Car Talk - Non S2000 General Motoring and Non S2000 Car Talk

tram lining

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Old Nov 24, 2008 | 08:39 AM
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what exactly is tram lining and what causes it. I have seen i quoted several times on this forum and didn't want to show my ignorance by asking but.....damn, now you know!
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Old Nov 24, 2008 | 09:13 AM
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Tram lining to me means when you are driving along in the left hand lane (normally the worst affected) and you feel your car being 'dragged' left or right. It's caused by the indentations in the road made by heavy goods vehcles. I guess certain vehicles are more prone than others depending on track width and 'possibly' the type of tyre on your car.
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Old Nov 24, 2008 | 10:52 AM
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The car will corner as if it's dropped the wheels into "tram lines" set into the road and seem to steer all on its own.
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Old Nov 24, 2008 | 01:36 PM
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so are s2000's susceptible to this more than other cars?
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Old Nov 24, 2008 | 01:44 PM
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Yes, but probably no more than many sports/performance cars.

Many sports/performance cars have more sporty geometry set-up than your typical a-b box and will suffer more tramlining as a result. You could set the geo to get much less tramlining but then the rest of the handling would probably be a bit crap.
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Old Nov 24, 2008 | 02:13 PM
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I never had either of my S2K's tramline .... but sold a BMW 330i sport that kept doing it to the point it frightened me

Someone on this site had also had a 330i sport and they had no problems at all .... so I guess to some extent it is down to choice of tyres ....

All the 5 series BMW's I drive at work with run flats suffer from it ... some people can put up with it - others like me can't stand it. I personally think the S2K drives and handles great - but if you want to experience tramlining then just for the hell of it go find something with run flats ... that should do it nicely !
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Old Nov 25, 2008 | 12:46 AM
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Both my S2000's tramlined really badly when the front tyres were worn.

The wear on the fronts was always on the inside of the tyre due to the setup of the camber (IIRC), hence the tramlining.
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Old Nov 25, 2008 | 12:51 AM
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Really bad in Blackpool....
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Old Nov 25, 2008 | 02:48 AM
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Originally Posted by moff,Nov 25 2008, 09:46 AM
Both my S2000's tramlined really badly when the front tyres were worn.

The wear on the fronts was always on the inside of the tyre due to the setup of the camber (IIRC), hence the tramlining.


Except that I had only one example to judge from
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Old Nov 25, 2008 | 12:14 PM
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I have only my s2000 a few weeks and a couple of times have found something has pulled me off the straight (and narrow ) as if I was breaking and a pad had worn down to the rivets. Could this be tram lining or signs of something else?
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