Car feels like a boat.
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Car feels like a boat.
4 hours ago I got 4 of tires replaced went for Hankooks Evo2's front 245/35/19 - rear 255/30/19 and did alignment.
Directly after driving out of the shop I felt the difference, the steering was exteremly light. Getting on the road was a different story, taking a very fast lane change made the car swerve! It feels like a s350 very floaty and unresponsive it takes alot more steering angle to achieve the same turn.
This is killing my enjoyment of driving my beast since it doesnt have the precicison and harshness as before. I read it could be new tires coating which gives it less grip, but is this enough to change to driving feel totaly?
Directly after driving out of the shop I felt the difference, the steering was exteremly light. Getting on the road was a different story, taking a very fast lane change made the car swerve! It feels like a s350 very floaty and unresponsive it takes alot more steering angle to achieve the same turn.
This is killing my enjoyment of driving my beast since it doesnt have the precicison and harshness as before. I read it could be new tires coating which gives it less grip, but is this enough to change to driving feel totaly?
#2
Member
New tyres need to be bedded in. Plus depend on tyre temp as well.
May be worth checking if the alignement is out? (could still be despite this being done)
Mine needed to be adjusted 2 times before they got it right.
May be worth checking if the alignement is out? (could still be despite this being done)
Mine needed to be adjusted 2 times before they got it right.
#3
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Front camber -2.03 -1.98
Front toe 0.17 0.16
Back camber -1.56 -1.56
Back camber 0.11 0.12
Any idea if these are up to spec?
#4
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OP -- check your tire pressures and make sure they are where they have to be.
#5
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Tried a crazy amount of different tyre pressures. No change at all.
#6
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Tires can change the entire feel of the car. After all... They are what touches the road..
Pressures in spec, alignment in spec, then I hate to break it to ya but it sounds like it's the tires you just picked up.
Pressures in spec, alignment in spec, then I hate to break it to ya but it sounds like it's the tires you just picked up.
#7
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Oh well... I learned my lesson never buying hankooks again. I presume I need to change all 4 again to get the feel back?
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#8
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I'd wait for others to chime in, I'm no expert, but this is just what it sounds like to me. Also, I've run quite a few tires on a lot of different cars and hands down I've had the best success with MPSS.
#10
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#11
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Originally Posted by AMGTQ
Thats actually a typo. I went with 235s front.
#12
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Hankook Evos are fine for a street tire, but the downgrade from stock contis maybe what you're feeling. My guess is tire pressure, or wheel balance is off when they installed.
#14
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#17
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Tried 42 on hot tires then down to 30 in 5 increments. Running on 32 right now.
An update tho, the car feels planted and the steering is heavy again below about 60km/h. However on highspeeds it feels floaty. Kinda scary driving above 160 right now since I don't feel I can trust the handling.
An update tho, the car feels planted and the steering is heavy again below about 60km/h. However on highspeeds it feels floaty. Kinda scary driving above 160 right now since I don't feel I can trust the handling.
#19
Junior Member
I had the exact same feeling you described when I replaced my Super Sports with... another set of Super Sports. I forgot how miserable it was until I just read your post and remembered, because now I've worn them back down a bit and there is a lot less tread squirm.
Going to a different make of tire can definitely explain the difference in feel, as each tire type obviously differs. A few questions to provide a different perspective for you:
1. Is this your first tire change on the car? If so, you went from learning the car from day 1, slowly and progressively over time, to now putting on brand new tires that sort of 'reset' the steering feel all the way back to day 1 again. You've probably forgotten what it felt like since you've driven tens of thousands of miles since then.
2. Did you let your previous tires get really low? Low tread means super fast, snappy steering response. There's significantly less tread 'wiggle' when you demand the tires change direction, and you probably became accustomed to that responsiveness. You'll have to give your new tires some time to wear down a bit, as well as give yourself time to get used to their feeling of delayed responsiveness. Also, that "extra turn in" you're describing is textbook for new tires - you've got fresh, tall treads which literally take longer to respond to your steering input as they flex more under load. We're talking milliseconds here, but it's certainly noticeable. The result is you feel like you have to turn in more to achieve the same results.
3. Do you drive aggressively? And I don't mean "like a jerk," I mean do you enjoy driving your car like a sports car - hard cornering, lively acceleration, just enjoying the car for what it was built for. If so, you're going to feel the above 1 & 2 much more than someone who infrequently demands anything from their tires.
When I got my second set of Super Sports put on, I very nearly went back to the shop to say something had to be wrong with them. It literally felt like the back end wanted to snap out on me, and everything was squirmy. But I told myself to give it time because I knew better, and sure enough, I had totally forgotten about it until I read your post. And it's only been 4 months.
Going to a different make of tire can definitely explain the difference in feel, as each tire type obviously differs. A few questions to provide a different perspective for you:
1. Is this your first tire change on the car? If so, you went from learning the car from day 1, slowly and progressively over time, to now putting on brand new tires that sort of 'reset' the steering feel all the way back to day 1 again. You've probably forgotten what it felt like since you've driven tens of thousands of miles since then.
2. Did you let your previous tires get really low? Low tread means super fast, snappy steering response. There's significantly less tread 'wiggle' when you demand the tires change direction, and you probably became accustomed to that responsiveness. You'll have to give your new tires some time to wear down a bit, as well as give yourself time to get used to their feeling of delayed responsiveness. Also, that "extra turn in" you're describing is textbook for new tires - you've got fresh, tall treads which literally take longer to respond to your steering input as they flex more under load. We're talking milliseconds here, but it's certainly noticeable. The result is you feel like you have to turn in more to achieve the same results.
3. Do you drive aggressively? And I don't mean "like a jerk," I mean do you enjoy driving your car like a sports car - hard cornering, lively acceleration, just enjoying the car for what it was built for. If so, you're going to feel the above 1 & 2 much more than someone who infrequently demands anything from their tires.
When I got my second set of Super Sports put on, I very nearly went back to the shop to say something had to be wrong with them. It literally felt like the back end wanted to snap out on me, and everything was squirmy. But I told myself to give it time because I knew better, and sure enough, I had totally forgotten about it until I read your post. And it's only been 4 months.
#20
MBWorld Fanatic!
Those V12 hankooks take a WHILE to wear in on cars with a lot of camber. I ran a set on my 350Z and had the exact same high-speed instability for the first couple hundred miles. I have put them on cars for other people and gotten the same inital reaction, it isn't that the tire is crappy, but I think whatever mold release compound they use is really slippery and gets into the rubber quite well.
To the post above about tires being great right out of the box, absolutely not. Maybe a track ready tire, but they are designed to be warmed up to work. Most tires need a little time to get the release wax off the outer shell and work as they should. Maybe 20 miles, maybe 200, depending on the tire, but a brand new tire will almost never work as well as one that has a few initial break-in miles on it.
To the post above about tires being great right out of the box, absolutely not. Maybe a track ready tire, but they are designed to be warmed up to work. Most tires need a little time to get the release wax off the outer shell and work as they should. Maybe 20 miles, maybe 200, depending on the tire, but a brand new tire will almost never work as well as one that has a few initial break-in miles on it.
#21
i recall having the same "floating" feeling when i changed my rear tires too. Get them rebalanced, and even if it is the coating new tires come with, give yourself some time to get used to the tire. The car is perfect now.
#22
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First of all, new tires grip like crap for the first 300 km or so because of all the mold release oils that are in the rubber compound near the surface (otherwise they could never separate the tires from the molds). Add to that lower ambient temperatures (even if you live in sunny Florida), the fact that the Hankooks are a "budget" tire - certainly not bad, but, say, 10%-15% worse in all aspects than the leading brands / models, and the fact that until their replacement you were presumably driving on "slicks", and you have your answer. Drive them for a few weeks and see how they feel then. Whereabouts do you live (as in "what are the ambient temperatures in February")?
#23
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Thread Starter
Uhhh... driving above 160 (and I can only assume this is in km/h - so likely in Canada or some country in Europe)... in February, with tires inflated to 32 psi... Are you really that f***ing stupid or do they just call you that, dude? Yes, I am calling you an idiot because you are one. I just hope I'm nowhere near you when you win your Darwin award.
Have a nice day.
#24
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Yes, this started as a tire thread... and I will gladly discuss tires with you, but when any normal human being sees something so glarigly wrong as to be dangerous to someone's life, at least in my universe I feel that it is their duty to say something as hurting someone's feelings does not have a higher importance than preventing injury or saving a human life. Now, maybe you really didn't know that what you did was stupid, but if you were not an idiot you would have realized that and stopped instead of continuing to defend your irresponsible behavior.
So - I am now going to pull out of this, but if you have an ounce of gray matter in your skull, I would STRONGY suggest that you stop with the juvenile behaviour and replies, reflect on what has transpired here in the last day and try really hard to draw the much more important conclusion - not the one about your panties being in a twist.