Spare tire for a week now car feels floaty / traction light goes off a bunch
 

So unfortunately I had to drive on the factory spare for a week or 2. Lots of bumpy hilly roads. I've noticed now that I got back on 4 regular tires the rear axle or back end of the car feels floaty and the traction control light is going off on any bump and seems to be accompanied by the floatiness. It just doesn't feel right.

Is there something that can be recommended to check with the rear axle or diff? I've heard of abs sensors causing problems but I don't see how this would display the weirdness in the back of the car.

Any ideas or advice?

car is stock besides tires and pp struts and shocks.

Stupid Question #1: have you checked the pressure of your new tires?

Stupid Question #2: Are all four tires identical?

Stupid Question #2A: Including wear, or at least close to the same wear?

Stupid question 3: did you check the spare's pressure before putting it on?
Stupid question 3b: did you install the spare on the rear axle?

Stupid question 4: what caused the need to install the spare?

I dented the inside lip of the rim on a shit pothole, not the outside go figure. All tires are the same michelins 4s i believe they are called. Spare tire went on the front right not the rear. I did check the tire when it went on but I haven't checked all 4, hmm probably pretty stupid on my part I just figured I'd get a dash light if it was really low. I did check the spare tire air and aired it up before it went on.

I wish I could have done things differently but at the time it was our only working car and I had trouble getting it into a tire store. Now I'm kicking myself as I have never driven on a spare that long. Sorta a low point.

Anything that could be checked with the rear diff / axle? Now I'm afraid to hustle it around.

- I also forgot to mention the tire store f'ed up 3 of my wheel studs on front left and had to replace them before I got the car back.

Stupid question 5: Did you have the alignment checked after this damage?

Oooo.... @NoHaveMSG is on point! I'll take Get Bent for 600, Alex. Spare tire didn't hurt anything. You mounted it up front so good on you. :thumbsup:

Well I was pretty much bread crumbed into it :iono:


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It still could be a severely overinflated tire but dem breadcrumbs doe.

Ok I guess next thing is to take her in for an alignment. I didn't really consider that as the car seems to have as much or more trouble on rough straight aways than corners but my thinking i would notice alignment issue more on corners maybe flawed.

I just hope there is nothing else funky going on, the roads I drive are so damn awful I mean the worst of the worst in the state.

Go for the alignment, you hit a pothole hard enough to bend a rim...

Alignment is way more sensitive on the flat and straight. On-center feel is incredibly easy to get smashed out by any sort of impact.

When you say 4 regular tires are they the same tires or did you just replace 1? Did you buy new, used, old tire? If you have different wear on the back that will cause issues. If you have an old tire it will be hard and have poor traction.

They are all 4 michelin's I put on a new a year or so ago, the tire was not damage so it went back on once I got a new rim. Pressure's are all good.

To me it feels as if sometimes after a bump the car keeps undulating more than it should / use to. The back of the car is moving way more than it should.

Today after a spirited drive i have now developed an odd whirring sound at low speed, i'm definitely thinking there is something else other than alignment wrong now. Maybe I'll get lucky and the valvetrain will blow up and I can just light a match on the car while sitting in it.

things are not going well for me.

wheel bearing?

You might try swapping tires front/rear and see if the problem changes or goes away. If so, could be a bad tire, it does happen.

They are all the same model tire, right? "Michelin 4s" meaning Pilot Sport 4S?

You hit a bump hard enough to bend a wheel and now you have a "whirring" sound? As said try moving the wheels around. If that changes it you may have broke some belts inside the tire. It could look fine but cause all sorts of weird things. If moving the wheels changes nothing then check out the wheel bearing on the one that hit. hey are another common cause of whirring noises. Oh and get the alignment checked.

A poor alignment, left unchecked long enough, can cause other problems to crop up. I'm willing to bet you damaged something when you bent the rim that would've caused the alignment to go bad. Now you have problems in addition to that. @Tcoat is also spot on that an impact of that force could likely cause unseen damage. Whether it's on the tire or suspension, it could very well be there.

I'm surprised you chose not to get an alignment done when you got the tire put back on. Did you at least get it rebalanced? Getting both of those done at the time of the replacement would likely have caught any unseen problems. Any time you deal with rim or tire replacements you need to get those checked. It's not as simple as swap-and-go.

I've had some pretty wonky alignments, never had it cause any problems other than weird handling and weird/excessive tire wear. It shouldn't cause any permanent problems.

Floating suggests the impact could have also blown the shock. The whirring noise could be wheel bearing but those are easy to check. With the car in the air, grab the wheel on each side (3 and 9 oclock) and try to move in/out - this will check play in the steering rack and lower ball joint, then grab the top and bottom of wheel and check for play which would be wheel bearing. You can also take off your brake rotor and spin the hub by hand and feel for any looseness of roughness (or lack of grease).

I would never have considered this! Purely due to lack of firsthand experience. Makes perfect sense.

Annnnd

https://media.tenor.com/images/26dff...0270/tenor.gif

Sorry for the delayed post. I do appreciate the help. So i'm embarrassed to say the noise seems to have been from the plastic protector in the front. It was rubbing the slightest bit. I still have not gotten in for an alignment yet only because things are so tight right now $. Oof. I am convinced there is still something funky as the traction goes off on the slightest bump and you hear a thud from the rear. I can't tell if the traction control coming on is contributing to it feeling wonky or not. Maybe it's applying rear brake when this happens?

Also for the record I was not in the car or the one piloting it when the rim was bent. I got to figure it out later...grrr :) The tire did get driven on a little bit when it was pretty low psi probably 18 so tire damage internally would not be out of the question, however the weirdness over bumps with the traction seems to be the rear. I know people get all crazy about small things with their car but to me It doesn't feel how it use to, it was never floaty like it is now. It definitely feels less stable if you are trying to drive at all spiritedly. I just want to get the car back and do a darned mines road trip or something, have some fun in it.

Thanks for the help guys. Next step will be alignment. I am trying to find somewhere that will be able to tell me if anything is bent. I don't know if it would be good to take it in to a place like racers line to see what they say?

Just an FYI, if you go to get a 4-wheel alignment done and anything is bent, they will not be able to properly complete the alignment and they'll tell you.

Thanks for sharing. No shame. Shit happens. Talking about your experience helps all who come here for the big picture. :cheers: