E46 M3 BAD tramlining. Need help.

[slavik1988]

I circled it.

[thetypicalm3guy]

I circled it.

I replaced this entire arm tierod on both sides. The issue im having happened before and after this change

[thetypicalm3guy]

Here are my front tires

[slavik1988]

I replaced this entire arm tierod on both sides. The issue im having happened before and after this change

Possibly the steering rack failed??

[thetypicalm3guy]

Hate to bump this thread bur just bought a set of 18s (219m) and its still having this issue. Honestly i dont even know if tramlining is the right word. I would say more sometimes drives straight sometimes veers off the road. I just drive a kia forte that drives better….pretty demoralizing considering how much ive spent redoing all suspension on this car.

[Estoril]

Hate to bump this thread bur just bought a set of 18s (219m) and its still having this issue.

Which tires? It matters.

[chalaka]

it's worth checking your "mounting studs" for your front sway bar ..

the issue that i was experienced before...

one day, car starts to develop those "road pulling" experience when passed through uneven road surfaces ..

sometimes it went straight, sometimes it pulled ..

thought it was caused by the old bushing / end-link / or steering arm and etc...

then it ended up to be the mounting studs (which got popped) ..

as shown in the attached image. FYI

[FBloggs]

What dampers are on the car?
How old are they?
If they are adjustable, are they on softest settings?

If the car tracks straight but seems to lurch and take a while to settle down, i'd recommend that the dampers be evaluated.
That;s about all that has not been covered in the front suspension.
The only other part would be the steering flex joint.

[thetypicalm3guy]

it's worth checking your "mounting studs" for your front sway bar ..

the issue that i was experienced before...

one day, car starts to develop those "road pulling" experience when passed through uneven road surfaces ..

sometimes it went straight, sometimes it pulled ..

thought it was caused by the old bushing / end-link / or steering arm and etc...

then it ended up to be the mounting studs (which got popped) ..

as shown in the attached image. FYI

No issues here just checked

[thetypicalm3guy]

What dampers are on the car?
How old are they?
If they are adjustable, are they on softest settings?

If the car tracks straight but seems to lurch and take a while to settle down, i'd recommend that the dampers be evaluated.
That;s about all that has not been covered in the front suspension.
The only other part would be the steering flex joint.

Koni dampers on currently. I tried setting the front shocks to stiffest and to most comfortable and both do the same. I have also just done the steering flex joint. (300 miles ago)

[thetypicalm3guy]

Which tires? It matters.

These were pulled off a friends BMW e90 m3. They are old crappy 2014 Nankang tires. I did, however, drive these on my friends e90 m3 before and there were no noticable driving issues. I dont see how on one car the tires wouldnt matter much then would on the other. That being said, they are old cheap tires. But given this has been happening on my relatively new 19inch P zero Nero tires too I dont think the issue is the tires.

[MTiz]

Subscribing to this as I'm having a similar issue. It'll be so bad sometimes I have to yank the steering wheel in the opposite direction to get it back straight

[thetypicalm3guy]

Subscribing to this as I'm having a similar issue. It'll be so bad sometimes I have to yank the steering wheel in the opposite direction to get it back straight

Yes exactly! What have you done to try and fix this?

[BigDave]

2005 E46 M3 coupe SMG. Having really bad tramlining that im trying to figure out. Basically cant even drive the car without looking drunk, any small imperfection in the road will veer the car in that direction.

Here is what ive done to try and address this issue

1) front control arms
2) FCABS
3) Sway bar end links front
4) POLY RTABS
5) new discs and pads all round.
6) new steering guibo

I am at a loss. all wheels seem stable when trying to find play. Could it be the brake pads rubbing on the discs prematurely or maybe my tires are bad? Tires have plenty of tread and all match (pirelly p zero)

My 19's use the same tire sizes as you. Even my 18 inch 265mm SQUARE set uo does not tramline. There is a trick. Don't run a lot of camber. Add toe IN to the front and the rear. I used to have a very aggressive alignment and it was just too miserable on I-95. My car is on coil overs. lowered just a little, with basically STOCK alignment specifications.

Too much toe will scrub your tires, No toe or toe OUT gives poor straight line performance. Make sure both the front and the rear get OEM stock toe in.

Loose your SPRINGS!!!!! Those set ups rarely give you a perfectly level chassis. You need to START with a 100% perfectly level chassis. Don't try to match wheel arch gaps. BMW screwed up on the design of the E46 body. A perfectly level chassis will give you different wheel arch gaps front to rear. Resist the temptation to set ride height for purely cosmetic reasons.

Just get a set of BC racing coil overs (cheap!) and don't slam your car. I have my ride height set higher than the typical 13/13.5 inch measurement. Just high enough so it looks plenty lowered but clears all parking dividers, sloped entrances, and most road debris.

You dont have to corner balance your car....... but eyeball and measure, and get your chassis as LEVEL and even as you can...front to back and side to side.

[EthanolTurbo]

Are you sure it's not an improper install of suspension? For example, if you tightened the bolts on the front control arms with the suspension unloaded it would drive weird, you need a preload when tightening those bolts.