[AmazinglySmooth]

I have a 2018 1LE (all black). It tracks nicely on expressways and in my neighborhood, but one road I use daily has depressions all along it. It is quite uneven. When I take this road, my steering wheel is pulled from side to side. I have the tire pressure at 32psi. Is there anything else I can do to help my situation?


I owned a Mini with runflats back in 2009 that experienced a similar phenomenon. When I switched it off runflats, it handled much better.


I would appreciate any suggestions.

[Ryephile]

It's called "tramlining". Certain tires do it more (carcass and width are key factors), the alignment makes an impact, as does the scrub radius & SAI. The biggest influence is the road surface, as you've experienced.

You can try the "street" alignment, and/or a narrower tire that's in a less track-oriented tire category. For extreme cases, a 0° camber toed-in alignment with a narrow all-season will essentially get rid of most tramlining. An aggressive 3° camber toed-out track alignment on 305 Hoosier R7's will tramline like crazy and try to yank the wheel out of your hands.

You'll have to make a choice whether you want the car to handle in corners, minimize the tramlining, or somewhere in the middle.

In the case of your MINI, their OEM runflats have a very stiff carcass, which induces tramlining, but the large scrub radius of that platform [which lessened with each generation] made a large impact to its tramlining and inevitably the tires you went to minimized it. The scrub radius is also a key component in steering feel, so there are tradeoffs to be had in the final suspension tuning. In the case of the Alpha platform here, they opted for some scrub radius and some resultant tramlining for some steering feel, but given the tires the overall tramlining is quite minimal.

[GrimReaperSS]

I get the same thing with the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's on my 4th gen. 275's up front and on certain roads, where I can see the ruts in the road, it will yank the car around. I have to be sure to hang on to the wheel. Definitely due to width, tramlining.

[ZL1 1LE]

Regarding tramlining caused by width, I have not found that to be the case. For example, I had terrible tramlining with Michelin PSS and changed out to Hankook Ventus V12 Evo in the exact same sizes with no tramlining.

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by ZL1 1LE

Regarding tramlining caused by width, I have not found that to be the case. For example, I had terrible tramlining with Michelin PSS and changed out to Hankook Ventus V12 Evo in the exact same sizes with no tramlining.

That's not how conclusions work. You didn't change the width, let alone solely change the width, so you can't comment on width impacting the behavior. You changed the tread and carcass, the latter makes a large impact on tramlining behavior.

[JamesNoBrakes]

It's the road and the tires, the wider the tires, and the more uneven the road (ruts), the worse it is.

[zx9rmal]

My OEM SC3's tramlined. My current PS4S's do not. OEM sizes.

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by zx9rmal

My OEM SC3's tramlined. My current PS4S's do not. OEM sizes.

Exactly. SC3's are a stiffer carcass that gives better steering feel at the expense of additional tramlining. The reverse is the case for the PS4S, which combined with the better wet-weather tread and cooler-weather compound, contributes to the latter being a better overall street tire.

[ZL1 1LE]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

That's not how conclusions work. You didn't change the width, let alone solely change the width, so you can't comment on width impacting the behavior. You changed the tread and carcass, the latter makes a large impact on tramlining behavior.

Exactly, the width is not what caused the tramlining.

[SaphfireSS]

G-3’s have more grip than PS4’s and other tires stated therefore more trameling.