Electronic Steering and Driving Feel on Grooved Pavement

[MattBianco]

Not sure how many have this type of a surface on your highways and roads:





These concrete highways have longer life, are quieter and perform better when wet.

I got another F15 loaner to fill the gap till delivery and was driving on a highway paved as pictured. I though it was windy and I could not keep the car straight. It kept making jerky moves to the left and right. My wife kept looking at me as if I am playing game. I blamed the wind. Then I noticed going over bridges it would stop, and that it was the pavement. Sure enough, as soon as we reached an asphalt area, it was gone.

1. It was an uncomfortable ride
2. It was not easy to control the car and prevent lane departure from triggering
3. I couldn't wait to reach asphalt

Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a by product of a hyper sensitive electronic setting? This is the first time I have had this happen in 30+ years of driving on such surfaces.

[r33_RGSport]

Don't forget the tire factor.
I drove different car (Non BMW) and it was doing the same thing.
The tires tend to follow thw groove on the concrete highway.

[hyde]

We have bridges that have a long distance to drive on bare metal grills, like this: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MAJmH76Jmq...ebikelane2.JPG

When I had my Jeep, it always felt like I had to make corrections, the road wasn't stable and that I wasn't in control, I had to constantly make corrections. Then I got my E70, never, not once, have I experienced this. So it's definitely tires not only the vehicle. I heard some people got Pirelli's and some got others, did you check what you had?

[MattBianco]

Originally Posted by Golden Horn

?...
When I had my Jeep, it always felt like I had to make corrections, the road wasn't stable and that I wasn't in control .....

Continental OEM all season 19".

Both you and @r33 have valid point regarding tires. The tread pattern of the OEM wheels and the parallel lines seem to be foes on some roads.

[DavidTSG]

I have the same feeling with the grooved roads. There are not many in my area, but there are some on a few causeways and freeway sections. The drive feel gets very jerky/loose. Feels like the car is not connecting to the road. Or probably more accurately that the tires are not connecting. This is running the standard tires that came with my F15, Pirelli P-Zero RFT 20" staggered.

And I have to disagree w/ the comment that these roads are supposed to be quieter. Even on my other vehicles that didn't have these tires, the grooved roads always sound much louder than non-grooved. I hate driving on 'em and I'm glad we don't have many in this area.

[r33_RGSport]

Unfortunately, most of the roads here in LA are that concrete type.
I believe it supposedly to last longer than the paved or asphalt road.
But, it is not tire friendly, wears the tires out faster and causes the tires to make a lot of noises.

[MattBianco]

Originally Posted by DavidTSG

....standard tires that came with my F15, Pirelli P-Zero RFT 20" staggered...

And I have to disagree w/ the comment that these roads are supposed to be quieter. Even on my other vehicles that didn't have these tires, the grooved roads always sound much louder than non-grooved. I hate driving on 'em and I'm glad we don't have many in this area.

So they behave this way on the Pirelli 20" as well as the 19" Continentals. I have the same 19" Continentals on an R500, and have never experience this out of control feeling on the same roads.

They roads are billed as quiet by road builders (here, Caltrans), not by me, and I agree that they sound a lot louder inside the car. Could it be that they produce less road noise (where they build noise barriers), outside, but more inside cars? I prefer them when the road is wet, but otherwise not.

[Overtaxed]

It's called tramlining. And it's almost always tires that cause it. Certain tires are like a fish to water, they get into the grooves and just follow them with seeming disregard to driver input. My CLS was trying to kill me for years on grooved roads until I finally changed the tires.

Super sticky tires generally tramline the worst. Harder tires generally do it less. But that's just a general rule, it really depends on the car/suspension setup. If you have the 20's with summer rubber on them, the first change I would make is to take those off and get a harder tire on there.

Just a note, my X5 (which has the 20" summer setup) does not tramline that badly IMHO. So, perhaps it's something that you'll get used to. After my CLS, I feel like I'm a "pro" with tramlining cars, and the X5 really doesn't feel that bad to me. Much worse than my Jag with all season tires, but not terrible.

[42pilot]

Originally Posted by Overtaxed

It's called tramlining. And it's almost always tires that cause it. Certain tires are like a fish to water, they get into the grooves and just follow them with seeming disregard to driver input. My CLS was trying to kill me for years on grooved roads until I finally changed the tires.

Super sticky tires generally tramline the worst. Harder tires generally do it less. But that's just a general rule, it really depends on the car/suspension setup. If you have the 20's with summer rubber on them, the first change I would make is to take those off and get a harder tire on there.

Just a note, my X5 (which has the 20" summer setup) does not tramline that badly IMHO. So, perhaps it's something that you'll get used to. After my CLS, I feel like I'm a "pro" with tramlining cars, and the X5 really doesn't feel that bad to me. Much worse than my Jag with all season tires, but not terrible.

+1

I have Michelin Pilot Sports on my SL550 and this doesn't happen. I have the M sport with the 20in Conti's and it does not happen to these either. Actually, these OEM's are quite nice on Georgia roads.

[greentrbo95gst]

my f10 M5 with oem 20" Michelin Pss tramlines much worse than the f15 x5 with 21' Pirellis.

[MattBianco]

Originally Posted by Overtaxed

It's called tramlining. .....Harder tires generally do it less. But that's just a general rule, it really depends on the car/suspension setup. If.......

From prior posts it seems both the 20" (@DavidTSG) and 19" tires that come standard have this issue. I have experienced "tramlining" (new word to me), but never so persistently and so strongly. Whenever it has happened in any other car I have driven, you move over a 2-3 inches and it ungrooves (my word).

I have a CLK, an R with the same 19" Contis, and never had anything like this before. Currently on an e70 courtesy car with 6k miles on it and 19" OEM Continentals and it is immune to tramlining on the same stretch of the highway.

As I mentioned I was getting nasty comments from my wife for not driving well. "It is not me...it's the wind....well, it looks like the car does not like the grooves". Another 15 minutes of it and the kids would have been sea sick (tramlining sick? )

I find it odd that only some of us are experiencing it. Must be the Caltrans groove pattern in combination with a steering wheel and suspension system that is very sensitive to the road textures.

[rexus300]

This has happen with my 2011 BMW 5, 2013 Mercedes Ml350 and recently 2016 Audi A7 on those grooved highways. It feels like wandering and a weird side to side motion.

THE GOOD NEWS IS:
This all resolves with replacement of the OEM tires for me. I switched to Michelins on all the cars from Continental and Pirelli OEMS and got the car re-aligned properly since some had bad specs from factory and the problem is gone.

[dds007]

I hate the light steering!! Anyone find a fix for This?