Road 'Tramlines' worse?

[willmagrath]

Hi all,

Since the really hot weather in the summer, is it just me, or have the roads now got really bad tramlines from them sagging under the weight?

You can feel and see it really badly now, especially in the current weather where standing water sits in the gullys.

Anyone getting annoyed by having to really concentrate to stay in lane?

[Dave Hedgehog]

normally down to crap tyres with thin bendy side walls, contis are terrible for it

i dumped conti 6s for MPS4S on an RS and the car went from glued to the tramlines to there is no tramlines

[Super Sonic]

My atr used to hate the lorryq grooves in lane one on m'ways if that's what you're referring to. It was on 225 Goodyear eagles. The suspension may have exacerbated it. It's the reason I used to stay in L2 or 3.

[kambites]

Suspension geometry makes a huge difference to how much a car tramlines. If you've noticed a big change in a short period of time with the same car and tyres, it's probably worth getting your alignment checked. Relatively small discrepancies in tyre pressures can also have a surprisingly large effect, especially on very low-profile tyres.

ETA: I dare say the roads did degrade this summer as well though. The materials used in our roads aren't really designed for the sustained high temperatures we had this year and maintenance has been pretty much non-existent.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 1st December 17:25

[s55shh]

We have thousands of HGV driving up and down the country because our rail network is over capacity and HS2 won't be built for a few years yet (and ironically they are hauling a lot of their construction stone by rail!). At least since Brexit some of the Irish freight is going direct by ferry instead of off loading at Dover and driving to Holyhead. The specification of the materials used on our motorways isn't much different than that used on the continent but our traffic volumes are much higher. No ruts on the M6 tollroad!

[Pica-Pica]

Used to notice some slight tram-lining on 19” Pirelli Pzeros on a 335d (from new). Changed to 18” Goodyear EfficientGrips at 32k miles. Not noticed tram-lining since.

[Mr Tidy]

I think it's a combination of factors that some cars seem more prone to suffering from.

Tyre brand, tread depth and pressures seem to have an effect as well as suspension condition and alignment. I found Bridgestone run-flats terrible on a BMW Z4, non run-flats on my current Z4 were much better but a 4-wheel alignment pretty much eradicated any tramlining.

[NSNO]

s55shh said:

We have thousands of HGV driving up and down the country because our rail network is over capacity and HS2 won't be built for a few years yet (and ironically they are hauling a lot of their construction stone by rail!). At least since Brexit some of the Irish freight is going direct by ferry instead of off loading at Dover and driving to Holyhead. The specification of the materials used on our motorways isn't much different than that used on the continent but our traffic volumes are much higher. No ruts on the M6 tollroad!

I would say that the volumes in Germany would be very similar, if not higher as it would be crisscrossed from lorries coming from eastern Europe and also between Italy from the south. Then you have all the Dutch using it with their caravans during the summer and the endless roadworks and it gets very congested. Belgium is another country that is a cross roads and I have certainly noticed tramlining when driving through their.

[LJF_97]

Mixture of no freight train investment for about 50 years, so loads of HGV's hammering the roads, the rise of heavy SUV's & electric cars and the fact that loads of cars have large wheels with low-profile tyres means you notice it more.