I live in San diego and on my route to school everyday in my MINI cooper S with the 17" minlite look wheels and the stock runflat tires I am getting some serious movement on a stretch of highway 5 north just out of downtown. the car slides back and forth because of what I believe to be the tire tread catching the cut grooves in the freeway's concrete road. Does anyone else experience this or know if this is normal?

by the way I am going anywhere from 65-80 MPH

 

Yes, I have this too - it is the rain grooves they drag on the highways here when they surface them. Some So. Cal highways have this - especially the 5 Fwy. I have the 16" runflats from Goodyear and get the same moving back and forth in the lane where there are rain grooves. It is scary too, as you never really expect it and you feel not so in control any more.

Does anyone know some tires that would fix this? Yoko's or Khumo's?

 

Just guessing, but a tire with large flat tread blocks may help. Which Yoko or Kumho? A032Rs have huge blocks but are R compound.

 

Yep; same here. It's been discussed B4 too. I have the Pirelli euforia 17" and the tramlining or tracking is horrific on the freeways. It's simply the tread block pattern with the 5 vertical grooves. I've noted it to MINI and also to Pirelli. I'm working on swapping the tires for something else because I just hate it. Good luck.

 

this is the reason i'm getting rid of the runflats!
i'm not gonna miss the security of runflats either, just some fix a flat and a cell phone is the remedy!

 

So I did it. After much discussion with Pirelli and my local shop, Pirelli has replaced my runflat Euforia's with the P Zero Asymetricos. All of the tracking problems on the freeway are gone. It is a vast improvement. I just had to pay for the mounting and balancing - good deal. Talk to Pirelli customer service at 800-PIRELLI. Now i'll just carry the phone, AAA card, fix a flat etc. Good luck.

 

sweet thanks for the HOT tip I will call them first thing tommorow. Was it easy to get them to change the tires out? Did they hassle you at all?

 

I have a question ( I posted this ques. a week or so ago with no replies). Not being informed about tires and such, I was wondering if non run-flat tires can be put on the 17'' S-Lites. I don't really have the dough for new rims and tires. I too, am having the same jumpiness on the freeways with my Pirelli Euforias. I will say that it seems the faster I go the less it happens. BTW: I'm in SoCal as well.

 

skrutzen Yes. You can put non RFs on your rims. No problem.

 

I've got Yoko 215/45/17. It happens depending on the road surface.
Talk to the highway department. Nothing wrong with your car or your
tires. It can be even more interesting on a motorcycle.
Not as prounounced as my wifes Toyota with 14 tires.

 

>>skrutzen Yes. You can put non RFs on your rims. No problem.

Thank you. I now need to decide what kind of tires i want to put on! Again, know nothing about this subject so I must do some research.