Palmo

My first post in while and it's with a problem - sorry folks.

The crosswind issue - covered on here before but previous threads seem to contradict my experiences.

Today I have covered a 240 mile return cross country trip (in UK - Manchester to East Coast & back). The whole journey was in moderate wind conditions and to be honest my car is bordering on dangerous and un-drivable. Any thing above 55 mph proved to be a real handful, with 70 mph requiring serious concentration. The car was pitching and wondering from one side of the lane to the other

I have experienced this on a number of occassions before. In contrast in calm conditions the is 100% stable and a pleasure to drive at all speeds. From what I have read on other threads, isn't this something that usually only effects SE models due to softer suspension and not M-Sport models?

Do I have a fault with the car or is there a serious design flaw? There must be something that can be done to improve this. For the record my car is an LCI 525d M-Sport Built at the end of April.

Yesterday I narrowly avoided a serious accident as I hit some standing water at the exact moment a large gust of wind hit the car. I ended up drifting sideways at 70 mph on a motorway as a result. Fortunately due to my initial quick reactions and then intervention of DSC I was able to regain control. I'm convinced the cars instability in crosswinds caused this!

Any one experiencing similar extreme instability in crosswinds?

mhs525

My 545 was terrible with the Dunlop run flats but seems fine with my snow tires on. I'm hopng it doesn't come back when I go with PS2's in the spring. It is possible for tires to go bad and look fine from the outside. Tire pressure OK I assume. I read a review that talked about this. Very strange for a BMW. I think the dealer needs to look into this and I would be surprised if BMW is not also looking into it. You need BMW to fix this properly...

Palmo

Agree - I need to get this sorted! I should have mentioned my wheels are the optional 176m's with non RFT (245/35/19 front & 275/30/19 rear). They help the car handle flawlessly in all other situations, so not sure they are the cause?

JSpira

In October I drove 1300 km in a 535d and then, after delivery at the Welt, ca. 2500 km in my 550i with M-Sport Paket.

I hit all kinds of weather conditions (wind, rain, sun) and found both cars extremely stable.

hmc

My car also has this issue.

It may have something to do with alignment settings. My tires wear very slowly, which means camber and toe settings may be conservative and hence the car is more vulnerable to crosswinds.

I hope it's a tradeoff instead of design flaw.

kscarrol

While I can't ignore your feelings of handling in the wind, hitting standing water at 70 mph will result in hydroplaning and potentially loss of control, just as you experienced. It as scary and I have done it in my old Acura years ago. Don't be so fast to attribute the sidways drift soley to perceived instability in cross winds. I have driven my old 545 in many poor weather conditions, including strong cross winds and did not find the car to be unstable at all. While my experience is relatively short-lived in my new 550, so far it seems rock solid.

One question, do you have the Active Steering option? Could over correction by the Active Steering contribute to this feeling? I know the Active Steering will make corrections such as for the cambre of the roadway.

Palmo

Firstly, my car is not fitted with AS.

With regards hitting standing water I fully agree with your comments. However, in this situation, as I hit the water the car was already rocking & pitching from side to side as a result of the wind - I have no doubt this caused the massive drift. This time I was lucky!

Has anyone got a car that has suffered from instability that they have managed to get fixed? Geometry setting adjustments as suggested maybe?

Blunt

I had a similar experience and I found 2 problems which seemed to cure it (although my experience with cross winds and standing water wasn't anywhere near as extreme as you've described)

I noticed after a bit of a scary journey from Cornwall that both the rear tyres were nearly bald so I had these both replaced, the garage also noted that both front tyres were at 20psi.

With the new tyres and the fronts at the correct pressures not noticed any more stability problems in high winds...(fingers crossed)

Hope this helps... nothing worse than loosing confidence in the car

HotLap

Now that you mention it, my g-friend and I were headed over the ridge route (Interstate 5 in SoCal between LA and Bakersfield) and frequently there are moderate wind conditions. I was a bit surprised at how much my car seemed to be affected by the crosswinds (as it is rock solid in most other conditions)...just wrote it off to a one time event, but I will be keeping an eye on it next time.

Palmo

Thanks for suggestions. My back tyres are past their best but still have a good 3 mm left - am looking at changing these soon anyway - they have covered almost 18k miles (recently found that the gauge at my local garage is out and has resulted in me having approx. 10 PSI more than I intended and thus has began to wear the centres).

Out of curiosity how much did you pay for the rears and from where - are they the 19 non RFT (275/30/19)?

However, not convinced that the problem with mine is tyres or pressures as it has done this to some degree from new - very disappointing!