Twitchy at higher speeds

[Origin Unknown]

Just replaced the rear boots on my E39 530i and despite a thread on here asking about what tires, I went with some Nexens. I initially took the advice on here and asked for Falkens or Conti Sports but as I have been getting tires from the same place for the past 10 years, the chap in there said that considering my journey is 90% motorway he said I should stick on a pair of nexens and offered a very nice price.

Fast forward to now, about 3 weeks on and 1500 miles and something just is not right. At higher speeds, the car is so twitchy and I am constantly correcting it. Hard to explain but the whole car feels lighter, if that makes any sense?

Any thoughts? What pressure do you 530i'ers run your rears at btw?

[Gaygle]

Origin Unknown said:

Just replaced the rear boots on my E39 530i and despite a thread on here asking about what tires, I went with some Nexens. I initially took the advice on here and asked for Falkens or Conti Sports but as I have been getting tires from the same place for the past 10 years, the chap in there said that considering my journey is 90% motorway he said I should stick on a pair of nexens and offered a very nice price.

Fast forward to now, about 3 weeks on and 1500 miles and something just is not right. At higher speeds, the car is so twitchy and I am constantly correcting it. Hard to explain but the whole car feels lighter, if that makes any sense?

Any thoughts? What pressure do you 530i'ers run your rears at btw?

I don’t understand, why should you not use Continentals or Falkens on the motorway?

Incidentally, the guy i went to to get my tyres said the exact same thing and spent 10 minutes trying to convince me they were basically as good as the Conti’s i was having fitted. I then noticed that he had Nexen adverts up absolutely everywhere in his garage and realised that the only reason he was pushing Nexen’s so hard was probably because he got a good bit of commission off them. Unfortunately, mixing tyres (especially budget and performance tyres or directional and non directional tyres) on an E39/E46 can lead to trouble like this. The only thing i can suggest is double and triple checking your tyre pressures, but if these are fine, then i’m afraid you’re probably stuck with it unless you change your rear tyres.

My guess is that it is probably because the Nexen tyres are directional and i’ve learnt that this is a big no no on my E46 as it causes this exact problem.

[mgmrw2003]

My E36 had mismatched falkens in 3 corners and something cheap in one other.. Switched these for 4x goodyear eagle f1s when plonked 17s on it. Skits around like fk.

Same issue.

One can assume that beemers just dont like directional rubber then? After all, eagle's aint cheap.

[edc]

I don't know if it is directional tyres per se as our E46 has Uniroyal Rainsport 2 all round and seems ok.

[mgmrw2003]

will stick the cheapos back on the 36 at the weekend and test.

four tyres to match them would cost about a tenner, where as the four on it currently top 600quid. BUT make it skittish.

Spring assisters in the rear end didnt help either

[Origin Unknown]

Gaygle said:

I don’t understand, why should you not use Continentals or Falkens on the motorway?

The argument was that a 90% motorway commute is easier on tires than say a commute that more town driving/A road/combined, etc. He offered them to me at half the price of conti's or falkens and I just moved into a new house, it seemed like the way to proceed. Also, there were Nexen’s on it when I bought it and it handled great in wet and dry.

Also, the tread pattern is exactly the same as the Falken FK452's - which I have on the front so, although I expect the compound of the nexen’s to be softer as its cheaper, I figured I would still get good mileage out of them and as I said, for the cost, it seemed a good buy.

The drive now at higher speeds just doesn’t feel planted like it did previously.

[waxaholic]

Have you made sure that the tyre pressures are correct ?

[4rephill]

mgmrw2003 said:

One can assume that beemers just dont like directional rubber then? After all, eagle's aint cheap.

I've run Goodyear Eagle F1 gsd3's on My E36 328i Sport for the last five and years and apart from a bit of tramlining when the weathers cold, I've never had any problem with them, especially grip wise, in the wet or the dry!.


To the OP, are you running different tyre brands front and rear?.

The reason for asking is that certain BMW models are incredibly sensitive when it comes to the tyres fitted and it can end up driving as if some part of the suspension is no longer connected somewhere, especially when different makes are fitted front and rear (both the E36 and the E46 are renowned for this, not sure about the E39 though).

[mgmrw2003]

4rephill said:

I've run Goodyear Eagle F1 gsd3's on My E36 328i Sport for the last five and years and apart from a bit of tramlining when the weathers cold, I've never had any problem with them, especially grip wise, in the wet or the dry!.

They grip, just feel a bit...... skittish at times. May be something else, or our roads.

[MarkwG]

mgmrw2003 said:

They grip, just feel a bit...... skittish at times. May be something else, or our roads.

running them on my M3 saloon, sticks like glue, wet or dry - pressures or set up, maybe?

[mgmrw2003]

MarkwG said:

running them on my M3 saloon, sticks like glue, wet or dry - pressures or set up, maybe?

Im currently running matching F1s on rear, 1x f1 on OSF and 1x michellin winter tyre on NSF.... wonder if


OR it could be due to spring assisters in the rear. Had to add them as large alsatian was causing arch scrub

[gizlaroc]

This is exactly the behavior you get when you have different tyres front and rear on a BMW.
Get the fronts swapped too and you will be back to a stable ride.

I have had it with different load ratings on an E39 530i sport touring, same tyres, just the front was an XL load and the rear standard, luckily the garage swapped them as they had not ordered what I asked for.

[mgmrw2003]

bugger that, I'll just get shut of the car if it annoys me that much. Easier