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Wheels locking NOT under braking - help needed pls


Neoncypher

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Hi all,

 

This morning I had a very strange and dangerous situation with my Z. I was driving to work - I took a right hand bend (I'd say maybe 2 o'clock angle) at around 50-60mph, slight downward angle, and I wasn't braking, but I felt either my front or rear right wheel locking up (I think it was the rear but I was too bust concentrating on not dying to be sure). It did this three times on that bend, over the course of around 10 seconds - so it locked for a second or two, then freed, locked then freed and once more and then it was fine, as the bend straightened up and I'd obviously slowed down.

 

Does anyone have any idea what might have caused this? I had two new tyres on the rear just last week (Eagle F1 Asymmetrical 3), and it's felt a little unsettled since then.

 

Any help would be great,

 

Cheers

 

Adam

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Sounds scary! Have you had a look to make sure they put your wheeels back on properly?

Also what tyres do you run on the front? When i had mixed tyres it used to make my traction control come on.

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Had something similar happen to me last year at the ring, felt like ABS would kick in when going round a corner with heavy cambered road.

 

I don't know the exact answer but one of these was my factor - Bold inner tyre wall, Tracking/Alignment/New Tyres.

 

What tyre sizes are you running all round? And are they on stock wheelS?

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First check the tyre pressures. FREE!

 

Second, put some more miles on the tyres - it maybe as they are new the protective gel coat has not been worn off

 

And....

 

4-wheel alignment - NOT FREE but essential checks for Zeds, especially after new tyres being fitted IMHO. At the same time ask for ABS/TCS to be checked.

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Hi guys, thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

I'm running the standard tyre sizes on the GT Rays wheels, new rears are Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3s, 245/45 r18 - fronts are Falkens, can't remember which model. I didn't notice if the traction control light came on when it happened unfortunately. It was a dry road too.

 

I've checked the wheel nuts and they weren't as tight as I would have done them myself (approx 110-115 nm), they needed around an 1/8 to a 1/6 of an additional turn to tighten them to that measurement with my torque wrench.

 

I haven't checked the tyre pressures yet, and I did think it could be that especially when I first noticed that it felt a bit unsettled - I'll check that tonight after work.

Edited by Neoncypher
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I've had similar. It feels dangerous as it's unexpected and feels like it unbalances the car but I just put it down to the traction control doing its job a bit overzealously, as I'm usually errr exploring the limits of handling. :lol: I'd turn off the T/C and run the route again and see if it still happens - or maybe not you might find yourself in the nearest tree :wacko:

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Haha yeah I'd like to avoid trees ideally. The strange thing is that I've put the car through way more than this around the hartside pass etc, both with traction control on and off, and never felt anything like this. I'll check tyre pressures etc and report back. Thanks again for all the suggestions

Edited by Neoncypher
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Hi all, I checked the tyre pressure last night and it was 35 for both rear tyres (35 in fronts too). I've upped the rears to 37 and it seems to have helped alleviate some of the wobbles I was feeling. Are the Goodyear Eagle F1s noted for having softer tyre walls? I had Falkens on the rear previously and never felt anything like this. I've also thankfully had no further lock-up incidents, but then again I haven't been pushing it as much as yesterday as a precaution.

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Thanks Ekona, interesting read. I totally understand the idea, and yes ideally I would have upgraded both front and rear with the Eagle F1s if I had the coin atm.

 

StevoD - the fronts are quite worn, I'll be changing them soon.

 

To be honest, it didn't feel like a traction issue, I wasn't slipping or understeering at all, and I've activated the TC plenty of times, this just didn't feel like it. But again I could be wrong. I think there might be something going on with the rear right brake disc/pads, because I'm getting a rhythmic buzzing noise when I'm braking (I have mtec dimpled and grooved rear discs and brembo pads, both around 14months old, and the sound is definitely from that wheel). I thought it was just the grooves being noisy but now with this i'm not so sure.

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could be part of your issue

 

a 225/245 combo on new tyres has a diameter of 659/677 (or close as depends on manufacture).

 

If your front are worn by lets say 6 mm if they are close.

 

That makes the front 647 and rear 677.

 

Stock new difference is 2.66% with the fronts worn out your looking at about a 4.5%ish difference and its commonly said you can get up to about 3-3.5% difference front to rear axle before getting issues.

 

i had this issue when running 245/40 fronts and 245/45 rears on my z a few years back which gives a 3.6% difference and under turning at speed would put in traction control but it felt like the front outside brake was being applied to correct the issue

Edited by StevoD
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Only thing I can suggest other than tyres / road conditions is steering angle sensor if it's faulty damaged or out of line it does some wired things to the ABS I know cause I put mine on out of line when I rebuilt her :blush: may be worth getting the diagnostics on that, I can read the settings on my laptop but I don't know where your based.

 

Hope it helps :)

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Huge grip on the rear with decent tyres, low grip on the fronts with - its not surprising the TC has kicked in given you have done few hundred miles since the new tyres were fitted?

 

Honestly and given what you have now told us, you ought to change those front ones ideally to compliment the rears - as it is not just your life on the line but others too and wet weather the issue will only get worse. Presuming that like most on here you like to give it some beans when the opportunity arises :)

 

And then as I said above - get a wheel alignment done as the Zeds are are fussy about their under carriage being nicely in shape.

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I had a similar problem when I got my Zed.

 

It had newish Avons on the rear and the OEM tyres on the fronts, and the TCS come in sometimes on tighter bends.

 

Changed out the front tyres when they reached 2 mm a couple of months later to Avons to match the rears. No problems since.

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I had this issue for a few years on MI e and it is very unsettling. Mine was always on a right hand corner and it was one of the wheels on the left braking.

 

I fitted new tyres last year but even after months of wearing them in it still happens. This year I changed the fronts as I find Falkens loose alot of their grip once half worn. At the same time I had four wheel alignment done. My alignment was well out but since then not had the issue even on track. I would suggest doing alignment if that doesn't work try changing the front tyres to the same as the rear.Good luck.

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