S4 is tram lining, help sought

[pegdrag]

2015 S4 is Tramlining on original Contis. Alignment is from the factory.

It's not horrible, but more than I expected. I'd hoped it would get better with some tire wear, but at 7k it hasn't.

Suggestions?

[Dakkath]

It doesn't really. The contis are horrible from about 7k on to when they die at 15k.

Best things you can do is just maintain a high PSI, something like 40F, 37-38R

[BirdmanQ5]

Get new tires ASAP. Contis are so bad.

[StealthBlackA4]

6,500 miles on my Contis and they are completely bald...they are absolutey horrible tires. Upgrade to something like PSS...that's what I'm doing.

[theswoleguy]

Noticed i need tires soon at 9000 (stock Continentals) miles pushed then to slicks to 13180. Upgraded to Michelin Pilot Super Sports as the forum suggested on Friday. Initial impressions are stickier and way quieter.

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[KashOutS4]

I'm at 9k on the contis mines are starting to get noisey. I have plenty of thread on mines tho refuse to swap since I might be parting ways with the S4 come December.

[ModItNow]

Get an 034 x brace or alu kreuz, but yea those tires suck too!

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[mungie]

+1 to PSS = tramline cure. Had it myself on contis at 40k

[quickglx]

Yep, I have the Continentals. Same issues here. Even with frequent alignment checks they wear poorly and get noisy.... Follow every rut and dip in the road. Quite annoying

[TheLetterJay]

Stock tires suck! It sounded like I had a bad wheel bearing whenever I made turns.
Better tires and a stabilizer brace will cure this issue.

From my Moto X Pure using Tapatalk

[Rshane]

I just swapped out my Conti's two weeks ago for some Hankooks Ventus...world of difference. Rides so much better and a whole lot quieter.

[Moose201]

My Contis tramlined bad, especially at the end of their tread life. Switched to PSS two months ago, problem completely solved.

[S4inBC]

I switched to some new Pilot Super Sports when I put the OEM tires/wheels back on and they were louder than my winters! They really aren't great tires, but you may me able to get a few more miles out of them by rotating them. I know my dealer said that you don't rotate tires on AWD cars, but when I told that to the guy at the tire shop that, his comment was that they should stick to selling cars. I will be rotating my new ones every 8000km for sure!

[Moose201]

I switched to some new Pilot Super Sports when I put the OEM tires/wheels back on and they were louder than my winters! They really aren't great tires, but you may me able to get a few more miles out of them by rotating them. I know my dealer said that you don't rotate tires on AWD cars, but when I told that to the guy at the tire shop that, his comment was that they should stick to selling cars. I will be rotating my new ones every 8000km for sure!

Weird, mine are super quiet. They ride great and transformed the on-center feel dramatically.

[S4inBC]

To clarify my statement. I love the new tires. Going from my winter setup to the stock Conti's was a shocking increase in noise! The new Michelins are indeed quite amazing, I can't imagine why better tires aren't selected for this car out of the factory. My tire guy was pretty emphatic that they should be rotated regularly though.

[SilveR316]

Yet another confirmation that the stock contis suck.

I had horrible tramlining with stock contis. I switched to Michelin PSS and it went away completely.

[Moose201]

To clarify my statement. I love the new tires. Going from my winter setup to the stock Conti's was a shocking increase in noise! The new Michelins are indeed quite amazing, I can't imagine why better tires aren't selected for this car out of the factory. My tire guy was pretty emphatic that they should be rotated regularly though.

Okay, now I follow, thanks for clarifying. Rotation seems like a good idea as well although I usually just keep an eye on the treadware to see if there is any unevenness.

[pegdrag]

Thank you gentlemen. I'll look to replace the Conti's first, then consider a brace if the problem doesn't go away.

[dls11b8]

I've also noticed this car tramlines worse than my previous cars... Just curious, does anyone know what causes a car to tramline worse than others? It did it with the winters that were on when I bought the car, and still does it with the new summers I had installed.. It seems to have gotten worse after putting spacers all around, too, or is that my imagination? Is it soley a chassis rigidity issue?

[mungie]

I've also noticed this car tramlines worse than my previous cars... Just curious, does anyone know what causes a car to tramline worse than others? It did it with the winters that were on when I bought the car, and still does it with the new summers I had installed.. It seems to have gotten worse after putting spacers all around, too, or is that my imagination? Is it soley a chassis rigidity issue?

Have you had an alignment recently? What tire pressure are you running at front and back? Tire size?

[Race Shooter]

Dont expect the all powerful PSS to solve your issue though. This car does tramline pretty badly, as do most cars with low profile and wide tires. Tires may help, but dont count on it being a night and day difference.

[Moose201]

Dont expect the all powerful PSS to solve your issue though. This car does tramline pretty badly, as do most cars with low profile and wide tires. Tires may help, but dont count on it being a night and day difference.

In my case, the difference was profound but I'll be curious to see if the tramlining returns more as the tread wears down.

[dls11b8]

Have you had an alignment recently? What tire pressure are you running at front and back? Tire size?

1) No, they checked it when I had the tires installed, and they said it was 'in factory spec', but didn't give me numbers. I can see there is a bit of neg camber on all 4, the car tracks straight on most road surfaces that aren't rutted or overly crowned.
2) 38f/38r
3) 245/40-18 (Stock wheels)

edit - I'm pretty certain the previous owner had suspension & wheels on the car, as the springs and struts look brand new compared to the rest of the suspension components and the fenders are rolled, but the dealer vehemently denies it... Not sure if they may have tweaked something at some point..

[Acejam]

Last Friday I had a set of PSS's put on and an alignment done at the dealer. The car feels 10x better!

[pegdrag]

Necro'ing the original thread as I forgot to update it.

I switched to the PSS from the Conti, problem solved.