[MTR]

I recently purchased an 08 E92 335i with the sport package. I noticed that the car was wandering at speeds of +50mph, almost as if the rear end twitches and doesn't feel planted. I am guessing that this is tramlining. I read on the forums that the stock RFTs have very stiff side walls and that people that switch to regular non-RFTs have had success in curing the tramlining effect.

So I bought some Extreme Contact DW Contentinal tires and had them put on, but the car is still behaving the same way. I am running the OEM recommended 32psi (F) and 35psi (R).

Next up is the alignment. What specs are you guys running that cured your tramlining? I read running less camber helps, and more toe-in helps as well.

I am thinking something like
Front
Camber: -0.6 to -0.8
Caster: Can't adjust, is this correct?
Toe: 0.17 degrees total in

Rear
Camber: -1.1 to -1.5
Toe: 0.24 degrees total in

Not as aggressive on the negative camber as some cars but a decent amount of toe in, both front and rear. Does this look appropriate? Anyone recommend running different tire pressures? Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Mike

[danlsnow]

The cause is the tires go back to the original that came on car. I recently changed from stock to the Michelin Super Sport and horrible tramlining as soon as put on my E90 335i w/Sport package.

Same happened on my E46 M3..just scoured the earth and bought two sets sets of OE tire for the E46 M3..as they no longer make the "Pilot Sport".

Upping pressure in back tires to 38 lbs helped a little..but it is the tires..two cars same result

[vasillalov]

No tramlining here. I've been running Pirelli PZero Nero AST for over 2 years now at different tire pressures and no problems at all...

Something else is off... Wheel bearings perhaps?

[HP Autosport]

Tires would usually cause the tramlining, but you can try to pin down where the problem really is...

32/35 is too low, try 38-40 all around and see if anything changes.

Make sure your alignment is within oem specs.

Check your rear subframe bushings, as they can tear over time, especially on cars with high miles or were exposed to engines with higher output.

Your static toe might be okay, but if you have worn our bushings your dynamic toe will be off. That goes for camber and caster as well.

[tunachris]

As soon as I junked the run-flats the tramlining went away. I put some Pilot Sports on and have been very happy with the ride. Only issue is I toasted the rears in about 11,000 miles. I just put a pair of Pilot Super Sports on the rears yesterday. Hopefully I will get a bit more mileage out of them, but I won't hold my breath!

I have not had a lot of success with tire life on my E92's. I value grip and handling over other factors, so I guess I just have to plan on replacing rear tires every 9 months or so!

[tunachris]

Now that I think about it, I don't think I have noticed any tramlinig since ditching the runflats. It was somethng that was very apparant with the Pilot Sport RFT's. In the 8 months since changing I haven't had any tramlining. So much so, that I forgot how the car reacted to grooves and contours in the road surface previously.

[anerbe]

Do you notice this squirm on all highway surfaces, or only grooved surfaces where you are driving parallel to the lines. Unwanted movement normally can be contributed to tire design if it's associated with driving on these grooved surfaces.

Example of Grooved Highway Surface:


If it's just the rear, it could still be tire related, but I've had a similar problem to rear swaying/wiggle when my rear alignment was off due to a pothole. Although you get a total toe number, make sure the left to right values are equal or very similar.

Like others have mentioned, get realigned to OEM specs and get your bushings checked for wear. If you still have the problem, swap wheel/tire assemblies with someone who doesn't have the problem to check for tire effect. It can sometimes be particular sizes for a tire line that exibit more groove wandering.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by tunachris

As soon as I junked the run-flats the tramlining went away. I put some Pilot Sports on and have been very happy with the ride. Only issue is I toasted the rears in about 11,000 miles. I just put a pair of Pilot Super Sports on the rears yesterday. Hopefully I will get a bit more mileage out of them, but I won't hold my breath!

I have not had a lot of success with tire life on my E92's. I value grip and handling over other factors, so I guess I just have to plan on replacing rear tires every 9 months or so!

Perhaps the installation of the Quaife LSD will help with rear tire wear!

[tunachris]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Perhaps the installation of the Quaife LSD will help with rear tire wear!

That would be nice. I guess I could change my driving style, but not likely to happen. The Quaife just allows me to be more aggresive!