I have recently noticed that my car's handling characteristics have changed. My car tends to find ANY crack on the road, and then the tire will "grab" onto it and send my car in all directions but straight. Sometimes it's so bad, that it yanks me into the next lane, is this common? It also feels like there's a lot of yaw or side-to-side movement, which in turn makes the car difficult to control. Should I be checking something or you think that something might be broken? I have a 2006 RX-8 GT fully loaded 6sp w/ 40,000 miles on it. I just replaced my rear tires, but my front tires are almost bald, but still have a few miles left in them. I have no idea what this is, it's like when i bought the car, it was the best handling car I had ever driven, and now, it's hard to keep it in the lane while driving on the freeway here in San Diego.

 

make sure your back tires are balanced. Make them check the rotation balance again.

Did you change your tire size from 225 to 245?

 

logic says since you replace the rears something else occured. Did they do a full alignment?

What you are describe is called snap steer, when a car has an aggressive alignment (toe in, camber, etc) the tires constantly put pressure on each other, when one tire is changed (aka hitting a deep bump) the other tires take control and cause the car to swerve.

 

Any "clunking"/mild knocking noises in the front end yet?

 

You Should always replace all four tires at once not 2 at a time. Did you notice the change right after you got 2 new rear tires? I would also check your front endlinks and see if they are broken or not.

 

+1 Have them recheck all your tires/alignment

 

No, never get an alignment with bald tires. It's your front tires that's the problem.

 

This is where I was headed with my query.

 

+1 on this

 

Get the other 2 tires...and then an alignment ( a good one...not at the dealer )

Report back if you still have a problem

 

There is no knocking in the front or anything, but now that you mention it, I think it did start after I got the rear tires replaced. I only replaced the rears because I didn't have the money to purchase all four, my fronts do need to be replaced, they are almost bald, I will do it within the next month. This "snap steer" is pretty bad, my car is definitely "dancing" all over the place. I hate it. I peeked underneath and didn't notice any broken end links or anything, but it was a real quick look. I kinda think it might be the front tires too, but can it really change the characteristics that drastically? that's crazy!! I got the rear tires at Discount Tire Wherehouse, there the OE size (225), although I wanted to get 245's, they had to order them, I didn't want to wait, so stuck with the 225's. I believe they're Continentals. Would it really fix the issue if I replaced the front tires? I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that the tires can change the handling characteristics that much!! Anyway, thank you all for educating me and helping out. Should I go to Discount Tire Where

 

I replaced both my rear tires recently and changed the size from 225 to 245. I had the same exact problem and found out it was because the tires weren't balanced (even though they said they did).

Dillsrotary - I still feel a snap steer though and only at high speed. It's not bad but still dangerous. Can you tell me how I can fix this? I was thinking about going back to 225 or change the front to 245.

Thanks.

 

ninja: keep in mind that when transitioning from stock 225 to 245 you have more tire-roadway contact surface area and the vehicle will therefore be more prone to slight changes in steering input.

Trinads: this reads to be more alignment in general and possibly endlink (bushings) related. And of course near-bald front tires throw allot of variables into the equation. When you get your new front tires (hopefully soon!) be sure to get a good alignment and then you'll be in a much better position to evaluate.

 

When tires are almost worn out they tend to "follow the road" more. your problem almost sertain is with your front axels, change the front tires and make an alignment.