Can repacement rear tyres affect steering?
Discussion
Following a recent MOT i had the rear tyres on my 02 330 replaced. Since then the steering has felt very light and at one point both the ASC and brake warning lights came on constant yellow - but have since gone out. A friend suggested it may be the new tyres. any suggestions please.
biggabish said:
Following a recent MOT i had the rear tyres on my 02 330 replaced. Since then the steering has felt very light and at one point both the ASC and brake warning lights came on constant yellow - but have since gone out. A friend suggested it may be the new tyres. any suggestions please.
It's most likely been caused by the rear wheel sensor being disturbed when the tyres were fitted (usually throws up an ABS and ASC warning lamp when it fails). I have also read that sometimes if the rolling radius of the rear tyres differ to the front wheels, the sensor detects the speed differential and triggers a warning as the tyres are no longer rotating at the same speed.
In your case, as the warning lamp has since gone out again, I would suggest it was the former of the two I describe and the sensor has settled again.The sensors are very prone to getting dirty, especially with all the snow and salt on the roads recently so it may need cleaning. If it keeps coming on and cleaning doesn't help, you'll probably need to replace the sensor (not expensive to do
)From what a mate told me a while back, E46s are renowned for being very sensitive to the type of rear tyres fitted, with some tyres causing tramlining and rear end stability issues. His 330i had the traction control light blinking occasionally on fast fairly gentle sweeping dual carriageways at high speed after he swapped from one premium brand to another (can't recall which), eventually he ditched them and went back to the original fitment which cured the issue.
LocoBlade said:
From what a mate told me a while back, E46s are renowned for being very sensitive to the type of rear tyres fitted, with some tyres causing tramlining and rear end stability issues. His 330i had the traction control light blinking occasionally on fast fairly gentle sweeping dual carriageways at high speed after he swapped from one premium brand to another (can't recall which), eventually he ditched them and went back to the original fitment which cured the issue.
+1, I'd say they can be hyper sensitive when it comes to tyres. For E46's (and E36's) I'd avoid mixing brands front and rear, avoid fitting different tyre models from the same manufacturer front and rear (especially directional and asymetrical models), always buy quality tyres (check the BMW forums like BMWland for tyre recomendations), and always ensure the pressures are correct. They can even be sensitive to the tyre size fitted, with some sizes causing more pronounced tramlining than others, even with top quality tyres fitted.Even following all this advice is no guarantee of perfect handling mind, I'm running Goodyear F1's on My E36 328i Sport and when the temperature drops, she tramlines quite badly, despite all the suspension being checked and replaced.
Another thing to note on E36 and E46's is that tyres can be a very personal choice. What might be a fantastic tyre for one owner, can be inconsistant rubbish for another. It can take time to find tyres your really comfortable with and sadly, it's not cheap to experiment.
As for your front tyres feeling light, first thing I would check is the tyre pressures. Make sure they're all to BMW's specification (check your drivers door jam for confirmation).
Hope this all helps sort it out for you.
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