It's called tramlining, right?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 96
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From: rapid city, sd
It's called tramlining, right? Where the steering wheel follows every single imperfection in the road making it really hard to drive perfectly straight. It's been about a year since I've driven my camaro, and it seems to be worse than I remember. I know part (or all) of it is caused by upsized tires - 275/40/17. My question, can anyone refresh my memory about what alignment values can help cure this? Something tells me more positive caster helps but I can't remember.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
From: rapid city, sd
thank you, thats definitely my problem. I went out to the garage and did a rough toe measurement with tape measure in the tread, (redneckish but I've had good luck doing it on previous cars) and I have almost 1/4" of toe out. I have no idea how or when it got like this, I might have royally messed up a tie rod end replacement a while back. Toe's easy to fix, but does anyone have a ballpark figure of how much I should have to rotate the tie rods to toe in 1/8" on each wheel? I'm shooting for a garage toe job of 0 - 1/16" toe out, this should be good, right?
Last edited by lt16spd1; May 23, 2013 at 11:23 PM.
Joined: Aug 2007
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From: Turnin' Wrenches Infractions: 005
Mine is fresh everything (including alignment) and goes crazy following low spots on the blacktop interstate. Drives me insane. Its fine on surface streets though.
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It's not just F-Body. Every car with over a 265 front I've driven has that problem. Ruts in the roads caused by semis in asphalt do it. It's slightly exaggerated in an F-body because our steering is vague and slow. Certain tires make it worse as well.
I don't have any problems with my 275-40-17's, drives straight without any hands on the wheel... but the roads might be worse in your area, if they are heavily rutted from semis and what not it might just be the roads...
Also if this happening and the roads are decently flat, you might see uneven tire wear on the front tires meaning it might need an alignment or toe adjustment.. don't forget to make sure the air in the tires is to spec... not under or over inflated.
Also if this happening and the roads are decently flat, you might see uneven tire wear on the front tires meaning it might need an alignment or toe adjustment.. don't forget to make sure the air in the tires is to spec... not under or over inflated.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
From: rapid city, sd
Well I went ahead and fixed the toe the best I could with my tape measure lol. It's about 1/16" toed out, a little more toe out than I was shooting for but holy cow it made a HUGE difference. I no longer feel like someone is grabbing the steering wheel and pulling it back and forth. The steering wheel is slightly off center though, I need to turn both tie rods a bit to recenter it but I'm doing my lowering springs today so it's a bit counterproductive to waste time on it when I need another alignment right afterwards.
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,861
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From: Ringoes/Flemington, New Jersey
Well I went ahead and fixed the toe the best I could with my tape measure lol. It's about 1/16" toed out, a little more toe out than I was shooting for but holy cow it made a HUGE difference. I no longer feel like someone is grabbing the steering wheel and pulling it back and forth. The steering wheel is slightly off center though, I need to turn both tie rods a bit to recenter it but I'm doing my lowering springs today so it's a bit counterproductive to waste time on it when I need another alignment right afterwards.
Our Previous car, a 2005 Saleen has 275/xx/20 up front and it was never a problem. Oddly enough, the car's set up made for uneven tire wear in the front and tires could not be rotated because the wheels were wider in the back, and still, it drove perfect. Now with my Trans Am, it is more difficult to drive. Still haven't had an alignment but will try to fit one in soon, getting tired of the way it feels. If that doesn't fix it I will try going down a size up front like patSS
I have the same issue, running 275 up front and 315 rears and it gets pretty bad.
On a perfectly flat road it tracks straight, but the slightest imperfection makes it pull pretty hard. I've gotten used to it, what I don't like though is that I feel like my steering has a dead spot. Not like it has slack in it, it just feels mushy in the center like theres a damper there which I don't like. I like my steering very tight and precise, I don't have any other f-bodies to compare the feel to though.
On a perfectly flat road it tracks straight, but the slightest imperfection makes it pull pretty hard. I've gotten used to it, what I don't like though is that I feel like my steering has a dead spot. Not like it has slack in it, it just feels mushy in the center like theres a damper there which I don't like. I like my steering very tight and precise, I don't have any other f-bodies to compare the feel to though.
I have the same issue, running 275 up front and 315 rears and it gets pretty bad.
On a perfectly flat road it tracks straight, but the slightest imperfection makes it pull pretty hard. I've gotten used to it, what I don't like though is that I feel like my steering has a dead spot. Not like it has slack in it, it just feels mushy in the center like theres a damper there which I don't like. I like my steering very tight and precise, I don't have any other f-bodies to compare the feel to though.
On a perfectly flat road it tracks straight, but the slightest imperfection makes it pull pretty hard. I've gotten used to it, what I don't like though is that I feel like my steering has a dead spot. Not like it has slack in it, it just feels mushy in the center like theres a damper there which I don't like. I like my steering very tight and precise, I don't have any other f-bodies to compare the feel to though.