Tram Lining St185

[sleeker st185]

hi,me again,my st185 has a nasty habit of tram lining ang pulling over undulations in the road,i am a senior technician for F :censor: rd and have racked my poor little brain until it hurts.all suspension is ok ,new tyres all round only thing i can think of is worn roll bar mounts and possibly geometry but have never expierienced this on other cars to this degree even 4wd cossies with worn suspension do not pull to this degree .thought possibly 4wd may have something to do with maybe gravitating the situation ie as regards to the roll bars and geo but the cossie points must rule that out, but open to all suggestions...help its driving me mad!

[GT4 BOOSTER]

can you describe tram lining in laymens terms - like what does the car do . its a term new to me.

[Jones~32]

I thought that tram lining was usually caused by the wide tyres on these type cars?

[mikeb]

I don't think tramlining is a common problem with celicas.

I guess it could be down to tracking. Big wheels with low profile tyres tend to accenuate the problem, or just poor tyres can be the cause.

[sleeker st185]

hi tram lining refers to the car following lines in the road or moving excessively under pot holes etc.yes wide tyres are a cause but on vehicles with them as standard the geometry is set accordingly.(my tyres and rims are standard st 185 kit)

[sotal]

How bad are the roads round you?? We've got some roads round here which used to be train tracks and they must have left the tracks underneath and tarmacced over the top, whenever I go along those roads you don't even have to steer!

Motorway slow lane normally tram lines as well as the lorries wear a grove in the road

[Leeky]

Both my ST205's tramlined. The steering is very sensitive and follows the groves in the road.

My last one was quite bad with 215's on it and my new one is even worse as it has 235's on it.

Not a great deal of rubber really compared to the 275's i had on the supra but for some reason going up one or two sizes on the celica makes a big difference.

[daktari]

I had problems with tramlining. It used to be horrendous. The probable cause of mine was initially thought to be the front camber angle (Non adjustable on the 185), as the front tyres (205/30 x 17)were scrubbing out something wicked. Tracking was spot on at zero degrees. Camber angle was adjusted with a set of Whiteline camber bolts from Fennies.

This helped considerably.

I then lowered the suspension with Spax springs (-35mm) the tramlining was back with a vengeance. Again camber angle had to be adjusted. Problem sorted. Still there but not too much of a problem.

Then i reduced the Rim size down to 16" with 235/40 x 16 tyres. All signs of tramlining disapeared. HOORAY!!.

My reasoning was that the lack of sidewall flex was obviously causing the wheels to follow the overbanding and any bad road surfaces. The higher ratio sidewall of the 16" tyres obviously reduced this effect. But you have to also take into consideration the camber angle and tracking. Especially if you`ve got lowering springs fitted. The same will apply if the suspension is a bit tired. 10 - 15 years of a ton and a half of car will cause the suspension to compress considerably.

[sleeker st185]

thanks for the head scratching guys,will let you know how it goes