after driving my 98 xk8 (ive only just got it) i notice on some roads manly side streets it tends to drift or tram-line a bit, its not to bad but you know its there. the car has just had all the front bushes done and there is no play in wheel bearings. as i have never driven a xk before i have nothing to compare it with. just wondered is it normal. at speed on a good road no problem can take hands of steering and will go straight. maybe its just down to width of front tyres 245/45/18.

 

Most X300/XJR owners have done battle with tramlining.....that model being particularly notorious for the problem.

Suspension wear, alignment, and loose wheel bearings can enter in but, IMHO, tires are the biggest factor. Seems that once you get to 50-series or lower aspect ratio the chances of tramlining are greatly increased. Still, though, different tire/tread designs are worse than others. And tire *condition* is important as well.

My XJR was so bad, even after trying different tires and other remedies, that I wouldn't let my teenage daughter drive the car at freeway speeds as I was afraid it would get away from her. Changing to 60-series tires solved the problem once and for all.

I've driven many cars that suffered tramlining to one degree or another--911s, Corvettes, Camaros, etc. My experience is that not every car with low profile tires tramlines but every car that tramlines has low profile tires

Hopefully others will chime in with "least likely to tramline" tire recommendations for your specific model.

Cheers
DD

 

As usual, Doug is on the mark......

Some measure of this tramlining is just a consequence of higher performance tires. Now and then when the condition starts to grate on me I just punch the pedal a time or two. Makes me forget all about it!

It will get progressively worse as the tire tread depth falls, and when the tires are replaced, you will think you have a new car again!

Worthy sacrifice in my book.

Cheers,

 

I always thought that this could be countered with a little bit of positive toe. Negative makes the car darty, neutral feels vague and positive, where the thrust vectors converge slightly, makes the car track better.

Is that not true?

 

Mine has totally rebuilt suspension and until I put on new tires it did it real bad.

After the tires it will just slightly follow rain grooves.

Thats being said, my 928, Z28, do it also.

 

I give the same advice to everyone who asks this question.

Do not fit Pirelli tyres , if fitted and the tramlining really annoys you change them!

It was one of the 1st, and best, things I did, even though the Pirelli tyres fitted had over 4mm.

Vast improvement - though as stated, with these low profile tyres almost impossible to cure completely.

 

Sometimes a Hunter Road Force Balance by a competent wheel & tire tech makes a world of difference. That certainly stopped my wife's 2006 XK8 from pulling strongly to the right after getting two new rear tires a month ago....

 

thanks guys not so worried now

 

BTW, my Falken ZIEX tires are pretty dern good

 

Yeah, with really wide and flat tires, you have to expect a little. There is noticeable tramlining on my XKR on certain gradient and uneven road conditions... just enough so I have to put my hands on my steering wheel, not enough to really be concerned with.

 

I put wider tires on both the front and back on my car. I played with the tire size calculator on tirerack.com trying to find wider tires that kept the revolutions per mile about the same as the factory tires. I ended up with 275/35's on the front, which are a little more than an inch wider than the factory tires. The tramlining became much more noticeable with the wider tires, although it wasn't so much that it took away any of the enjoyment of driving it. In hindsight I wished I had stuck with the 245's.

In addition to the tramlining, I think the wider tires also slowed the car down just a tad on acceleration, too. Wider tires are heavier and it takes more power from the engine to get them rolling.

 

Had to look up tramiling, never heard that term before and I've been doing alignments for 42 years. The term we've always used is 'tire creeping'. It is a (my WAG) 90% tire, 10% alignment issue. Caused by tires with no center rib in the tread, low profile tires, excessive camber and/or excessive toe-out.

With low profile tires, the lower the slip angle the more likely the tire will creep as there's no sidewall flex to 'soak up' road surface imperfections. Dually ruts, lane seams, etc. will force a stiff sidewall to transmit the irregularity through the suspension and steering. Likewise, tires with huge tread blocks (think Proxes and g-Force T/A KDW, et al - ridiculous tires for the street IMHO) have extremely little tread flex to accommodate real-world street conditions. So, as tires age and their tread diminishes they become less compliant and voilà!, creeping becomes increasingly prevalent. You know why racers shave their tires before competition. But you should also realize they race on smooth track surfaces where creeping is not typically an issue.

Excessive camber can exacerbate the condition as can toe-out. Some racers with shaved tread, high negative camber and toe-out (sometimes helps improve turn-in) will experience creeping even on smooth tracks. Negative camber sometimes helps but too much is just as bad as excessively positive. Toe-in is normally set slightly in so that the tires will 'drag' open to a parallel position when driven forward. This can sometimes (depending on tire and vehicle) produce 'loose', 'swimming' or a lack of on-center feel. A slight addition of more toe-in can sometimes help but as toe is very, very critical to tire tread life it has to be watched extremely closely. On some cars 1/16" can increase tire wear immensely. Also helpful is reducing tire pressure as it 'softens' the tire somewhat, allows slip angle to increase and the tire to be more compliant. Again, you need to be careful as reduced pressure also increases tire temperature and fuel consumption. Excessive reduction leads to increased chances of punctures (any puncture automatically zeroes out any and all speed rating the tire may have had, no matter what repair is effected) and carcass failure due to overheating.

Hopefully this helps or at least gives y'all something to think about.

 

One more consideration - those that have opted for new wheels and have strayed from the original offset or have gone +1, +2, etc. will no doubt have increased their chances of experiencing this lovely phenomenon.