[BimmerGuyFL]

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[TheRox]

Nah, its not your tires. Its the car. Try it on different roads, make sure its not the road.

-steering rack <-- known problem
-alignment
-bushings

[BimmerGuyFL]

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[mysterl33]

is the steering rack problem also on the 325/330's???

[TheRox]

Originally Posted by mysterl33

is the steering rack problem also on the 325/330's???

I would think BMW's in general.

I can't remember the specifics, search it... alot of people have their racks replaced. I remember having it done on my old volvo too...it never drove the same way again. Its never as good as it is from factory.

[BimmerGuyFL]

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[dcat151]

I don't have the same problem. From time to time if I'm driving on a rough road, my car will want to track the imperfections in the road, but I believe that's probably the tires. On most roads my car tracks just fine.

[slowSwede]

You probably already know this, but if you´re on 19 inch rims they will track a lot more than say 17 inch with 45-50 height wheels.

[mycoupe]

Originally Posted by dcat151

I don't have the same problem. From time to time if I'm driving on a rough road, my car will want to track the imperfections in the road, but I believe that's probably the tires. On most roads my car tracks just fine.

I'm with you...If the road is perfectly smooth, my car drives like a dream and seems like it would drive straight indefinitely, but as soon as there is ANY imperfection in the road the damn thing goes haywire and wants to follow it all over the place. I have wondered if it's a byproduct of a staggered setup. BTW, I'm on OEM RFT's.

[BimmerGuyFL]

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[dcat151]

Well, if it's more noticeable on one side than the other, it sounds like it could be an alignment and/or suspension issue.

[F32Fleet]

You didn't mention whether you have sport pkg, but if you're running wide/low profile tires this is the cost of admission. Also don't forget that many roads are paved with a crown going down the middle of the road for drainage purposes. I've heard that some car's have their alignment done to help compensate for this, but not all, and there are always trade-off's with that setup.

[aah78]

Try shifting to a non-staggered tyre formation and see if you have the same issue.

My winter setup is 225/40 all around, and the car drive much straighter, than when it's on the staggered setup.

The problem you're facing is a common for all staggered setups - it's pronounced on concrete roads, compared to tarred roads.

[JIM E92]

You could try to have them max out the toe-in to the factory limit. That would give you more tracking stability.

[BimmerGuyFL]

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[CirrusSR22]

On my E36, the difference is night & day between 225mm summer performance tires and 185mm winter tires or even 205mm all-seasons.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=47

The summer tires "tramline" VERY noticeably. You need constant correction to keep the car straight. Pretty much all paved roads have both a crown and minor "ruts" caused by years of traffic. Wide, summer tires follow these. You mostly need to hold left correction on the wheel as the tires want to follow the crow "down" (right) into the curb/shoulder. I noticed it at it's worst when braking firmly at an intersection (like for a yellow). You really have to hold onto the steering wheel to keep it going straight. It's just the price you pay for having wide, summer tires.

When I put on my winter tires for the season the car tracks almost perfectly straight. Very little tramling and the steering resistance is nearly cut in half. Like I said, absolutely night/day.

I'd suggest finding someone with a set of 17" wheels with all-seasons and see if you can mount them for a little drive.

[Delnari]

If you are running larger than 17" wheels then the quick fix is to add more postive toe on the front wheels. This will force the car to track in a straight line but you will lose some of your crisp turn ins.

When I was on the track I would add a touch more toe and caster to the front wheels when running with a large negative camber. Car would track straight really well on the high speed straights and the negative camber let me carry more speed into the turns. The only loss was I had to really crank the wheel hard in sharper turns.