Every so often the steering wheel will pull to the right or left when I'm braking gently. It usually happens when I'm approaching a traffic light at an intersection on a busy highway. The brakes and steering are otherwise fine. The tires are good and properly inflated.

I suspect it's the combination of the wide tires and ruts in the pavement caused by lots of heavy truck traffic. The tire will ride on the edge of the rut, causing an unbalanced force on the steering system.

Has anyone else noticed this and reached the same conclusion?

And yes, I searched, but found no relevant threads.

 

Crowned roads suck in all cars.

 

Agreed. Nothing to worry about.

 

Winchman, most everybody in the sports car world refers to this condition as Tramlining. Your fathers Oldsmobile and all the other giant old domestic cars favored by grumpy old men didn’t exhibit this phenomenon. Sporty cars have more aggressive steering geometry. Also less caster, a lesser amount of steering trail (for sharper steering response), and healthy amount of negative camber. Add to this, wider gripper tires with stiffer lower profile sidewalls and you have a car that at low speeds will find every ridge and rut in the road.

This condition can really sneak up on you as your high performance tires wear down. As the tread wears down the little notches and grooves separating the tread blocks disappear effectively putting more rubber on the road. This condition added to the fact that the lower tread height allows less flexibility in the tread blocks will make the tires want to grab the ruts and pull into them even more. When I last changed from my thoroughly worn out performance summer tires, to the same size of less aggressive All-Seasons for the winter, all vestiges of tramlining disappeared.

 

STFU and go back to kitchen















J/K actually it was very informative. Thanks

 

No brake-front suspension is perfectly balanced. It will pull one way on the other depending on factors such as tires and alignment. Only you can figure out if the pull is extreme.

 

ahhh ive notice this before on the freeway slowing down! eeekkkkkk

 

Hilarious, Jenn you are a brave woman. this forum is choc full of yuppie Alpha male idiots, of which I am a proud card holding jack@ss member since 03.

Every seven years the planets align, the earth opens up, and i get a chance to whip this picture back out, and for that I thank you truly.





Im also totaly playing. No ill intent whatsoever, i can dish it, and i can take it too.

 

I've learned more from her than I have from 95% of the other members on here.

 

Agreed.

And I thankfully don't get this in my Z, but my dads 530 with the M sport suspension is NOTORIOUS for this. It finds any rut in every road. Lol. I'm guessing its the combo of sport suspension and his low profile/wide tires like stated. Its not much to worry about, but it can be annoying.

 

listen, Im at my desk working files.. and if no one laughed at the magic lemur picture, im going to be very very VERY hurt.

 

Lol

 

i've experienced extremes of this - prob due to a 10.5" front wheel and 285/35 tire.

the sensation is intense and forceful. it'll literally pull the car left or right and require
immediate input.

didn't grasp this was a real, defined issue...

 

Thanks, Jennifer. You've added a new word to my vocabulary along with some useful info.

 

agreed.

"all vestiges of tramlining disappeared."

That is some pretty hardcore linguistic smack down happening here my lady.. i think ill change my facebook status to that sentence and see what kind of response i get. aaaaand its done.. status updated.. k ill be gone, sorry, it was just fun. hee hee.

 

The brakes are adding to the effects of bumpsteer/rollsteer/camber and toe gain. ALmost any car with a sport suspension has to deal with this to some degree.