E46 M3 BAD tramlining. Need help.

[M9Seth]

It's your streering rack, rebuild it or upgrade it to a quicker ratio...

[FBloggs]

On top of your excessive toe is the tire wear caused by the former.
I run 265 square w/o tramlining.

[thetypicalm3guy]

Okay so what should the toe be? As close to 0 as possible? I thought some toe is normal?

[C///M]

Toe-in is recommended on a street car to avoid tramlining. That said, even on a street car, I would still set front toe to zero and the minimum toe-in for the rear.

I might just be very picky, but your final settings kind of show me that your alignment shop either isn't very good or just aren't putting a lot of effort in. I know the factory adjustment isn't exactly user-friendly, but at the very least there's no reason the front shouldn't be uniform left to right.

Also, this could just be from suspension upgrades directly prior to alignment, but has your car been in an accident?

Based on your post-settings and you still having the same behavior, it does sound like possible issues with your steering rack and/or weird issues with your front tie rods.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[lvm3sm46]

I'm just mentioning this cause I chased this issue on a Audi I had. When installing the trailing arms they weren't clocked properly and then tightened. It caused crazy tramlining. I ended up properly installing new trailing arms and all was good.

You can chase your tail with these issues but start at the most obvious and easiest which seems to be the alignment. Take it to a better shop

[bmwfnatic]

Toe-in should 'help' against tram lining in theory.

I have attached the normal M3 as well as the CSL specs in images.
If you use the CSL specs, which have very little toe-in on the front and rear, close to 0 as others have recommended, the car will drive great.




Furthermore, I had a similar issue with a set of 245s that I ran up front that just wouldn't stop tram lining, I ended up just replacing them and the issue was gone entirely.

[wahsm]

Toe-in is recommended on a street car to avoid tramlining. That said, even on a street car, I would still set front toe to zero and the minimum toe-in for the rear.

This is what I had before a more aggressive alignment for track and it is great for street use and some more spirited drives. Not sure where they are getting those min and max from for "in spec". Looks way off to me.

[thetypicalm3guy]

I am going to get it realigned. I also have very vague steering in the middle I hope it’s not the steering rack

[lvm3sm46]

Im not positive about the M3 but vague steering in the middle could be tie rod ends

[Arith2]

Tell them match your camber on each side as well. There's no reason to have a .3 difference of camber in the rear. All tire should be slightly toed in because as you drive it creates stability and the tires tend to push outward towards a negative toe the faster you move. It will not mess up your tire wear to have alight toe inwards. 0 toe on a street car is bad advice and should not be given, however the idea is right. If set to 0 toe while sitting still, you will have negative toe while driving. The idea is to create a balance to have 0 toe while driving at average speeds. I do multiple alignments a week, every week. In my experience, BMWs are very sensitive to toe adjustments. .1 degrees can really screw up alot moreso than other brands.

[01SG]

The steering rack does not often go bad. If it is not leaking, that would be the last thing to look at.

My car does not tramline a bit on 255 all around. Your problem is likely alignment as everyone said. That is a hell of a lot of front toe.

I enjoy 1/16th (about 13 minutes I believe) in on the rear, and zero or a little out on the front. However, I do not care about tire wear. Agree with above that being off just a little bit can make a big difference.

[thetypicalm3guy]

Realigned it and its driving much better but not perfect. the alignment had changed dramatically in the front after only a week so i wonder if something changed or is loose

[01SG]

Could be. It could also be the alignment rack. Did you go to the same place as before? Perhaps it is not calibrated right.

[bmwfnatic]

Realigned it and its driving much better but not perfect. the alignment had changed dramatically in the front after only a week so i wonder if something changed or is loose

Are your tie rods new? Or did they use the torch to heat them up to get them to move? (Often seized) I have seen alignment shops do this and then not take the time to wait on them fully cooling down, metal expands and can make the entire setting of toe useless because of that. We're talking like 20 minutes of a degree toe out or more.

[thetypicalm3guy]

Are your tie rods new? Or did they use the torch to heat them up to get them to move? (Often seized) I have seen alignment shops do this and then not take the time to wait on them fully cooling down, metal expands and can make the entire setting of toe useless because of that. We're talking like 20 minutes of a degree toe out or more.

Brand new tie rods thats actually why i got the first alignment in the first place