Reducing Tram Lining Effects

[BG-33P]

Hey,

I'm just wondering if you guys know of anything I can do to reduce tram lining effects that my car is having. It drives great on normal roads, nice and smooth, good sharp response from the suspension without being too bouncy and harsh. However, when i get on a shit road it becomes a handful.

Details of my setup:

96 honda crx
16 inch wheels ( i think they're 7inches wide)
toyo Proxies - 205/45
Tokico Adjustable Coilovers - the car is low but definitely not slammed. I've had my old del sol much lower and haven't experienced effects like this
Energy Suspension bushes in the car - all of them done apart from the rear trailing arm which has a brand new OEM honda one. These are the same control arms from my old sol as well so i'm assuming its not these.

Wheel alignment feels right, doesn't pull to one side when on a smooth road and there's no shakes from the car at higher speeds (110 km/hr).

I haven't gotten a wheel alignment done on the car for a while. I'm assuming this would help even if i won't feel a difference on normal roads. thoughts??

In comparison, i can drive down the same roads in another car not feel the effects anywhere near as much. Similar wheel specs to my crx as well as weight. Only difference would be the lower ride height and poly bushes. The wheel alignment on the other car is probably screwed too, haven't done that one in years! haha

Jase

[DreadAngel]

Hi Jase,

Definitely wheel alignment should be done depending how much you drive the car half year to yearly because both camber and toe are culprits of pronounced tramlining. Anything else that helps sensitise the wheels to the road such as your Energy Bushes and uprated tires [Toyo Proxies] also help make the tramlining effect more noticable. Also what are the specs of your wheels? Offset can also affect tramlining.

Some some things you can do to minimise it:

• Wheel alignment
• Drop the Tyre Pressure a little

[BG-33P]

hey mate,

Thanks for that. I'm road tripping up to QLD in a couple of weeks so i'll get the wheel alignment done before I get on my way. Are there any settings you suggest? or should I just aim for the factory settings for drive-ability over performance?

I think my wheels are 16x7 +42. Enkei RPF01's. I'm currently running my suspension rather soft too. Probably a lilttle stiffer then stock. Would stiffening up the front / rear help at all?


EDIT: What tyre pressures should i aim for? i've got 34psi Front and 30psi Rear at the moment.

[EKVTIR-T]

Probably too much negative camber from being lowered

[BG-33P]

theres probably a bit of extra -ve camber there but not too much. She's not that low. Heres some pics of the car, hopefully that helps give you an idea of the ride height, camber, wheels offset etc.

http://www.zeroclearance.net/wp-cont..._0758-copy.jpg
http://www.zeroclearance.net/wp-cont...8/IMG_0585.jpg
http://www.zeroclearance.net/wp-cont...8/IMG_0527.jpg

[DreadAngel]

hey mate,

Thanks for that. I'm road tripping up to QLD in a couple of weeks so i'll get the wheel alignment done before I get on my way. Are there any settings you suggest? or should I just aim for the factory settings for drive-ability over performance?

I think my wheels are 16x7 +42. Enkei RPF01's. I'm currently running my suspension rather soft too. Probably a lilttle stiffer then stock. Would stiffening up the front / rear help at all?


EDIT: What tyre pressures should i aim for? i've got 34psi Front and 30psi Rear at the moment.

Npz man =)

I think try factory settings first is safest for the long trip and see how you go, if it eases the tramlining then you'll know that the alignment was really out of whack then start dialing back in just a little more -ve camber and toe to help turn-in.

16x7 +42 is quite conservative and factory-euqse so that 'shouldn't' affect the tramlining too much.

What suspension is it and what are the damper settings on it atm?

Keep your current settings for now cause they look ok, so what I'd do is get the alignment, drive around and see how its tracking. If it still has some then change the psi at the front to say 30psi, drive around a little, if its helps it then slowly creep the psi back up till you're ok.

You may unfortunately have to compromise on the setup to help with the tramlining. I had to do that for my car too lol...

theres probably a bit of extra -ve camber there but not too much. She's not that low. Heres some pics of the car, hopefully that helps give you an idea of the ride height, camber, wheels offset etc.

http://www.zeroclearance.net/wp-cont..._0758-copy.jpg
http://www.zeroclearance.net/wp-cont...8/IMG_0585.jpg
http://www.zeroclearance.net/wp-cont...8/IMG_0527.jpg

It looks just right to me so yeah all good ^_^

[BG-33P]

yeah, it will always be a compromise between performance and driveability. Everyone is different. I used to not care if the car was easy to drive or not back when I was in QLD. As long as it was fast! lol (as fast as an NA del sol can be anyway hehe)

Thanks for the sound advice. I'll get myself an alignment and make some moves from there. I'll have to get some upper control arms if I want to change the camber on this thing. I used to have adjustable rear arms and i'm pretty sure they're not on this car at the moment. I've never had front adjustable UCA's.

http://www.tokicoperformanceshocks.c...orak502-i.aspx

Thats a page of info on the coilovers i've got. They're not a bad setup actually. They're quite streetable on the lower damper settings but have plenty of headroom to tighten them up enough to have fun. Not as stiff as coilovers I've had in the past (tein's and ksports) but i always thought they were too stiff for street anyway.

I've got the suspension set on the softest at the rear and one click up from softest at the front. I think theres 5/6 clicks between Softest and hardest. The coilovers are almost as low as they go while ensuring the spring is still captive without any load. I wouldn't dare go low enough for the spring to become unseated.

I'll fiddle with the tyre pressures when I get back from QLD. I think the quality of the roads down here in melb isn't as good. haha.

[Glocker]

In my experience I found that toe alignments and caster settings are usually the case that causes tram lining, especially excessive toe in caused by lowering. Excessive toe also chews through tyres like crazy, check inside wear.

[BG-33P]

Can anyone recommend a good tyre place in Melbourne to get a wheel alignment and a safety check on my suspension?

Somewhere that isn't stupid enough to use a rattle gun on my alloy nuts or scratch my wheels?