Euler

I put new tires on the rear of my car yesterday which were an exact replacement for what was already on the car. Now I get the ESP light on long turns like highway ramps. If I am in the turn long enough I get the ESP unavailable fault until I restart the car. The tires were not replaced at the dealer and they lifted the car instead of one tire at a time on a jack. The tread direction is correct and so is the pressure. Any thoughts?

zcct04

There's been some speculation that a difference in rotational speeds between the front tires and rear tires may cause ESP to act up, and that a difference in tire size between front and rear may be enough to trigger it. I don't know that it's ever been proven, but just in case - are you running stock tire sizes?

Another long shot possibility: brand new tires are always a little oily. Tire testers have a break-in process to scrub that off before they start gathering data. Are you finding it easier to spin tires than before? How long have you been driving on these?

Euler

Thanks for the reply. Tires are stock size. Also have P30 and LSD. I noticed that the suspension feels a bit more wobbly ofter the tire change. I have put about 100 miles on the tires. Lug nuts are tight. I watched the work and nothing other than the expected occurred. Are there any precautions needed for lifting the car off the suspension? Needless to say, I have put several sets of tires on the rear. This time though is a different shop, but the procedure is the same.

CarHopper

How's the tread on your fronts?

And tell us the actually sizes of the tires for the front and rear

Euler

Front: Michelin 235 40 ZR18 91Y
Rear: Continental 265 35 ZR18 97Y

Front has about 3/16" tread depth remaining

johnny--2k

Hate to tell you, that's not stock size... stock rear should be 255/35/18. This should not cause a problem though, as I'm running stock fronts and 275/35/18 rears, and have not had any issues like yours.

Eskareon

I'd take it back to the shop and have them double check everything. Make sure nothing was damaged by the lift, or during the install. It sounds like your ECU is reading enough disparity between the rotational speeds to freak out.

How old are your front tires? If you've gone through several sets of rears, and your old tires are that low and have hardened over time, perhaps there's enough difference in rotation when you're turning to make the ECU think there's actual slip happening when it's just instead a significant difference in tire diameters.

But I really have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'd still take it back to the shop just to double check.

Euler

With the window down I can hear the rear tire scrubbing in turns right when the ESP warning illuminates. Might be an issue with the LSD.

CarHopper

My only guess is the fronts are rears are off by JUST enough to cause your issues. Sounds like it because this is happening to you in long turns.

This might be terrible advice, but if you're not ready to buy new front tires as well try doing a good burnout to wear a little off the rears. Might gets things back in order. Again, however, I admit that this probably isn't the right thing to do but at least it will be fun and could work.

SubzeroAMG

It's the tire brands between front and rear. Tire sizes vary slightly between different manufacturers. I had a very similar problem with my 2006 Infiniti FX 35, I replaced the rear tires with a different brand same OEM size but taking long off ramps that was a curve I would get the VDC light flashing accompanied by the spring popping sound from ABS. Tire shop didn't know what was wrong so finally I just replaced the fronts with same brand and that solved my problem.

Euler

I have given that some thought and it may indeed be the problem, but I replaced the rears with exactly the same tire that came off. Now that I have more time on them it appears to be getting better. Thanks for all the replies.