Damn car follows every groove in the road.

[ls1 nova]

Not sure if this is the right place to post but I will start here. I have a 99 ws6 trans am that I bought new and it follows every rut in the road. Been doing this since new. Is it just the front tire size, alignment maybe?? If the road is fairly new it handles pretty well. Just figured I would throw it out there.

Thanks

[406 Q-ship]

Have the alignment checked. I would bet money that it will turn out to be toed out.

[ls1 nova]

The car only has 15k miles on it and was aligned at 7500 miles when I got new tires. This has been a problem since day one. With that being said who knows if I could trust the alignment shop!!

[ls1 nova]

Hey, thanks for putting me in the right spot!!

[MrQuick]

what brand tire? Some tires will cause this too. But have your alignment specs checked. Post up the specs if you can.

vince

[Rhino]

I have had my '02 SS since it was new. It happens to me as well. I've looked it over top to bottom to only find no issues. As a test I threw on a set of much narrower wheels and tires. The issue magically went away.

My only logical conclusion was tram lining (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47).
Unfortunately I've simply learned to live with it and drive down the road a little to the left or right of the road grooves.

I remember back in the days of the old SLP board there were a multitude of others who seemed to have similar issues. I think it's the unfortunate side effect of this track width and tire size.

[Krazed]

Yes, from what I've noticed here in Alaska. We have horribly deep, and large ruts/grooves in the road caused by studded tires. Having wide tires, and certain tire brands (Very grippy, ie: Kumho, BFGoodrich sport series stuff, etc) cause this worse than others.

Having a heavier vehical solves the issue somewhat, but also just narrower tires, and more caster and less toe in. This helps improve straight line ability, but also causes decreased turning response somewhat.

[makoshark]

A factory spec`d alignment is gonna cause tracking on those cars. I had an 01 ws6 with a perfectly aligned front end that tracked like crazy. It`s the wide front tires that cause this. You can change the alignment to bring that to a minimum, but at the cost of unusual tire wear.

[silver69camaro]

My mother's '97 tramline'd like crazy too, as does my 330i. I agree it's an alignment issue, my '69 has 275mm tires up front with no tramlining at all.

[BonzoHansen]

Big tires do that. When aligning it run the toe to the maximum toe-in within the spec. I'm not sure more caster helps but it might. I don't see much else you can do.

[Jarcaines]

if the width of your car and size of your tires aren't "average" compared to all the other cars on the road, you are going to get tracking.

[silver69camaro]

Big tires do that.

I disagree. My 330i does it very badly with 225mm front tires, and my '69 doesn't show a hint of tramlining with 275mm fronts and zero toe. It's straight as an arrow on just about all road surfaces.

[Rick Dorion]

Matt, what's the alignment specs between them?

[HWYSTR]

Add positive caster, above factory specs if needed, will correct this issue. +2.5 - +5 in some cases is needed. If the steering wheel feels very 'light' to input, then there's not enough positive caster.

.

[silver69camaro]

Matt, what's the alignment specs between them?

Camaro: +5.5 Caster, -0.750 Camber, 0 Toe (Front)
-0.60 Camber, 1/8" toe in (Rear)
BMW: +5.5 Caster, -0.750 camber, 1/16 Toe in (Front)
-1.5 camber, 1/8 Toe In (rear)

[6'9"Witha69]

Overall track width? My HHR SS trasmlines like hell but my Camaro does not.

[BonzoHansen]

I disagree. My 330i does it very badly with 225mm front tires, and my '69 doesn't show a hint of tramlining with 275mm fronts and zero toe. It's straight as an arrow on just about all road surfaces.

Is "big tires will increase it" more appropriate? My experience upgrading tire sizes on both my cars and customer cars leads me to believe larger tires accentuate the issue. But maybe I am discounting other factors.

[Turbo Rob]

I fought this for years, re-did the entire front end, etc, to no avail.

I then got rid of my directional Yokohoma A520s and switched to assymetrical Vredestein Sessentas (tires) and the problem disappeared.

[Krazed]

Tire tread and flatness also helps. I've noticed a HUGE difference on my Barracuda going from the old, pizza cutter 205/65/15's with typical oldschool all-terrain treads, to a sport tire thats 255/35/17 and very sticky high performance tire.

Prior to that, it hardly pulled and drove great. After switching to the sticky newer , flatter tires.. it wanted to climb every rut.

[JEFFTATE]

My only logical conclusion was tram lining (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47).



Thanks Rhino ,
The Tire Rack Article was informative.

I understood that the following :
Extra toe-out turns better / faster , so that can increase the effects of tramlining.
Extra toe-out reduces vehicle stability .
And large tread block tires tramline easier.
Also , the more negative or positive Camber increases a tires tendency to turn..

So , if I reduce my toe-out and reduce my negative camber a little ( within reason ) , I may reduce my cars tramlining problem...