tram lines?

[just_william]

Good morning all, Little question for you. Do all TVR's get affected badly with tram lines? All my previous seem to suffer badly and chim no exception. She really doesn't like bumpy roads much either. The amazing thing is my old 405 deisal is solid as a rock on the same roads. Any thoughts
cheers jimbo

[The Surveyor]

I trust you are refering to the handling of the car, and not actual 'tram lines'. I've driven over a few railway crossing without difficulty, but their arn't many trams in the Newcastle area.

If it's a handling issue, what wheels and tyres are you running?

I've not got any complaints about the handling of mine, either with the SO-3 Bridgestones, or the my new Eagle F1's (feel very stable BTW) running on the original 15" front, the geometry was set up by HHC after new wishbones were fitted last year and that made a noticable difference.

I have heard reports that bigger wheels with ultra-low profile rubber can spoil the handling, especially if the wheels are 17" or 18"...

[d50cyx]

As an aside, what do people actually mean by "tramlining"??? Read about it every now and again, without actually having a clue what it means!

[Bennem]

Tram lining is the car steering itself when you run into the dents left by trucks in the road. Usually only an issue with wide tyred wheels. You don't get too much of this happening when you drive a normal road car.

[The Surveyor]

I alway thought it was when the car is steared by undulations on the road. An extream case is when your in the slow lane (god forbid!) on a motorway and your following the dips left by all the HGV's, the car tends to want to follow the ruts.

On a normal road, a bad car would be drawn off course by uneven tar-mac, or a raised white line.

Worst car that i've driven for that was a Vixen S3 with the original 15" alloys, but with very low-profile tyres.

[tvrbob]

....also steering geometry is set to reduce this effect. If your geometry is incorrect or if you have compromised that geometry by fitting wheel tyre combination that do not align with the standard geometry then tramlining can occur.

[just_william]

Cheers chaps for responces. My traming is following the truck lines in the slow lanes but white lines and badly layed tarmac are also a prob. The car will just let go and swap lanes, or at least try to! Hence you having to drive with 110% concentration all the time so you can correct it immediately. I am running just as I bought it with SO2 on front @ 15" and New Toyo's on the back on original 16". But my Tuscan was horrendous but apparently caused by very dodgy servicing and the shocks on the limit (Long story) but my T350C was still a bit jumpy but wonderful, so I have started to assume that this is what all TVR's are like. Just high concentrations levels all the time while driving! However saying all this I wouldn't say the car handles badly as can throw it into corners with confidence.
Jimbo

>> Edited by just_william on Tuesday 16th August 11:55

[jonathant]

No problems with tramlining running on SO2 or SO3 - that is except for the lorry ruts in lane 1! Never had any issues with white lines...

Tyre pressures too high? I'm currently on around 22/24psi.

[just_william]

jonathant said:

Tyre pressures too high? I'm currently on around 22/24psi.

Ahhhh def worth a check. Nice one
J

[rooster]

I get this with my chim and also with the Ka(maxed), par for the course I'd say.It was worse when the tracking was out but still wavers a bit when the grooves on the A14 are really bad, try and stay in the outer lane where there are less of them.