Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

It turns out "tramlining" actually is a thing!

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
So I recently switched the MY OEM PUP 21" Uberturbines (wheels/tire/TPMs assemblies now for sale in parts section btw!) to 19" 8.5 Martian Wheels with the stock 255/45 19" tire size. Along with that I got the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack tires. Unfortunately, my experience so far with these tires is less good. There are a number of concrete highways in the area that have small groves cut longitudinally into the road surface (I think it allegedly helps with preventing icing and hydroplane pooling), however riding highway speeds with these tires has resulted in several instances of the tires grabbing the groves and creating a shimmy or wobble at speed.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this? And just to warn folks if they encounter these groves on concrete at speed (70-80mph) with these particular tires. I'm thinking of adjusting tire pressure to see if it improves and also I'm curious if anyone knows if the alignment settings change (camber, toe, etc.) would be different for the 19" wheels vs the staggered 21" OEM setup. I never experienced this with the Uberturbines and Pirelli P Zero tires. My hunch however is that the culprit is the particular longitudinal grooves on the QuietTracks that align too well with the road grooving. Also, I wish I had bought the Vredestein Quatrac Pro instead of the Bridgestone QuietTracks for the 19" wheel size--Oh well :(


"Tramlining"

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47
 
Tramlining is 100% a thing and is exacerbated by mostly wheel width, but also strongly alignment and finally tire construction.

I have not experienced that in my Model 3 but have on other vehicles. You also dropped down two wheel diameters, which means you have more flexible sidewalls, which can also exacerbate it if those tires have particularly soft sidewalls. I'm not experienced with those tires, are they OE spec?
 
Tramlining is 100% a thing and is exacerbated by mostly wheel width, but also strongly alignment and finally tire construction.

I have not experienced that in my Model 3 but have on other vehicles. You also dropped down two wheel diameters, which means you have more flexible sidewalls, which can also exacerbate it if those tires have particularly soft sidewalls. I'm not experienced with those tires, are they OE spec?

Yes thanks, the 255/45-19" is the Model Y OEM size for the non Performance Upgrade Package size wheels. Good call about the increase in sidewall possibly playing a role.
 
So I recently switched the MY OEM PUP 21" Uberturbines (wheels/tire/TPMs assemblies now for sale in parts section btw!) to 19" 8.5 Martian Wheels with the stock 255/45 19" tire size. Along with that I got the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack tires. Unfortunately, my experience so far with these tires is less good. There are a number of concrete highways in the area that have small groves cut longitudinally into the road surface (I think it allegedly helps with preventing icing and hydroplane pooling), however riding highway speeds with these tires has resulted in several instances of the tires grabbing the groves and creating a shimmy or wobble at speed.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this? And just to warn folks if they encounter these groves on concrete at speed (70-80mph) with these particular tires. I'm thinking of adjusting tire pressure to see if it improves and also I'm curious if anyone knows if the alignment settings change (camber, toe, etc.) would be different for the 19" wheels vs the staggered 21" OEM setup. I never experienced this with the Uberturbines and Pirelli P Zero tires. My hunch however is that the culprit is the particular longitudinal grooves on the QuietTracks that align too well with the road grooving. Also, I wish I had bought the Vredestein Quatrac Pro instead of the Bridgestone QuietTracks for the 19" wheel size--Oh well :(


"Tramlining"

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47
Aside from the performance issue you are having so far - how do you feel about the appearance going from the 21s to 19s?
 
So I recently switched the MY OEM PUP 21" Uberturbines (wheels/tire/TPMs assemblies now for sale in parts section btw!) to 19" 8.5 Martian Wheels with the stock 255/45 19" tire size. Along with that I got the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack tires. Unfortunately, my experience so far with these tires is less good. There are a number of concrete highways in the area that have small groves cut longitudinally into the road surface (I think it allegedly helps with preventing icing and hydroplane pooling), however riding highway speeds with these tires has resulted in several instances of the tires grabbing the groves and creating a shimmy or wobble at speed.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this? And just to warn folks if they encounter these groves on concrete at speed (70-80mph) with these particular tires. I'm thinking of adjusting tire pressure to see if it improves and also I'm curious if anyone knows if the alignment settings change (camber, toe, etc.) would be different for the 19" wheels vs the staggered 21" OEM setup. I never experienced this with the Uberturbines and Pirelli P Zero tires. My hunch however is that the culprit is the particular longitudinal grooves on the QuietTracks that align too well with the road grooving. Also, I wish I had bought the Vredestein Quatrac Pro instead of the Bridgestone QuietTracks for the 19" wheel size--Oh well :(


"Tramlining"

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47

Has your issue with the Quiet Tracks abated? I put 235/40-19 on my M3 LR RWD after 600 miles the issue is very annoying. I took the car to my alignment guy and he said it's a tire issue and suggested I reduce pressure. I reduced tire pressure 3 psi and it seems to have been better... but I haven't put a lot of highway miles on the car since then.