[oobowls]

I purchased my '13 Passion convertible with Continental set of 165/60R15s in front and 195/50R15s in the rear. They appeared to be the original tires with 41,000 miles on them. Rear tires were down to the wear bars so I replaced them with Hankook Ventus V2 Concept, same exact size. Car always drove/handled as good or better than my 24 year old Miata. Now on a mountain dual carriageway right hand 60 mph bends have caused frightening thumps from the right front wheel.........feels like the tire is rolling off the rim.... The rear tires are soooooooo grabby, but the pre-existing fronts seem to have disappeared........What the heck is going on? Is it merely due to my rear tires having zero miles and the fronts have hardened with 46,000 miles? I do realise that 165/60R15s in front were never matched with 195/50R15s in the rear........when it comes time to replace them it will be with Hankook Ventus V4 175/55R15s.......please help.

 

[1stiski]

Sounds like you had a cord slip or a weight come off .go to a good tire specialist and seek their expertise.

 

[oobowls]

No work was done on my front tires/wheels whatsoever......only the back wheels were removed.

 

[smark]

So your running 2 different brand tires, front and back? Not a good practice. like mentioned, take you car, to a tire store. Have them look at your tires. I didn’t know they offered Hankook tires for the stock smart car. Just on the Brabus.

 

[jzchen]

If original the front tires are roughly 7-8 years old. Make sure they are okay it may be time to change them also.

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[vadsoom]

Aaaahhh... the "thump." Been there. In my case, the yaw sensor under the driver's seat was faulty and causing the ABS to glitch on even moderate corners. In my case, it would trigger when turning to the right and the car was on a bit of an incline, resulting in a "blip" of the ABS pump. It's quite frightening when it happens, making a thump, a jerk of the steering wheel and a really uneasy feeling for the driver.

To get rid of it, I replaced the yaw sensor, recalibrated and then recalibrated the wheel clock spring to get the stability control system to behave properly. Unfortunately, you'll either need a MB star machine to do the calibrations or a trip to the dealer.