Z3 has turned "squirrelly" - United Bimmer Community

**lanshrk** · 08-24-2005, 07:17 PM

My 1998 Z 2.8 with 26K mi on it has started "hunting" ridges on the interstate and has wicked oversteer if you lift your foot in a curve.

The obvious cause would seem to be the new Michelin Pilots that I just had mounted on the rear. These are the exact same in model, size and appearance as the originals on the front, but are in fact 7 years newer and may have different compounds, fibers, or such. Even so I find it hard to believe that the car would change that drastically at normal speeds with any high quality tire.

I am wondering if the yahoos that mounted the tires damaged something or perhaps just the act of lifting the car caused some old bushing to give out. I did get under the car and poke around without finding anything obvious, but did notice that there is some play in the driver-side inner tie rod (the part that attaches to the rack).

If it had happened over time I would suspect the rear subframe bushings or that tie rod, but it happened immediately after getting those tires mounted. Anybody have experience with one of these cars getting "loose"?

PS. I have experimented with adjusting the air pressure, but it did not make a difference.

Thanks

**Antiburn** · 08-24-2005, 07:23 PM

What exacatly is the car doing? Pulling to the right or left or what?

**Antiburn** · 08-24-2005, 07:24 PM

What exacatly is the car doing? Pulling to the left or right or what?

**xsperf** · 08-24-2005, 08:00 PM

check your control arms

**Dudesky** · 08-26-2005, 04:28 AM

Maybe the new rear tires just need a break in period. Sometimes they need to soften up a little, or wear away the outer surface of the tread to acheive their rated traction. Best way to do this is to rotate them to the front so they wear faster. Hopefully they didn't sell you an older set of tires where the rubber has started to harden.

**xsperf** · 08-26-2005, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudesky_E36

Maybe the new rear tires just need a break in period. Sometimes they need to soften up a little, or wear away the outer surface of the tread to acheive their rated traction. Best way to do this is to rotate them to the front so they wear faster. Hopefully they didn't sell you an older set of tires where the rubber has started to harden.

or just do a couple of burnouts

**Dudesky** · 08-26-2005, 05:57 PM

^^That was my first thought, too

**lanshrk** · 08-27-2005, 10:39 PM

The car just feel unstable in the rear. This is most evident if you are accelerating in a corner and the let off the gas. The car dives towards the inside of the curve. Not so much as to be unsafe, but enough to be obvious and annoying.

Thanks for the ideas. It will be a week or so before I get to it, but I will lift the car and check the rear control arms for left-right flex. I am guessing that a valid check is to lift the tires a couple inches off the floor and crowbar under the tire in attempt to wiggle in and out at bottom.

**xsperf** · 08-27-2005, 10:46 PM

well when you lift up your car, just go behind your car and look at it, look at the wheels, if the wheels are perfectly verticle, your control arms are fine, if they slant inwards(toward the car) then they are bad, and if you have negative chamber(if they slant outwards) then they are good and that should improve your handling, a lot

**xsperf** · 08-27-2005, 10:46 PM

btw too lazy to edit my post, but its a common problem with e36's because a lot of tow truck drivers dont know how to tow cars, and when they come to pull the car they pull the car by the control arms and bend them

nick_318is · 08-28-2005, 01:06 PM

How hard are you letting off of the gas, my experience from drivers schools and things that I have done is that if its a big lift and your pushing the car that its gonna be very unstable if not snap out of line on you. But if your just letting up a little bit (feathering the throtle off a little) you should pull right back into line without any incident. I dont know if its just this simple problem or if its the tires not being "broken in" as was suggested above. Definitly check out the control arms as xsperf suggests. Good luck and let us know when you find out what the issue is.

**robertcooksley** · 06-28-2009, 02:52 PM

why not try putting the new tyres on the front and the older ones on the back? its got tio be the tyres

**Sunzout** · 07-24-2009, 10:54 PM

Your rear subframe or trailing arm bushings maybe going. But I'd suggest the same as other...new tires all round.