AA Zone

Tyres??

Unpredictable sudden snaking

Original Post

IDEAS / HELP needed:

After new rear tyres fitted to Holden Commodore V6, my daughter found it to suddenly start 'snaking' at unpredictable times - not consistently on cornering, nor road dry or wet. Each episode did not commence till after some 20-30min driving (?related to something warming up).

Garage found nothing wrong.

Not entirely believing, I both went with her, then later drove myself. We each had a nasty experience. On each of these occasions, a series of climbing winding roads were deliberately driven. Handled well for much of them, then out of the blue a weird non-provoked snaking that was difficult to correct occurred. It was just after coming back to straight from when the cornering complete. As a very experienced driver, this was unlike anything I had experienced before. Not the typical coming unstuck when centrifugal demand got a bit too much, and traction/friction too little!

One "memory" triggered in me when I was passenger - a bit like my old 4WD when left on too long as the road dried out - that slightly perceptible grabbing/skid as the wheels cornered without benefit of differential.

Could some fault in the diff cause this very unsafe snaking problem?

Could the tyres (remembering there was no similar trouble before the new ones) somehow be slipping on the rims as they warm up? Giving differential traction?

ANY PRACTICAL IDEAS WELCOME - I value her safety.