Hey guys,

About two months ago, I got new run flat tires on my rear wheels at Costco. Immediately after getting it back, my car was practically undrivable - fishtailing on the road. It was horribly dangerous and I took it back right away. The techs said nothing was put back wrong, that everything was ok, and that maybe the tires were "tracking" on the graded road. B.S. I know what tracking feels like, that is NOT tracking. Something was WRONG. Took it to the Dealer, they gave it a good checkover and found that one of the rear control arms was out of spec and the alignment couldn't be corrected. Replaced the rear arm (to the tune of a grand), and it drives BETTER - but not right. I filed a claim with Costco, but they still haven't sent me a check. *grumble*

It doesn't fishtail now, but what it DOES do is pull strongly left or right depending on the road, its roughness, and angle. It just doesn't track right, and it is unpredictable when driving. Not as dangerous as before, but still not right. I'm not sure what could have happened when I got my tires changed, but my car went from driving like a dream to being a veritable nightmare, and it's STILL not right. Is there perhaps something I should check in my suspension that maybe the dealership missed? What could be happening here? I just want my sweet driving r56 back. :(

Thanks in advance, everyone.

-Kris

 

Did they do both sides?
Could it have been on its way out and some rough handling during wheel change loosened it further? Other than that someone maliciously messed with it?

 

after replacing the one side control arm they said they were able to get the alignment into spec.

If alignment is fine, what could cause such serious handling issues?? I'm really baffled.

 

Did you have them install a pair of run flats on the rear with conventional tires on the front? It is never recommended to mix and match tires, always replace them in sets. Even the same tires but with different tread wear will have different traction coefficients which will cause handling problems.

Did the dealer give you a print out of the alignment? Post it here or post the specs after alignment.

What tires did you have installed? Cheap tires can't handle the MINIs handling capabilities, which will leave you in situations such as this.

 

Old tires (now only on front, not a lot of tread left) - Bridgestone Potenza RFT RE050A 205/45R17

New tires (only on back, full tread) - Bridgestone Driveguard RFT H1302 DRGUAZ 205/45rf17

both are Bridgestone and run-flats... the guy at the tire store said that the Driveguards are what they're supposed to be replacing the Potenzas with.

 

Silly question, but they didn't fill your tires to something astronomical did they? Over inflated tires will cause pulls, and poor handling due to a lessened foot print.

 

nope, factory spec. It doesn't feel like I'm losing traction, it feels like it's pulling in different directions alternately. If I'm driving on a road sloped to the right, it'll pull to the right, if I'm driving a road sloped to the left, the left. If there are ruts and I ride to the left side it'll pull to the left, and if I ride to the right side, it'll pull to the right. It's rather unpredictable and kinda scary.

I'm afraid I couldn't find the alignment printout, but the receipt I have says that it was put to within factory spec.

 

Gonna get a couple new tires put on the front in the morning to see if that changes anything.