Probably a dumb question, but I've only had my 2005 Crossfire for a few months, and I am concerned about the way it seems to "grab" irregularities in the road and track with them, pulling and generally making steering a chore. On a good highway, no problems, but around town, a real pain. Is this due to the tires? Or, is it a suspension problem that needs attention? Tire pressure is correct. No irregular wear on the tires noted.

Thanks!
rap

 

Wide tires with alot of grip + lightweight nimble car = tracking. All xfires do this, along with most other sports cars (at least the ones i have drove).

 

Yes. The wider and gripper your tires are, the more likely they are to find and grip the occasional road imperfection. Think of it as a sign that your tires are working.

 

No flex in the sidewalls either.

 

good point. ^^^

 

An alignment may help. When I purchased my car about a year ago I questioned the Dealer about the tendency for the car to pull hard at low speeds as you have described. They assured me that it was the tendency of the car and had nothing to do with the alignment (they actually told me there was nothing they could adjust - amazing). After driving the car about a year (10,000 miles) I noticed bad tire wear on the inside edge of the front tires. I had an alignment done to address the tire wear problem - and surprise it pulls much less. I still notice it pulling but it is nowhere near as pronounced as before.

Of course, when they did performed the alignment they cut one of the tire sidewalls and scuffed up a rim - but thats another story.

 

I too believe it is the tires. I just switched to Goodyear F1's in the front (already had them in the rear) from the Michelins and the tracking is noticeably different or "grabbier." From what I've been told, the Goodyear's are generally made from a softer composition rubber than the Michelins which tend to be made from a harder rubber. This may account for them grabbing and tracking more.

 

It's called "hunting" or "tramlining" https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...hlight=hunting
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/arc...p/t-15358.html
Kinda like using the search button but the car does it for you.

Interesting read from:

http://www.autospeed.com/A_0879/P_1/article.html

Article:

The term 'tramlining' describes the errant automotive behavior where the car wants to follow longitudinal grooves in the road, rather than obey the driver's steering input. Many vehicles tramline to a just detectable degree; for example you may notice that when you change lanes, there is a tiny resistance felt through the wheel when crossing a bitumen patch. But there are cars that can, in some conditions, tramline atrociously. How badly? Well, the steering wheel can be literally yanked from your grasp as the car sniffs out a rut in the road and follows it with dog-like determination. And if you're traveling quickly and that rut leads straight into the gutter, watch out!
Both my current 1995 Audi S4 and my previous car - an R32 Skyline GT-R - can tramline very badly. Some GT-R owners just put up with it - that's the way the car is, and that's that. However, other GT-R owners look quite blank when the tramlining problem is raised. (And the S4 drivers? I can't find enough S4 owners with the right-hand drive steering system to discuss the issue with)! The reason for some drivers always experiencing it and others not even being aware that it's a problem with the car is related to one factor - tyres. All other things being equal, it is the tyres that determine how badly a car will tramline. And not only is the tyre design important, but so is the amount of tread left on the tyre.
When I bought the Audi's current Kumho Ectsas, I thought that they made the car a bit more tramliney than I'd have liked, but not overly so. But as those tyres have worn down - and I do so many hard kilometres that the fronts have lasted only 6 months - the tramlining has got worse and worse. Driving the car across the continent from Adelaide to Brisbane showed just how tiring constant steering corrections can be - the Audi on bad road surfaces was literally darting all over the road. And the Audi's problems were really thrown into sharp relief when I experienced the absolute stability and composure of my recently-acquired '89 Saab 900 Turbo - in comparison, the Audi was impossible to drive in a straight line over patched bitumen.
(The propensity that a car has for tramlining depends on its suspension geometry and the amount of feedback that the designers have built into the steering. Aspects like scrub radius, castor, camber and so on).
So when I found that the insides of the Kumhos were badly worn - probably as a result of the large amount of toe-in being run in a vain attempt to reduce the tramlining - I needed to make a decision. What good tyres could I buy for the front of the Audi that would very substantially decrease the horrible tramlining?
I started off thinking expensive tyres - Bridgestone S02, that kind of thing. But for tyres of that standard we're talking about a helluva lot of money - especially if the tramlining remained just as bad! What would I say - "Sorry Mr Tyre Retailer, I don't like these and I'd like my money back." Yeah, right. But what if the dealer was aware of the problem before I bought the tyres? Perhaps we could work something out before hand? I rang a tyre retailer and told him that my car really liked tramlining - and what was his suggestion for tyres that would fix this?
"Yair well, you need a tyre that's not directional," he said.
"Right - why is that?" I asked.
"Well, directional tyres have really coarse tread that grips right into the road," he replied.
'Er - but what's the directionality got to do with it? Haven't some non-directional tyres also got a coarse tread?" I asked.
And I didn't get a satisfactory reply to that.
Tyre wall stiffness? Nothing to do with tramlining, according to this bloke. (In fact he said that all tyres had the same wall stiffness!) Shape of the shoulder? Not mentioned. Since those were the things I'd been thinking would be most significant - and in fact later proved very relevant - I ended the conversation fairly quickly. Why is it that when tyre retailers don't actually know the answer they never simply say, "I don't know"?
Time for a Google web search on the subject - perhaps others would suggest a tyre that had in real life reduced the degree of tramlining being experienced. I searched under "tramlining" and found that there is definitely a tale to be told! This is typical:
"When I decided to get wheels (Oettinger RE 17x8 ET 35) and tires for my 2001 [Audi] A4 I opted for the Yokohama AVS Sport because a lot of people were going on and on about what a great tire it was... Well I've got about 750 miles on them...and in terms of grip and traction they rock, nearly as good as the S02 PP's. But they have this one very disconcerting behavior...they tramline like crazy...AKA they follow road anomalies to the point it's down right scary."
BMW, Audi, Mazda MX5 owners - all could be found in discussion groups complaining about problems of tramlining on particular tyres. Unfortunately, the tyres that were named as tramlining comprised a who's who list of the top performance tyres!

I also found a very interesting test carried out by US magazine, Sports Compact Car, on the Toyo Proxes T1-S. I take product tests conducted by that magazine with a grain of salt, but this test was particularly interesting because it detailed how the Toyo Proxes T1-S differs in design and construction to the previous Toyo T1+. And all the differences in the new tyre were designed to make it more user-friendly - reduced tramlining, a more flexible sidewall, and rounded shoulders. It was almost as if the T1+ had been just too hard-edged for the marketplace, and in the redesign the engineers had been forced to consider real cars on real roads. Additionally, the magazine tested the tyres on a car that they said had tramlined badly on the previous model T1+ tyre, but the new Proxes had fixed the problem.
So here was high performance tyre designed to reduce tramlining, and a test that actually mentioned the subject!
Interesting.
I then priced 225/50-16 Proxes TS-1 at just $200 each.
Very interesting!
Next I rang Toyo's 1-800 number and sought out a tech expert from the company. His response was as different from the tyre retailer as it is possible to get.
"There's no way of saying how the tyre will tramline until you try it on the car," he said. "I know that's not too helpful but that's the way it is."
"Anything at all I should look for?" I asked.
"Well, you want a tyre with as few circumferential grooves as possible, " he said. "Most tyres these days have a V-shaped pattern - like the TS-1 - and that's what you need. And softer sidewalls. I know that will reduce performance, but it will also reduce the likelihood of tramlining."
"I've read a test of the TS-1," I said. "And they said the new tyre was designed to reduce tramlining - is it?"
"Not really," said the honest company spokesman. "I can't really tell you whether they'll work on your car or not."
Time to consider what I had learned. Firstly, tyres without stiff sidewalls and circumferential grooves are less likely to cause tramlining. Secondly, really hi-po tyres - the ones with ultra-stiff sidewalls - can worsen tramlining, and tyres with square shoulders, likewise. Finally, the second model topline Proxes had been designed with some of these points specifically taken into account - and the TS-1 is only two hundred bucks a tyre.
I bought a pair of them, and had them fitted, initially retaining the same alignment. And the result? At this stage they are excellent - zero signs of tramlining and excellent grip. In fact, an astonishing transformation. So mission accomplished?
We'll see when they start wearing down...

End

 

Thanks HDDP!

Interesting and informative article, and now I know the proper terminology! I'll consider these technical details on my next tire purchase.

vr

rap