harder throttle in the wet
-Has hitting the kerb (full size spare used) done something?
-Could rear trailing arm bushes be shot, rear arb bushes, drop links, front wishbone bushes and wishbones, front arb links and bushes or shocks and spring s be contributing as I wanna replace the lto soon
-Only other thing I can think is shot subframe mounts??
Any advice appreciated as in a car this (potentially fast) I now feel unsafe and unable to predict handling at all!!
Best,
Fred
PS no accident damage and HPI clear 2 owers - straight car
-My car is an X reg BMW E46 330D with 80000 miles on (FSH)
-It is the first RWD car I have owned, not he first RWD car I have ever driven though
-I do motorway miles and weekend pootling
-Before today I have noticed that the cars "hips wiggle" when going ove undulations in the road and accelerating - a good example is comig down a slip road and merging into the slow lane where lorries have worn grooves
-I am comfortable when cars loose traction - I understand the fundiments of what will make it happen and how to correct it in FWD and RWD cars but I am by no means the stig.
-As an aside - The other night I purposeully went somewhere private ad wet (
) to see how the car behaved when it lost traction and I was surprised to see it UNDERSTEER a lot of the time, until "over-pushed" - ie the back end did not seem to slide out predictably or progressively.Today on the way to work I got a puncture. The argument I faced was with a van with a trailer in tow doing close to mach 3 down a thin country road or with a kerb at 20mph ish... I chose the kerb and duly set about changing the tyre (without my nice clean work shirt on) in the rain.
The tyres are now mismatched - Fronts are different and the spare was a P-6000 whihc is now passenger side.
I acknowledge these need changing and will be done tomorrow, this has only been included for the sake of completeness really
Now on to this evening...
I overtook a very sedate driver (doing 35 in a 60) and had eons of room so was in no hurry. I put my foot 1/3 of the way down and began wafting up closer to it and prepared to move out (dry road). As soon as I steered right, around the sloth-vehicle and went over a small undulation in the road the "hip wiggle" I believed to be characteristic went wild and the car almost kicked round on me (TC ON).
A minute or so up the road, going in a straight line, the back swang the other way, almost like ti was steering itself with no warning and scared the hell out of me.
My questionsare as follows:
-What may be causing it
-Why did it do it under gentle throttle in the dry but wouldn't slide properly when provoked with harder throttle in the wet
-Has hitting the kerb (full size spare used) done something?
-Could rear trailing arm bushes be shot, rear arb bushes, drop links, front wishbone bushes and wishbones, front arb links and bushes or shocks and spring s be contributing as I wanna replace the lto soon
-Only other thing I can think is shot subframe mounts??
Any advice appreciated as in a car this (potentially fast) I now feel unsafe and unable to predict handling at all!!
Best,
Fred
PS no accident damage and HPI clear 2 owers - straight car
Could be one or more of many things. First thing I'd ask is what tyres is it running, and are they at the right pressures with plenty of meat left on them? P6000s are horrid, horrid things.
If you're not that familiar with the underpinnings, I'd probably be inclined to get it to a good independent specialist, ask them to give it a once over, and if there's no excessively worn bushes etc get an alignment done on it - something I've found to be well worthwhile on E46s anyway, brings them to life.
If you're not that familiar with the underpinnings, I'd probably be inclined to get it to a good independent specialist, ask them to give it a once over, and if there's no excessively worn bushes etc get an alignment done on it - something I've found to be well worthwhile on E46s anyway, brings them to life.
How hard did you hit he kerb? Suspension damage is certainly possible. Visual inspection and geting it on a 4 way alignment machine will find any problems.
Rear trailing arm bushes are also certainly worth looking at on these as hey cna leave the rear feeling 'loose' ,along with sub frame bushes. Shot rear dampers can also give really horrible handling, so I'dd check those. They're a doddle to replace and even Bilsteins are only about £45 each, so at 80k worth doing anyway IMO. I'd also look at geting your front lower ams done (£300 all in with quality parts) to help the overall handling of an E46, they use front lower arms as consumables and it leads to tramlining and indistinct steering.
My money would be on mismatched tyres combine with tired suspension and possibly some damage from your argument.
P6000's have never been a favorite anyway - on 200SX's they were known as widowmakers. Try some Falkens, Toyos or Eagle F1's is you cna stretch to it.
Rear trailing arm bushes are also certainly worth looking at on these as hey cna leave the rear feeling 'loose' ,along with sub frame bushes. Shot rear dampers can also give really horrible handling, so I'dd check those. They're a doddle to replace and even Bilsteins are only about £45 each, so at 80k worth doing anyway IMO. I'd also look at geting your front lower ams done (£300 all in with quality parts) to help the overall handling of an E46, they use front lower arms as consumables and it leads to tramlining and indistinct steering.
My money would be on mismatched tyres combine with tired suspension and possibly some damage from your argument.
P6000's have never been a favorite anyway - on 200SX's they were known as widowmakers. Try some Falkens, Toyos or Eagle F1's is you cna stretch to it.
The car is 'X reg' but is the spare 'X reg' as well?
I doubt a brand new mismatched tyre would make such a difference on 1/3 throttle.
However the tyre might be unused from 2000 (or whenever X was from) which is 12 years old.
You can identify the age of the tyre from codes printed on it.
I doubt a brand new mismatched tyre would make such a difference on 1/3 throttle.
However the tyre might be unused from 2000 (or whenever X was from) which is 12 years old.
You can identify the age of the tyre from codes printed on it.
Wow...
So many replies. Thanks everyone.
The tyre that is mismatched is on the front not the rear.
I didn't whack the kerb hard enough to hear a "bang" or anything just a dull pothole noise and the immediate realisation that the sidewall had gone.
I quite fancy a suspension refresh anyhow so will look into the price of having:
Shocks front and rear (plus springs)
ARB bushes and droplinks
Wishbones (and polybushed lollipops)
Poly RTAB
New wheels (BBS CH reps) and tyres
Any advice on brands of parts, dealers in the SW and Wiltshire area or better still websites to use for ths sort of refresh?
So many replies. Thanks everyone.
The tyre that is mismatched is on the front not the rear.
I didn't whack the kerb hard enough to hear a "bang" or anything just a dull pothole noise and the immediate realisation that the sidewall had gone.
I quite fancy a suspension refresh anyhow so will look into the price of having:
Shocks front and rear (plus springs)
ARB bushes and droplinks
Wishbones (and polybushed lollipops)
Poly RTAB
New wheels (BBS CH reps) and tyres
Any advice on brands of parts, dealers in the SW and Wiltshire area or better still websites to use for ths sort of refresh?
groomi said:
P6000's are terrible tyres, so if you've only got one on the driven axle then it certainly wont help matters.
Get your tyres sorted as you intend to anyway, then take it easy for a few days while they wear in and see how it behaves then.
P6000 on fron pass side not the driven wheelsGet your tyres sorted as you intend to anyway, then take it easy for a few days while they wear in and see how it behaves then.
Bilstein shocks, eibach springs, match made in heaven, and if you don't want it lower or more stiffly sprung than OEM you don't have to. In terms of hardware, well your choices are BMW OEM gear (£££ for the large part), aftermarket / adjustable (probably not required on a 330D unless you just want to), and probably the most palatable price wise, EuroCarParts / GSF type places.
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