18" tramlines
 

hi just looking for some advice ,i am wanting to buy some bbs lm alloys but they don't 17" with 130 pdc 's they do 18" x8.5 but i have been warned off these as i am told it will make the car tramline ? if this is not the case any idea's for the et's , im running 2" narrowed beam up front with cb dropped spindles and empi disks on an irs back end ,i am told this increases the track width by 22 mm per side on the back which looks about right as the wheels are sat flush with the rear fenders (got 914 5.5 fuches on at the moment ) any way any infomation would be greatly appreciated :)

In my experience it is more the tire that makes the car tramline. I have had old BFGs, then Nitto 450s on my Jetta with 16"s, and this was over many years time. I just got the new BFG G-force, and now it tramlines.

I have 18"s on my M3, no tramlining, but I bet if I went to BFG G-force, they would. My 2 cents.

Jason

just as an update i have found a german company that will make some 18x7 rims for the front and any size i want for the back, i know18x7 will go under stock fenders, on the front ,but they will make any offset i want within reason so anyone got some ideas on what would be the ideal optimum offset ,
also do you recon 8.5,9or 10's for the back?i thought maybe make the dish a bit deeper at the back to make it look mean lol

cheers for your 2 cents jason
jon :)

Feel like an idiot...but what is tramlining???

Hey, lets both feel like idiots :p ... what is "tramlining

tramlining is when you have wide tyres and they tend to follow the wear grooves in the road..

Hi

Like Ricola said, its like the steering has a mind of its own, like driving along a road with tram tracks. I believe more caster will help.

Steve

Let me put my idiots .02 in... I thought the tramlining was more because of what Steve's saying... alignment. If you've ever driven a car with a little too much toe (I think it's toe, not camber) that sucker wanders all over everywhere.


Jeff-

I bought a set of wheels and tyres secondhand for my Beetle-they had only done about 4,000 kms.They were 17x8 with Kuhmo Ecsta 235.45.17 tyres.They came from an XR6 Ford Falcon, so when I needed some new tyres on my Ford ute,decided to put the 17's on until I needed them for my Beetle.These would have to be the worst tyres on the market for tramlining-the thing was all over the road.I couldn't handle it for very long,so bought another set and stored the 17's.Next trick was my Mitsubishi Van was in need of some new tyres,so bolted the 17's on that for a try out-was even worse on this car to the point of being dangerous-must be a lot lighter on the front end-it would pull the wheel out of my hand if I found any ridges in the road.Stored the wheels again and bought a new set of wheels and tyres for my Beetle-will use the Kuhmo's on my tandem trailer-about all the Kuhmo's are good for.They still have only done about 8,000kms-no wonder the bloke did me a good deal in the first place.It must have something to do with the shoulder on the tyre-I put some Sava Intensa's on my ute which look identical at the shoulder-but tramlining ceased immediately.I also put a set on my NB Beetle in 17's and no tramlining with it either.

Hi

I live & work near a highway patrol base and I sometimes have to help them with their cars when they break down (I do road service for a local motoring club, unlike some clubs we have a 94% go rate), the drivers of the Ford XR6 turbos pursuit cars said the same thing about tram lining, they get rid of the cars before the tyres were out I guess.

Something to be aware of, even low mileage used tyres can have contours worn into them by the previous car.

A quick story slightly off subject that happened to me.

Years ago I fitted some half worn Yokahama a008s from the front of my car to rear, from a 7 to an 8 inch rim. I had to travel about 300 ks the next day, which was very wet. The rear end of the car handled like a ball bearing wheel billy cart until I the rear tyres wore in a bit over the next week.

Steve

As Steve stated that there may be contours. I think I have a solution. Wouldn't a LITTLE burnout or wheel spin work by making new contours. If it doesn't totally fix the problem then at least it will eliminate the contours that the other car made. I realize that this may cause a little of the tire life to be lost but which would you rather have? A little tire wear or a wrecked VW?

mike

Even if it doesnt help, isnt it fun? And isnt fun what really matters?? :agree:

Bingo! I have a 4" narrowed beam and 205/40/17's, and have experienced it before.

If you could have a wheel made with any offset then wouldn't you want to get one that would put the scrub radius near zero? Wouldn't that also help with tramlining? Does anyone know what the KIA is for a VW spindle?