Tramlining ...

skallywag

I have an A4 with 255/35/19 summer tyres (contisportcontact3), the car has tramlined like hell from day 1.

Changed to 225/45/17s for the winter and the tramlining has disappeared completely.

It's soon time to move back to the summer setup and I am wondering if changing to a different tyre manufacturer could improve my tramlining situation? I know that low profile tryes are prone to tramlining, just wondering how to improve the situation.

cheers.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Put 225/40 Tyres on the front. You don't need that wife a tyre on the front. They'll do no harm on the rear.

skallywag

Id like to keep my current wheels if possible and not buy new ones.

Cee-Jay-Cee

skallywag wrote: »

Id like to keep my current wheels if possible and not buy new ones.

You don't need new wheels just two new front tyres otherwise there is no way of preventing it happen. 255 wide tyres are simply far too wide for your car.

skallywag

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

255 wide tyres are simply far too wide for your car.

Well I bought it from an official Audi garage in Germany with those wheels and tyres fitted. I've also seen a fair few identical cars with the same spec tyre, although maybe they have the same driving experience of course. The 17 inch wheels certainly feel much better.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Having lived and worked in Germany for 6 months, I can testify that German roads (even minor roads) are considerably better than Irish roads and so you possibly wont have the same tramlining effect on tyres.

If you plan on keeping your current wheels and tyres then there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent it happening other than avoiding poorer roads and only driving on motorways.

When your next changing tyres do some research before hand in particular how stiff the sidewalls are. I have 18" (225/45/18) tyres on my car, the tyres are XL (Extra Load) and have a stiff side wall. Next time I'm going for non XL tyres as I don't need them, I never have the car loaded to full capacity and so have no need for an XL rated tyre. Yours may possibly be XL also and unless you regularly carry 3/4 passengers and a full boot then you don't need them for regular use. They make the ride stiffer and cause the tyre to tramline more. Softer sidewalls are more compliant and so the tyre tends to conform to humps and bumps in the road and tramline less....its just something to consider.

skallywag

Thanks, that's good advice, as I am nearly always alone in my car.

mickdw

Having had a similar issue with my A5 on 18 inch wheels, I drove a number of A5 and found that the 19 inch were a complete joke of a set up. It would pull you all over the road, cross over the crown of the road and it would be difficult to position the car.
Even dealing with 18 inch, I tried going to a 225 45 from the factory fit 245 40 on the front but didn't find it much better.
I now run with matador tyres on the front after tyre man suggested that he had had some success and to be fair they are the best of all I've tried in terms of driving straight down the road.
19s are a no go though unless you are on flat perfect surfaces.

vectra

I have had 225/40/18 continentals on 2 different Octavia vRS's
and currently 235/40/18 Continentals on the Passat
Never had tramlining issue
Had plenty of road noise when they wore down though.

mikeecho

Go for a staggered setup, reduce the width of the front tyres., keep the rear at their current size.

mickdw

just something to note.
If the A4 is anything like the A5, it will absolutely need XL tyres on the rear axle.
The A5 turns into a deathtrap without the xl tyres on the back. Best way I can describe the feel and handling is that it felt life a had moved the rear wheels a couple of inches inboard such was the behaviour / instability on bends with significant roll felt within the tyres. While the A5 shares much with A4, it is a far wider car so maybe the same issues don't apply to A4.

galwaytt

skallywag wrote: »

I have an A4 with 255/35/19 summer tyres (contisportcontact3), the car has tramlined like hell from day 1.

Changed to 225/45/17s for the winter and the tramlining has disappeared completely.

It's soon time to move back to the summer setup and I am wondering if changing to a different tyre manufacturer could improve my tramlining situation? I know that low profile tryes are prone to tramlining, just wondering how to improve the situation.

cheers.

Tyres are way too wide for that car. Quite apart from the tramlining, there's the issue of miscomfort and wear and tear on the car too. The car was never designed to have them that wide. That's why you're tramlining - your geometry is all wrong for the wider tyres. But you know this already as when you fit the narrower ones, the problem goes away.......changing brand won't make an iota of difference. ..

Why does an A4 need tyres wider and lower profile tyres than my 3.6L 911 ?

My last car, a Saab, I actually went down a size - both in width and diameter - and the car was immeasurably better to drive and be in. More comfortable, quieter and the tyres were cheaper too.

Hal1

I had similar experience with 215/45/17's with kumho ku39's. I'm using dunlop sport maxx tyres now (same size tyre) and it doesn't happen much at all, mainly at lower speed on uneven ground.

skallywag

galwaytt wrote: »

Tyres are way too wide for that car. Quite apart from the tramlining, there's the issue of miscomfort and wear and tear on the car too. The car was never designed to have them that wide.

I bought the car from an official Audi dealer in Germany, hence I would have expected somehow that it would not come fitted with wheels or tyres which were out of spec for that model?

I do agree with your conclusion though, it's plan as day that the problem goes away on the narrower tyre.

Voodoomelon

galwaytt wrote: »

changing brand won't make an iota of difference. ..

This. Fundamentally your tyre width is much too large for the width of the vehicle. I'm not even sure rim diameter has anything to do with tramlining, its down to the width and sidewall (open to correction).

I've had various brands in 20" over 3 years with a 255 and 275 staggered setup on a larger car and only experience tramlining on one particularly bad 30 metre stretch of road surface, nowhere else.

mickdw

That is a factory size on the A5 and very likely A4 too.
It is madness no doubt but people here are speaking like it's some mad tyre the op decided to fit.

Tyre manufacturer will make a difference but that will only be from undriveable to barely driveable.

Voodoomelon

I'm sure the larger wheel options from manufacturers on standard executive sized vehicles are mostly an afterthought, complimenting the range. If they're undriveable, they're not suitable for a vehicle of that size. I only say that because I never experience it on the E66 and many of my local roads are in a poor state.

I'd imagine the wider and longer the wheelbase, the effects are much less pronounced, if noticeable at all. I think the smallest wheel option on the E66 was 18", an A4 is probably 16", so suspension setups will be likely most geared for 16-18" on an A4/5 which likely effects things too.

Another consideration would be that a 20" factory wheel on an A4 would likely have a super skinny side wall profile to keep the overall circumference within spec, whereas on a larger saloon, a 20" wheel would have a thicker sidewall.

skallywag

So, OP here again guys, it's been a while but I have an update on this topic for anyone that may be interested.

I changed tyres a few weeks ago, went for Pirelli P Zeros, and the tramlining has disappeared completely. The car feels much better with them on.

As for the previous comments that it is insane for an A4 to run that tyre size, I've since came across lots of other examples of A4s with an identical setup, it can be standard issue on the high end Quattros it seems.

Truckermal

skallywag wrote: »

So, OP here again guys, it's been a while but I have an update on this topic for anyone that may be interested.

I changed tyres a few weeks ago, went for Pirelli P Zeros, and the tramlining has disappeared completely. The car feels much better with them on.

As for the previous comments that it is insane for an A4 to run that tyre size, I've since came across lots of other examples of A4s with an identical setup, it can be standard issue on the high end Quattros it seems.

Ya wife's 151 has the same wheels and it's a hure for it, funny enough it's grand once the tyres are new but once they have a few MM gone the car is all over the shop!

antodeco

I had 225/45/17 front and back until last year. Then changed to 250/45/17 rears and not much difference. Changed a month ago to 260/45/17 rears and noticed very bad tramlining. Turned out the pressure was way too high on the rear. Dropped it back to about 30psi at the rears and made a major difference.

mickdw

skallywag wrote: »

So, OP here again guys, it's been a while but I have an update on this topic for anyone that may be interested.

I changed tyres a few weeks ago, went for Pirelli P Zeros, and the tramlining has disappeared completely. The car feels much better with them on.

As for the previous comments that it is insane for an A4 to run that tyre size, I've since came across lots of other examples of A4s with an identical setup, it can be standard issue on the high end Quattros it seems.

It will be improved for a time on new tyre and some tyres are of course better than others for these issues. If you have got a setup that works, excellent but you are fighting a losing battle trying to run such a tyre on anything but perfect roads.

skallywag

Good points being made, the tyres are of course completely new, let's see what the setup is like when they wear down a bit. Also, come to think of it, the contis which I had the snag with were also a bit worn by the time I bought the car, so perhaps they were also fine when it was new.