Odd experience with Directional tyres

[Paul Beazer]

I've been having a minor issue with the steering feeling like its easly deflected off course for a bit now, mainly when in a straight line. It seemed to coincide with the fitment of 2 new tyre to the front wheels a year ago.
So today, swapped the fronts with the rears and hey presto no more wandering!
The tyres that caused the problem were Avon ZZ3's. They seem to have more of an arrowed pattern than the ZZ1s which are now on the front. The ZZ1's seem to have a 1" centre band, which im assuming isnt deflected as much as the ZZ3's.
Both the ZZ1 and ZZ3s are directional tyres. They were rotating in the correct direction and were correctly inflated.

Anyone else ever had similar issues?

Im just glad its the tyres, was beginning to worry my rack may be on the way out.

[Wodjno]

It's called tram lining It's not a problem, but most people don't like it because it takes to much input from the driver and doesn't make for a very relaxing drive. But what you are getting is a lot of feed back from the the road. I like it, and although the GSD3's don't make for much tram lining, added to my lowered suspension they do give a fair bit of feedback. Each tyre will react differently, and at the end of the day it's down to personal choice. But you definitely haven't got any probs with your car

[Physician]

I can't remember exactly what feedback I was getting from a set of ZZ3's a couple of years ago but I do certainly recollect that they felt totally different to GSD3's.

Although the ZZ3's gave adequate performance they seemed to be in a totally different league to the GSD3's which seem to be glued to the road, particularly in the wet.

It may seem obvious but have you tried different pressures to get different characteristics? You could try 30-34psi all round in the, now, wetter weather but you would get more wear and it isn't best for aquaplaning if you hit a big patch of standing water. Or, I now put 38 front and 34 rear which makes it lighter to steer but produces more grip at the rear (for damp/wet conditions).

[Paul Beazer]

Cheers guys, its good to hear that i wasnt going mad.
When i ran them on the front i was running them at 34psi, now they're on the back i've dropped the pressure to 32psi. (They're 215 / 40 / 17s BTW)
They seemed to get worse at lower pressures (checked them last week and they were at 26psi, oops!)
Still, done a bit more driving today and the car feels more stable and less of a fight. I dont mind a bit of feedback, but i just felt the car was being pulled about too much for my liking. The tramlining was a bit too much and made it hard to keep a straight line on the cr@ppy uneven cart tracks over here. It felt like quite a struggle when going at speed as you feel like you're a;ways fighting the car.

[Dan_G]

Cheers guys, its good to hear that i wasnt going mad.
When i ran them on the front i was running them at 34psi, now they're on the back i've dropped the pressure to 32psi. (They're 215 / 40 / 17s BTW)
They seemed to get worse at lower pressures (checked them last week and they were at 26psi, oops!)
Still, done a bit more driving today and the car feels more stable and less of a fight. I dont mind a bit of feedback, but i just felt the car was being pulled about too much for my liking. The tramlining was a bit too much and made it hard to keep a straight line on the cr@ppy uneven cart tracks over here. It felt like quite a struggle when going at speed as you feel like you're a;ways fighting the car.

Was there any wear on the inside edge of the tires you took off the front?

mine had the exact same problem with my GSD3's it was wandering quite a bit with constand need for steering wheel correction(much worse at speed)... I then noticed the inside edge of the front tires was worn down.

So, went and got the tracking looked at and turns out it was all to pot and the front wheels had alot of toe out... now that is sorted the car drives in a straight line with no wandering... which is nice..

so, maybe the wheel alignment needs looked at?

[psbarham]

215/40's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats why its kicking and bucking about , the Galant needs a 45 section tyre , the 40's just don't have enough sidewall meat for the size of car , i dare bet if you check the load rating for the tyres its 89 or lower , which is hot hatch territory

[bradc]

Gly had 215/40/17's on his car for a long time and didn't have any problems, but you are right PSB, 215/45/17 are the right size for the car

[psbarham]

i had 40's on mine when i first put 17's on and it turned like a chased rabbit , but tramlined like a complete git , again i think the load rating was too low and they flexed and followed the cambers to much

[Paul Beazer]

Erm, they are 45's, my error. Ooops!

Its been fine since the swap, so i guess its just the tyres.

Fronts (ZZ3's no on rear) had only done 6k, and they squirmed since new.
Rears (ZZ1's now on front) did 6k on front and 6k on rear, no squirming at all since back on the front.

I guess its just down to the tread design.