Twitchy steering with Meyle bushes and Falken or Goodyear F1

[Zikim]

I have a 04 3.0i SE. I bought the car 3 months ago and had the front arms and bushes replaced with Meyle HD and also the rear bushes. At same time replaced the rear tyres with Goodyear Fi's which replaced the Falken 453's that were on the rears, but still leaving the fronts as Falkens (still lots of tread left). I also had full Hunter alignment checked on a separate hunter machine.

Since then it has instability at speeds over 50mph and what is termed on this forum as "Twitchy steering", in that when driving in a straight the the steering wheel will suddenly twitch to left or right. I have never experienced this in any car before and my previous was an S2000.

I have checked all suspension, bushes, tie rod ends, etc and all ok. I have played around with different tyre pressures as well.

This morning I have swapped as a trial the front tyres to the rear and visa versa and this problem has gone away. (I have now swapped them back!).

I would like to have advice and feedback from other who have "Twitchy steering" and what tyres does they have fitted on and what bushes are fitted eg. Meyle, OEM, poly.

The other question is, I now know it is the tyres, but which ones are the issue? I would say the Falkens as when these are on the rear and the F1's are on the front the problem goes away! Is my thinking right?

[ba3bas]

Are the good years on the right way?

It happens so don't be offended

[Zikim]

Are the good years on the right way?

It happens so don't be offended

Yes, the INSIDE marking is clearly on the inside of the tyres.
Thanks

[cj10jeeper]

My set up is near identical to yours. Goodyear F1's fitted a couple of months back and Meyle HD bushes (arms, droplinks, arb bushes too). Was rock solid on my previous Falken 452's and now a tendency to be twitchy on faster smooth roads. Certainly isn't tramlining.

I'm too busy working overseas to have another Hunter set up done, but doubt it has an issue, although I could work with them and change the settings slightly

Changing tyre pressures to 32/34 seems to have calmed it, but not yet perfect.

I'm sure it's a tendency of these tyres, which otherwise are a real step up from the Falkens

[ben g]

I have quite twitchy steering also, but I think it's mainly down to the Superpro polybushes on the front.

They give great handling, but every single bump in the road is far more pronounced.

I have nangkang ns2's on the front and eagle f1's on the rear.

[Zikim]

I have quite twitchy steering also, but I think it's mainly down to the Superpro polybushes on the front.

They give great handling, but every single bump in the road is far more pronounced.

I have nangkang ns2's on the front and eagle f1's on the rear.

Have you always had the twitchy steering or has it only been apparent when you changed to polybushes?

Or has it been highlighted more when changing to your current makes of tyre on the front or rear?

[Zikim]

Has anyone got an idea which tyres are to blame for the problem?

Having switched the Goodyear F1's to the front and the problem went away, am I safe in thinking that if I replace my front Falkens with Goodyear F1's the problem will be solved?

[Zikim]

I would like to sort this problem this week by either buying fronts to match the Goodyear F1's or to ditch the F1's and replace to Falkens, but I want to sort the problem and not possibly make it worse!!!

Can anyone help?

[wilbo]

I unfortunately don't have a solution for you but I have exactly the same issue. I had Falkens all round, then had the arb bushes changed for meyle HD and then had the rear tyres changed for eagle F1s and have twitchy steering on the motorway. So I would be very interested if you resolve the problem.

[Zikim]

Has anyone replaced their front tyres with Goodyear F1's, with a different make on the rear?

If so, was the steering twitchy?

[sniffer]

I had issues with my M when I put F1 Assys on it.

Have a search, there are a fair few threads on it with people having the same issue.

[Ed Doe]

I have done precisely this; eagle f1 assy2s and Meyle HD lollipop bushes. The steering does tug in the same way as I believe you're describing. I haven't found it to affect how it drives when I'm being 'enthusiastic', so I haven't bothered to pursue it further. I did get the geo checked twice as you did, and in both cases it was spot on, so I put it down to a fooble of the car and ithhasn't bothered me since!

[Zikim]

I have done precisely this; eagle f1 assy2s and Meyle HD lollipop bushes. The steering does tug in the same way as I believe you're describing. I haven't found it to affect how it drives when I'm being 'enthusiastic', so I haven't bothered to pursue it further. I did get the geo checked twice as you did, and in both cases it was spot on, so I put it down to a fooble of the car and ithhasn't bothered me since!

Did you replace front and rear tyres at the same time with F1's?

Did you replace the tyres and Bushes at the same time or was there a gap? Did the twitching start after both were done?

[Ed Doe]

I replaced the wishbone bushes and rear springs about 300miles before the tyres. Replaced the whole set and had the geo done:)

The twitching was always there, and in fact I found it worse on the Falkens, but I wouldn't like to rest blame entirely with the tyres as the rear springs were snapped and the bushes when inspected had definitely seen better days!

[Zikim]

Based on the trial I did last weekend of swapping fronts and rear tyres around and the responses from other people on the forum, I took the plunge and bought new Goodyear F1 tyres to replace the front Falken tyres.

The result is like night and day. The twitchy steering has reduced considerably and the stability over 50mph is now what you would expect, straight line capability and relaxed.

I can only conclude that the Falkens have a stiff side wall and the upgraded Meyle HD bushes and arms resulted in the wheels transmitting everything through to the steering wheel. The Goodyear F1's side wall is not as stiff so absorbs some of this unwanted feel.

Glad I did not go for polybushing!!!