Rutted roads

[Harbor17]

Hi Guys,

I have a 17 X5M that I really love, it really is a beautiful car. I live in MA and the roads are not in very good condition, many of the roads are rutted or are sagging/indented from so much traffic. While driving in these roads I have noticed that the rutt will take the wheel and pull into the deepest line, anyone else notice this? I have not noticed it with any other car I drive so I assume this is a side effect of driving a performance car with fat tires, curious of others thoughts, thanks.

[///d]

Yes, wide flat tires will do this.

[jab23]

Yup. It's called tramlining. Definitely a weird sensation.

[m3fuz]

Yep - you could try a 20” square setup and see if that helps. I had a staggered set on my E53 4.8is and it still did it though.

[JasonDavis]

Definitely feels like something is off the first few times it happens. Coming from 225 and smaller tires this road effect, and the vehicle following the road more in a banked/pitched curve was something that took me a little while to figure out.
Best solution for me was to drive it; this way you'll learn how it feels under load, braking, and cornering.

[Blue By You]

Originally Posted by Harbor17

Hi Guys,

I have a 17 X5M that I really love, it really is a beautiful car. I live in MA and the roads are not in very good condition, many of the roads are rutted or are sagging/indented from so much traffic. While driving in these roads I have noticed that the rutt will take the wheel and pull into the deepest line, anyone else notice this? I have not noticed it with any other car I drive so I assume this is a side effect of driving a performance car with fat tires, curious of others thoughts, thanks.

I'm in MA too and agreed our roads are terrible! Not like we pay insane fed/state/property taxes right?

Yes this is completely normal for such wide tires. (I've got 285 21" setup in front and the tramlining is pronounced) These vehicles are more designed for track conditions and racing, not designed for comfort. They are not ideal for our roads where we have all sorts of irregularities. But they're fun as hell to drive when we get a chance to wring them out!

If you want comfort, yes you can try other wheels and tires. But then you'll sacrifice performance and looks while spending a lot of money/time/effort on potentially making it marginally better. IMO it misses the point to try and make this beast more "comfortable." But to each his own.

[Harbor17]

Thanks guys, I figured is was because the tires are so wide. Thanks for confirming.