Palmo

Thanks guy's for all the advice & suggestions.

My car has suffered with crosswinds from new (8 months old now). However, this does seem to have got worse more recently.

On the advice of several people on here I have closely inspected my rear tyres and found them to be much more worn in the centres than on either the inside or outside edges - similar to over inflation. This is strange in itself as I have always stuck with the reccomended tyres pressures of 36 PSI (30 PSI front). I always check this without fail weekly (even though it has TPMS fitted - old habbits die hard). This has me confused. I reckon the inside/outside edges have approx 3mm of tread, while the centres are virtually on the wear bands (1.6mm) - maybe the cause of my recent aquaplaning experience? In contrast the fronts are evenly worn with between 4-5mm of tread left.

Do people think this is the cause of my car feeling worse recently?

I am obviously looking at changing the tyres in the next few weeks (hence my other thread asking for tyre reccomendations). Think I am going to stick with the Conti 2's to keep a matching set on the car - maybe consider trying another brand at the next change when all will probably need changing together.

I will post with results after the tyres are changed.

Thanks again.

timewa

Yes, strange... During that 150km Autobahn trip with strong crosswinds, only 1 or 2 cars overtook me, and I passed over 100. Even though I was driving defensively (family was onboard). That's why I'm pretty sure that the E60 by itself is quite stable in the wind (as you'd expect from a long, relatively low car) and much better than average.

I'm sure you'll be able to solve this by optimizing tires or something like that.

One thing came to my mind: I don't have active steering. Could it be that that's the difference? I think that this feature can actively steer the car: It may be fooled by crosswind, making false corrections. You can check by turning DSC/DTC off, that should also disable active steering (be extra alert though!).

Good luck with solving it, don't let it spoil the E60 fun.

timewa

Sorry, I just read that KSCAROL had the same suggestion about active steering. I replied too soon. Another suggestion: M-sport bodykit vs standard bodykit? I find it hard to believe but there must be a major difference somewhere...

Good luck.

Richard in NC

I just happened to drive the 550i (with M sport package) in pretty heavy cross winds yesterday. I have to say I felt the wind more than expected. It was never dangerous nor did it ever push the car but I felt it and kept both hands on the wheel. I don't recall feeling it as much in the E39 M5 or 650i. And they were worse feeling than a Mitsi 3000GT VR-4. That car was incredibly absolutely stable and unpreturbed by anything, even at 140 mph.

Back to the 550i, one would have to drive it back to back against other cars in the same condition to say for sure that it is worse (to the point of being bad).
My theory is it could be the low profile 19in. wheels & tires, tramlining at times that can add to the instability, the relatively large side profile (compared to the E39 for example), or possibly the concave surfaces in the car's styling catching the wind.

kscarrol

I, like Richard, had a chance to drive the car in high winds (20 mph steady w/ gusts approaching 30 mph) following the passage of this cold front yesterday (550 w/ the same tire/wheel set up). You can definitely feel the wind pushing on the car when it hits from the side, but I would not describe what I felt as unstable or dangerous. But I can recall a similar effect in my old Acura Integra from years ago. Granted it weighed a lot less than the 5, but it also had a much smaller surface area at the sides. It does sound like Palmo's experience is being aggrevated by the the tire situation...

xBMWx

When I first changed from my E46 3er to my current E60, I also felt as though the E60 was not very stable in cross-winds compared to what I was used to in my previous 3ers. At times, I was unnerved and always had to keep both hands on the wheel. This was when I had the standard 18" 245 RFT Dunlops, however after moving to the staggered 19" set up (245 & 275) on non-RFT Michalin PSs, the car handled much better in the same conditions. I have not had any real issues with the cross winds since then and that also includes my current winter set-up on 18" 240 non-RFT Dunlop Winter Sports. I can therefore only conclude that changing the wheels and tyres brought an improvement, however not sure if it was the RFT to non-RFT change or simply having them realigned / fitted correctly? No doubt is was a combination of these changes that improved the handling.

Palmo -- have you had your wheels aligned / balanced etc recently? If you are changing the tyres soon, make sure this is done and see what improvement it brings?

monacobmw

I think that this is a slight design flaw, but the issue seems more obvious to me. The car is large but light...the "kite" effect. The overall weight is less than my old Mercedes C-class.

The tradeoff is that the fuel economy is great as a result. The highway numbers that I am seeing for a car of this size amaze me.

This car is not a "tank" like some of the competitors, but it seems like a good mix of weight and responsiveness.

I am probably being unfair to some of the comments made because I live in South Florida where there is hardly any wind on a day to day basis (of any major strength).

Any agreement or disagreement with these comments?

narvselius

I had exactly that problem with my E91 325i. Driving with RFT's and trying to negotiate through side winds was difficult and I had to be alert all the time. However, changing to winter tyres on that car resulted in a big improvement, the feeling could be described as going from a RWD to AWD car....!

GT Premi

Agreed. The E60 is tall and mega-slab sided. When a crosswind hits it, it may as well be hitting the side of a house. Though I will agree with the OP that the amount of affect a crosswind has on this car does catch you off guard. I got hit by a strong one and was surprised. I thought, "Whoa! My 300M Special didn't get slapped like this!" But it wasn't as bad as what the OP experienced. Probably because of the more battened down nature of the V8 5-series (Sport.)

Palmo

I must admit that I have wondered about the large size but relatively low weight of the car been a contributing factor.

I'm going to get a pair of replacement Conti 2's in the next few weeks as a starting point at improving the car. I've had a quote of ?408 for the pair (fiited & balanced Inc VAT). Is this a good price for these?