Evening all- I am thinking of returning to standard wheels on my three door in the hope to reduce tramlining.
The roads in Malta are terrible and its takes all the fun out of driving, I have had the car fully aligned along with every single bush replaced.
The car is running 8x17 mo,s with 215/40/17 on the front and 245/35/17 on the rear , I have read on many and forum that a higher profile will eliminate this?
Anyone had any experience with poor handling/tramlining that was resolved by reverting to standard wheel setup?
Also anyone tried putting 225/15/50 R888 on the rear and 215/50/50 r888 on the front of a 3door on standard rims?

Thanks for any input - just want too enjoy driving her again.


Tim.

 

Hi mate,

My 3dr used to tramline when I was on 8x17 mo's but I was running coil overs too, std ride hight and there was no problems.

Cheers

 

Cheers- mine is standard ride height and running konis, the ride is not so bad but anything above 50mph and she's all over the place.
I have tried everything apart from reverting to standard wheels, that why I am asking about standard wheels.
Tired of throwing money at the problem with no results.

Thanks for your comments mate.

Tim.

 

What's the toe setting on the front? Apparently Ford advises to run them parallel but that makes it very sensitive to tramlining. It's better to run 2 mm toe in.

 

Lower arm bushes are worth checking also it depends on what offset you have ET 35 I found is the best for 17's

 

What is tramlining?

 

when the car follows lines in the road mate

 

My saff seems ok and ive got 215/35/18s on that.

I had a sierra hatch back that had escos wheels on and the tyre size was215/40/16s and that sierra used to tram line like a bitch.

 

Hi- all bushes are new, Et38- I set my toe in to 45minutes each sum 1degree 30mins.

I think im going to go for standard rims with 215/50/15 on the front and 225/50/15, cos nothing left replace that would cause this.

Cheers. Tim.

 

What tyres you running Tim?

 

hi- costina-fronts 215/40/17 TR1 Toyo Rear 245/35/17 TR1 Toyo.


Tim.

 

you know how sometimes lorries cause ruts in the road where they run all the time?

tramlining is when the front wheels fall into those ruts and then just stay in them, or pull to whatever side there is camber on, or the like

makes the front end really twitchy and you always need to fight the steering otherwise it can pull the car from side to side

it can be caused by too wide a tyre or too much pressure or suspension being too hard or too thin a sidewalls of a combination of all of the above

 

My mrs brand new focus tramlines all the time

 

Have you tried replacing the rear diff mount? My saff used to drive really bad and wander all over the road like it tram lining. I replaced the diff mount for a new ploy bush one and it improved it no end. I thought it was the 18's causing it so I tried different wheels etc and it made little if any difference. I then replaced the diff mount and it 99% cured it. My mate had the same problem so I told him to try a poly diff mount and it cured his car too.

 

0°45' on each side?? The advised setting should only be 0°09' each side.

 

Havin the same size front and rears will help as the front and rear are fighting against each other imo

 

Hi- cheers for suggestions-

The diff mount has already been changed and I have found that a sum of 1 degree 30 mins toe in is best for my car.(ford set it at 10mins far to close to parallel)
There has been no change with the larger rear tyres as I use to run 215's all round and it was still the same.


Cheers. Tim.

 

I don't think you could ever stop this no matter the car/van or the way its set up if there are grooves its going to try and follow them

I found when my p100 was standard it was bad when it started following the grooves , but now it has been changed ie coilovers,215/40/17 , poly bushes all new parts , this made it a lot better when it tries following grooves so I would not put all the blame on the suspension /tyres

 

I agree a car will always tramline but it is the degree of what is felt that's the issue. It makes perfect sense to me that a Narrower/ higher profile-softer-sidewall tyre would provide the give that's required reducing tramlining effect as movement transmitted to the rim would be less.


Cheers. Tim

 

To the OP :-

If you try the original wheels and you still find it twitchy would you consider going to the 2wd Sapphire front end set-up? I presume you might already have the H14 ARB ( with a little extra caster ) but what about switching to the 2wd 4 door front hubs as well? You could always keep the 3-door ones on one side.

The other consideration is your tread pattern as some will exacerbate the tramlining/twitchiness

 

Mike - cheers this was on my mind following standard wheel set-up and yes I have heard that directional tyres along with amount of wear(more footprint) can increase tramlining.
What exactly is needed for 2wd shaf front end set-up?
Great idea dealt, by the way.

Cheers.

Tim.