R33 Gts Tramlining

[Greg]

Hi guys,

To set the scene my suspension mods are: bilstein shocks, strut braces f&r, 17" wheels running 235 wide tyres.

The car tramlines very badly. It follows the grooves made by trucks, and when it hits dips or bumps, tends to steer in the direction of them quite strongly.

Regards

Greg

Edited January 1, 2008 by Greg

[battery]

i have the same left steering problem.

i got a four wheel alignment done didn't fix it, i also had an impact on the left which i asked the suspension guy about he said the wheel alignment came up good so it couldn't have been the problem and told me it was most likely caused by uneven tyre wear???

anyway if you find the solution it would be great if you could let me know

[nuffsaid]

I have a slight pulling left problem, only slightly.

My castor is set at around your specs.

When my castor gap was bigger (about 1 degree different) it didnt pull to the left at all.

Maybe half a degree is not enough (I thought it was) so perhaps you need to have the gap b/w left and right bigger.

[madbung]

Check your wheel bearings, if you've chewed one out it would cause similar symptoms when moving ie: tramlining pulling under brakes ect...I have no ideas on what would pull the steering left when the car is stationary but if it is happening I'd start looking @ the power steering pump and go from there.

[Greg]

I appreciate the replies, thanks guys

I'm getting wheel bearings done on Thursday.

I fitted wider tyres today which made the problem less pronounced, still there though.

I'll wind in some more castor can't hurt.

Will post an update

[tek_01]

i had a smiliar problem on my old pulsar, it was the lower control arm bush. dont know if they use control arms tho...

[Sydneykid]

Some more info needed;

What model is this?

Who is doing your wheel alignments?

Have you asked thenm to check the steering play?

What about checking for worn bushes?

What are the camber settings?

Toe settings?

Since it has had an accident has anyone measured the wheelbase, side to side?

Just because the caster is right, doesn't mean it hasn't got LHS set back of the front suspension.

cheers

[Roy]

My car wanders all over the road because my upper control arm bushes are dead. Drivin in the rain on the freeway was a little off putting. I really need to install the new arms i have layign around. In the past new biushes have fixed the problem on my car

[psi]

how is ur front tyre wear? are you wearing the inside or outside edges out of one of your tyres?

Sometime in even low speed crashes is is possable to bend things. control arms are common, king pin even split a bush. Like SK said, do some measurements! check the wheel base is square. Even if it is square does rule it totally out! check that the 'bar' that joins your hub to the control arms isn't bent or twisted. Look to see that a bush isn't squishing out the sides of its housing.

Tyre wear tells many stories! tyre choice also plays a very large part of this problem as well. directional tyres often have a bad tendency of doin this at even low speed! Rim/Tyre width can also play havok..

A really good wheel alginment operator would easily point any of the above issues out to u! even the wheel bearing issue! If they don't offer this info to you, find somebody else who will.

Any other thoughts

[Sl!m]

My car wanders all over the road because my upper control arm bushes are dead. Drivin in the rain on the freeway was a little off putting. I really need to install the new arms i have layign around. In the past new biushes have fixed the problem on my car

Hey Roy,

You know where to get new bushes.. had a look at nengun and justjap but cant see anything ?

cheers

[the stink]

updates?

I reckon its an alignment issue... I have a 0.5 degree castor difference between sides which i have been told is the cause of a similar issue. I think my castor rod bushes are also flogged out so that doesn't help either.

[Greg]

Some more info needed;

What model is this?

Who is doing your wheel alignments?

Have you asked thenm to check the steering play?

What about checking for worn bushes?

What are the camber settings?

Toe settings?

Since it has had an accident has anyone measured the wheelbase, side to side?

Just because the caster is right, doesn't mean it hasn't got LHS set back of the front suspension.

cheers

R33 GTS25 coupe

Local tyre guy

No - will do

No - will do

Camber = see wheel alignment

Toe = see wheel alignment

No - will do

thanks

how is ur front tyre wear? are you wearing the inside or outside edges out of one of your tyres?

Sometime in even low speed crashes is is possable to bend things. control arms are common, king pin even split a bush. Like SK said, do some measurements! check the wheel base is square. Even if it is square does rule it totally out! check that the 'bar' that joins your hub to the control arms isn't bent or twisted. Look to see that a bush isn't squishing out the sides of its housing.

wear inside slightly, consistent with camber settings

nothing looks bent to me, only unusual thing i noticed was the bush on LHF tie rod end leaking a bit of grease

I put my car in to get wheel bearings replaced (and some other unrelated work) but there was a misunderstanding and they didn't do them... its going to be quite expensive so I will try some other options first.

Since fitting the new tyres, it will now pull to the right under braking sometimes, and to the left other times

[Greg]

wheel alignment done 13/10/06 4000km ago

[Greg]

bump - thinking of changing back to stock springs and swaybars as an appempt to solve problem - what do you guys reckon?

Edited May 24, 2007 by Greg

[Trust33]

bump - thinking of changing back to stock springs and swaybars as an appempt to solve problem - what do you guys reckon?

No need to change the springs and swaybars.SK didnt answer you!weird..

Mine tramlilnes a little in the roads with big grooves,do you have allot of castor and a little bit of camber in the front end.? i suspect that that is a feeling of no feeling in the front end when turning arround the corners at low speeds.at the track tho you will reap the benifits of this sort of setup over stock.

if you change the springs to stock lowered they will make the car feel like a boat at sea.stick with the coilovers.

have you hit the track with this setup yet.and what did it feel like?

the harder rear swaybar setting also gave the car a lighter feeling front end on the street imo! drifting was good with this setup tho i am yet to circuit race it like this yet.

[Greg]

No need to change the springs and swaybars.SK didnt answer you!weird..

Mine tramlilnes a little in the roads with big grooves,do you have allot of castor and a little bit of camber in the front end.? i suspect that that is a feeling of no feeling in the front end when turning arround the corners at low speeds.at the track tho you will reap the benifits of this sort of setup over stock.

if you change the springs to stock lowered they will make the car feel like a boat at sea.stick with the coilovers.

have you hit the track with this setup yet.and what did it feel like?

the harder rear swaybar setting also gave the car a lighter feeling front end on the street imo! drifting was good with this setup tho i am yet to circuit race it like this yet.

Hi mate thanks for your reply

I used to run a lot of castor but have put the standard rods back in now, which made no difference. I haven't taken my car to the track, and my priorities have changed such that I won't be. I just want it to be a competent street car. It certainly slides well as it is (i've been to skidpan days (and local roundabouts) a fair bit.

Traction tyres in Rowville thought it would most likely be my springs, and as i was getting sick of the harsh ride anyway, I'm changing back to standard springs today. So I will be running the ARC swaybars with the standard springs, which I think should still provide quite good handling. I will post up how it goes.

[Sydneykid]

Hi mate thanks for your reply

I used to run a lot of castor but have put the standard rods back in now, which made no difference. I haven't taken my car to the track, and my priorities have changed such that I won't be. I just want it to be a competent street car. It certainly slides well as it is (i've been to skidpan days (and local roundabouts) a fair bit.

Traction tyres in Rowville thought it would most likely be my springs, and as i was getting sick of the harsh ride anyway, I'm changing back to standard springs today. So I will be running the ARC swaybars with the standard springs, which I think should still provide quite good handling. I will post up how it goes.

Sorry I didn't get back to this thread previously

Tramlining is not usually caster or camber, it certainly isn't spring, shock or bar related.

Wheel bearings are a good place to start, any play will result in noticeable steering wheel tugging over irregularities in the road surface.

I notice that it has some toe out on the front (around 1mm each side), I would try removing that and see if you can feel any difference. If it makes a little bit of difference but not enough for you, then try some toe in, 1 or 2 mm should show a result if that is the issue.

The KPI difference is interesting, as it is counter to the camber/caster readings. I would check the knuckle on the upright, just pop the cover off and make sure that the joint is tight. This is not a big thing, I doubt it is the issue, but worth checking anyway.

cheers