New Tires!I had Discount put on S Drives yesterday.A strange rear wiggle sensation on the drive home.I was trying to gage the responsiveness of the tires by turning the wheel in quick jerks and the resulting sensation was one I've never fealt!Like the car was ready to rotate or become unstable at quick rate(skittish).Upon arriving home,I checked psi-42lbs on all tires!After adjusting,took a drive.The ride is better obviously,but I still detect a strange instability that was not there prior to tire change.
Old tires:215/40/17 khumo.New Tires:yoko S Drives 215/40/17
It almost feels like the car was sabotaged??Any ideas?
Read my sig for suspension mods......It has never felt this way before!...wierd!

 

I have 205/45/17 Yoko S Drives on my 06 MCS with about 600 miles on them. Have the tires at 36 lbs at 70 degree temp. My tires say "re-inforced" on the sidewalls. I do not have any wiggle when jerking the steering wheel from side to side. The tires when new did have a very slick feeling, easy to slide. You need about 500 miles of easy driving with the correct tire pressures and the slickness goes away. I am happy with them, find them very responsive. Bill

 

The additional depth of tread can cause a new set of tires (even same-for-same replacements) to feel unresponsive and darty. Also, the slippery compound used to release the tires from the molds will contribute. Give it a week - the tires will break in and you will adjust to the additional tread squirm.

 

Glad to know you are happy with your S Drives, I think we will be going with them on our Ultraleggaras I will be purchasing.

 

If the road is concrete with grooves, the new deep tread my be following the grooves slightly. I've experienced that with other tires.

Also tires have mold release on them when new. If you've ever ridden a motorcycle with new tires, you'd know they are nearly like riding on ice until the mold release is burned away with a few heat cycles. That can account for some instability in a car tire when new as well.

 

Platform, what kuhmo tires did you have? And how did you like them?

 

I had the Ecta SPT's.For the money they are probably among the best.I did'nt have any issues with them.They lasted for just over 16,000 mi.I wanted a slight upgrade without rolling out the major bucks.We will see if it works out w/these Yoko's.

 

Yeah,I know that sensation.This sensation is like pulling a little trailer and feeling the tracking of the wheels as they are reacting to the movement of the trailer.Almost like an independent rear suspension?Bizarre.I did'nt feel this when my khumos went on.

 

I have Yoko Parada Spec 2s and they are "squirrelly". (Actually I just like saying that...) No, really, compared to the Falken RT-615s they are very darty, have increased the torque steer (contributed to it, as I went to 18s as well.)
My conclusion is that these Yokos are not the most confidence building tires out there. I won't be getting them again, that's for sure. I just hope they don't last long...

 

Update!I went to Discount and told them the tale of woe.They road course balanced them.More driving:still s---!I took my car to my Mini dealer and let the head mechanic sample the squishfest.He concurred on all counts.Nothing mechanical wrong with the suspension,just the crap tires.So in summation,If your driving style seeks out overly dip setted turns,"rowboatesque" lateral tilting,rolling and heaving and a highspeed sense of impending doom,then the S Drive Yokohama is YOUR tire .I'm gonna bite the wear bullet and put the Star Specs on like I planned.At least Discount Tire is a solid customer 1st company.The Dunlops will arrive in a few days.

 

Platform, very interesting,there is much difference between 215 and 205 sidewalls construction obviously. I have spent a lot of time roadracing sports cars and have a lot of track time so I can understand your complaint. Hate that marshmellow wobble thing in tires, so when I was searching for tires I would find the brand and size and actually feel the sidewalls, funny you can push and feel the walls of tires on the rack and get and idea of thier stiffness. My experience with the Yokos in 205/45/17 is they are not squirmy and have fairly stiff walls, hence my writing "re-enforced sidewalls". The fore poster also says about the new tires needing some break in to heat cycle the tires. In my previous post I mentioned the temp I set my tire pressures as I've found a lot of people have a tendency to over-inflate thier tires and that will give you the squirrely feeling. To bad you are having bad luck with the Yoko's. I've used thier racing tires and have had good experiences with them. Wish you the best in your new brand. Keep us posted. Spad

 

..thanks Chili.will do.

 

The Platform, Digging a little deeper. The Kumho 215/40/17 tires weigh 20.4 lbs. The Yoko S Drives you replaced them with weigh 24.3 lbs, that is 4 lbs per corner more, one heck of a difference to the suspension tune you are used to. Also the Kumho site says they are an "extra load" tire which I would take as stiffer sidewalls. My Yokos only weigh 22 lbs, about one pound more then the Dunlops so the suspension tune feels about the same. Hope these thoughts help you on your next tire selection, it is hard after you've set up your car to one tire. All part of the fun. Bill

 

How many miles on the tires? I'm convinced it's just the mold release you're feeling. Every set of brand-new tires I've driven on has felt horrible right away. Summer, all-season, and winters; same experience with all of them.

 

-that's good info,thanks Bill

 

I had the S Drives put on Sat.(50 miles at most).I never experienced this sensation with the Khumo's.I did'nt want to be stuck with a tire that did this the rest of it's lifespan(since tires supposedly dont have a "break in period").....so,they are out of here.

 

Platform, Glad to hear that discount tire is going to take care of you and put on some other tire. I have heard of that problem with the s drives only once before... as far as the star spec that your getting, i've only heard good things about, apparently they are nice and sticky. keep us informed.

 

-will do .How do you like your rotor and pad front setup?I'm considering all options between a bbk and just rotor & pad change on the front.

 

The Hawk HPS pads are really really good. A LOT less dust than the OEM'S. The rotors are really good as well. I can tell a huge difference over the OEM set up when I start to do some heavy breaking. I thought about doing cross drilled, but since I don't track it really I didn't think I really needed them. And the DS's look awesome. If you don't track your MINI than a bbk isn't really needed, if you do then it might be nice to have; if not then it just looks cool and performs better then anything you'll ever need. If you're looking for prices, I found the best deal at raceshopper.com, Edwin was awesome and they carry a ton of stuff.