colejl

This is where the road controls the car. The road surface pulls the car side-to-side and you have to fight more with the steering.

SolarFactory

I ditched the RF's a few months ago and I have noticed less tramlining but it is not completely gone for me at least.

Rudy

As a general rule that is true... However, RFs definitely make the problem worse! :thumbsdown: This is probably due to the lack of compliancy and make the tyre following the cambers more.
[/quote]
I agree completely. My thinking before was that the earlier posters in this thread were claiming that now that they have non-runflat (read: snow) tires on, the car is driving "better" and not tramlining. In my opininon, even though the runflats may add to the tramlining a little bit, the tramlining went away for them because of the tire size change. I think it was tachyon that said the car is transformed "in a good way" and that "this is the way the E60 is supposed to ride". I'm glad he's happy now with the ride but in my opinion, if that's what he's looking for, he probably shouldn't have gotten the sports package in the first place...

LukeV

Thanks a lot for the explanations concerning "tramlining" (I have to say I just had some clues from the term itself).
They were extremely clear.
Thanks
Luca

JStraw

Check out this article from Tirerack on tramlining.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...e.jsp?techid=47

Essentially, it's laws of physics to a certain extent - all cars will tramline. The Ultra High Performance tires will tramline more due to the extra grip that these tires provide over the all-seasons or winter tires.

Ricracing

With winter tyres NO tramlining but it's really bad with the Dunlop RF's.

I have a large differance with the tire sizes (see sign.)

Rudy

Exactly! Thanks for the link...

tachyon

I don't think tire size change is the reason for the difference in tramlining. I think it's the tread pattern and rubber compounds.

I've experienced this now with 2 BMWs, and with both my 7 series and the new 550 I used the same size wheels and tires summer and winter. Yet there is a big difference in tramlining (summer = worse).

Every winter I would say "ahhh, this ride is much smooth now." But by spring-time I would lust after better cornering capabilities. And then in the spring when I changed wheels and tires, again I would say "ahh, much better, now the car handles as it should." But by Fall I would be sick of tramlining experiences. It's a vicious cylce.

I love the sport package on the 550 ... wouldn't ever get a BMW without one. It's just interesting how big a difference tire design can affect the ride and handling.

Rudy

In the examples earlier, tire size had a lot to do with the change in handling of the car.

Clearly, there are many factors that can contribute to tramlining -- size, performance rating (stiffness), profile, wheel size, wheel offset, etc.

I think the Tire Rack article that JStraw linked to sums everything up quite well...