When accelerating through/away from tight slow (20mph)left hand turn corners the front end keeps breaking away from me (very suddenly) . I havent noticed the same problem with right hand turning eg roundabouts and I am starting to loose confidence in this 'ultimate driving machine'. I am not doing anything that my 1.8t Golf Gti wasnt more than capable of and I'm not being stupid - maybe enthusiastic !
Car: BMW120d, RWD, Sports suspension, Run flat tyres.
It occurs to me I am now driving a RWD car with a heavier engine upfront along with run flat tyres which, to use a racing analogy feel like a very hard compound. So I'm wondering if I should take it back to the dealer to get the offside front checked out or do you guys/gals reckon that maybe it is just that a different driving style is required and that its just because there is a bigger lump upfront now (apart from me !).
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Have a good look at the tyres on the front of the car. Are they wearing evenly? If they are then its probably you, otherwise there's something wrong somewhere.
How many corners have you checked this on, it could be camber related if its only on a few corners.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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HJ, you did your review a couple of weeks too late for me, order was already in and 'locked' by the fleet co ...:-(
So with a car that 'pushes' there must be a different technique any pointers much appreciated, this is part of my reason for the post as I have driven FWDs for twenty years or so. Although I have to say the cornering on my various test drives was fantastic and part of the reason for the switch and I'm not sure why it would manifest itself on left handers and not right handers !
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Has the car a Limited Slip Differential?
Fullchat
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I may be barking up completely the wrong tree here but does this occur only on particular corners on a route you drive regularly? Reason I ask is because some corners/roundabouts near us are particularly slippery at the moment. Combination of lack of rain to wash roads, salted roads, dampness in morning and evening, muck from agricultural vehicles, diesel spills maybe? etc. Certainly need to tiptoe round some corners, and the sharper they are the worse it seems. Wheelspin under accelleration is not normally a characteristic of my Berlingo - but it is at the moment. Maybe not you or your car but the roads??
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Can you try it on an empty car-park so you can check left and right are the same or different?
If there's a difference then it's worth checking the tyre pressures first, and seeing if there's anything obviously loose around the front suspension (worst case on one of my cars the anti roll bar mount was loose on one side - understeer around left hand bends and oversteer around right hand ones!)
If it's the same around left and right bends then it's probably due to the differences HJ listed above.
One last thing, try another similar car around the same route and see if it's the same as yours?
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There is a difference in driving techniques on FWD and RWD. I learnt on RWD but was lucky enough (!) to also drive my dad's Renault 16...He used to tell me to "throttle steer" the sixteen as the effects of the power feeding though the front wheels would lessen the effects of inherent steering differences between fwd and rwd. To this day if I have been driving the BMW for a length of time I find it takes a few miles to adjust to "feeling" your way around bends in fwd be it the "primitive" but powerful office Cavalier or the modern MINI of SWMBO. It is really difficult to write about the different techniques required - don't write the Beemer's handling off until (a) checked the tyre pressures (b) thrown away the awful run flat tyres or (c) had an "appreciation" drive (aka a damned good thrashing on a country A class road in the dry...).
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Oh the only fwd car I have driven that comes anywhere the feel of rwd is SiL's Puma..
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In addition to all the excellent ideas above, check the rear tyre pressure on the righthand side:
if this one is a bit softer than it should be, the weight transfer on your left turns will take weight off the opposite corner..
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It might just be that the roads are awfully slippy at this time of year...
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Ok yes there are differences in FWD and RWD handling. Someone who is used to driving in a spirited manner will notice the differences. Someone who is driving in a very spirited manner may wish to change/learn/adapt new tecniques between the two.
However, if in the course of *normal* driving you have noticed a marked difference then you may have a problem.
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