How come the s550 tramlines so bad?

[dwsuperd]

Hi - Food for thought. My original tires (Pilot Sport 4s) started getting noisy after about half the tread was gone. I found it annoying but hung in there until 20,000 miles. I’m an ordinary daily driver who doesn’t go to the track or do wild and crazy road courses. I’m also practical so I replaced them with a General Tire all-season model for $900. So far I am very happy with them. Money isn’t really an issue for me, but I’m not a high performance guy and thus don’t need a high performance tire. It’s as simple as that. Besides, at my age (82) it would be borderline suicidal to drive in a high performance manner… Bruce

I also had tramlining problems on my car which is lowered. But my tires had about 40k and I switched to General A/S brand. I was cautious about General but it’s been very positive and no more tramlining. I did also do a Firestone lifetime alignment plan and alignment was completed with no issues.

Sponsored

 

[shogun32]

Tire pressure is important.

And varies with brand. I aired up my BFG to 35@stp and it's happier than at 32.

 

[shogun32]

definitely will check the alignment. any recomendations for any place?

Ford will only do factory garbage specs. Find a performance shop near you. Or call around and ask various shops if they will do a custom job.

Eg craftsman autocate near me will do anything I ask. But it's also an enthusiast shop.

 

[MrMike]

Ford will only do factory garbage specs. Find a performance shop near you. Or call around and ask various shops if they will do a custom job.

Eg craftsman autocate near me will do anything I ask. But it's also an enthusiast shop.

My local Ford dealer (Chapman) will do non-factory but I've never asked for more than the Ford Performance spec. I agree that a performance shop is better.

 

[Turbo23]

Agree, driver skill level 0.1, learn, know how to correct for the road inconsistencies. Or sell his car and buy a beginner car.

Are we still recommending Priuses? Hah!

 

[ShadesOfBloo]

I'm kind a surprised this thread is still going, with most of us agreeing the OP needs an alignment.


Anyway...

Ford will only do factory garbage specs. Find a performance shop near you. Or call around and ask various shops if they will do a custom job.

Eg craftsman autocare near me will do anything I ask. But it's also an enthusiast shop.

Yeah, by the time I got my Mustang I didn't trust dealers with alignments any more.
The times a dealer did a good alignment on my car, it was because I knew the technician from autocross, and had an appointment specifically with him. That was years ago, in other states.

My local Ford dealer doesn't even get to touch my alignment. My Mustang's alignment was at an enthusiast shop. (Ironically, one that specializes in Subarus. )

To my surprise, my Mustang's alignment was very symmetrical from the factory.

 

[Prymetime1]

Didn't real all 5 pages but I'll add my .02. Recently had my car at dealer for service. Had them check my wheels as I notice a couple of weights fell off the rims and Ive had some slight vibrations at higher speeds (90s+). Dude pulled me in and showed me my front tires are worn really bad on the insides only. Tech said they've seen a few with crap alignments causing similar worn tires. Thought i'd share, I can feel the worn tires doing something not good, but its not terrible either. tires have been rotated 3 times in 21 k miles. New tires and alignment are on order.

 

[shogun32]

New tires and alignment are on order.

Make sure they get toe RIGHT this time.

 

[Rapid Red]

Didn't real all 5 pages but I'll add my .02. Recently had my car at dealer for service. Had them check my wheels as I notice a couple of weights fell off the rims and Ive had some slight vibrations at higher speeds (90s+). Dude pulled me in and showed me my front tires are worn really bad on the insides only. Tech said they've seen a few with crap alignments causing similar worn tires. Thought i'd share, I can feel the worn tires doing something not good, but its not terrible either. tires have been rotated 3 times in 21 k miles. New tires and alignment are on order.

My thinking is that's a problem in itself .. rotate tires with oil changes ....... SMART

 

[ezracer]

I had a similar issue. You need to get a GOOD 4-wheel alignment from a reputable shop. And tires with wonky tread wear will not help the issue.

 

[Turbo23]

Didn't real all 5 pages but I'll add my .02. Recently had my car at dealer for service. Had them check my wheels as I notice a couple of weights fell off the rims and Ive had some slight vibrations at higher speeds (90s+). Dude pulled me in and showed me my front tires are worn really bad on the insides only. Tech said they've seen a few with crap alignments causing similar worn tires. Thought i'd share, I can feel the worn tires doing something not good, but its not terrible either. tires have been rotated 3 times in 21 k miles. New tires and alignment are on order.

I had some mild tramlining with the OEM 255s and 275s on the Bullitt. I went a little wider on the fronts to 265s and Michelin all seasons all around and it actually magnified the the issue a little, mainly on unevenly crowned roads. On decent roads its just fine. Just my 2cents. Get the alignment for sure. Hey, didn't that dude on the S550 forums have a Firestone shop tech burn up his clutch on the test drive?

 

[Garfy]

Forgot i made another thread! lol. so maybe it's bumpsteer? i thought the term was tramlining. pretty much any road that has a groove or any weird non smooth surface, the car steers towards that and won't stay straight.

but yes, everything is 100% stock. haven't touched a thing on the car. stock rims which i believe are the 18" so its the pzero stock tires. it's pretty much any non-perfect road it does it on. my comparison is my old 2014 which is gone, but didn't do it with the same pzero tires and 19", tire size was relatively the same. my F150 doesn't do it and those are beefy tires. and my little Tacoma doesn't do it, and those are small, probably 16" rims with appropriately sized tires.

So nobody else here feels that you need to provide a lot of feedback in keeping it straight compared to other vehicles? hope somethings not wrong.

My base GT (not even a Premium) has no issues with the Pirellis other than crappy traction on hard take-offs where TC intervenes. My tires still have 7/32-8/32" tread left but will probably opt for the Continentals once I've worn these out.

 

[shogun32]

My tires still have 7/32-8/32" tread left but will probably opt for the Continentals once I've worn these out

Spend the money now, and live life like it was meant to be. It's too short to drive 460hp on bad tires.

And you'll cheer up poor bernanke who is crying wondering where all the consumers have gone to. Hey, it's only debt... More debt, more prosperity.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

My base GT (not even a Premium) has no issues with the Pirellis other than crappy traction on hard take-offs where TC intervenes. My tires still have 7/32-8/32" tread left but will probably opt for the Continentals once I've worn these out.

Swap them out now. You'll be wondering why didn't do it sooner. Factory Pirellis are hot garbage.

 

[526 HRSE]

Sounds like an alignment issue. Too much toe in.

Sponsored