Tramlining is the tendency of a

vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...

's wheels to follow the contours in the surface upon which it runs. The term comes from the tendency of a car's wheels to follow the normally recessed rails of street

trams A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

, without driver input in the same way that the train does. The same effect is sometimes called nibbling. Tramlining can usually be blamed on

tires A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over w ...

, and its incidence depends greatly on the type of the tire and its state of wear. Although not normally dangerous, at very high speeds it can become a source of instability. Vehicles with large and wide low-profile tires are more prone to the effects as well as vehicles which have wheels fitted that are larger than the manufacturer's recommendation or have reinforced sidewalls. People who are relatively inexperienced with driving with this tendency will feel that they have to make continual course corrections and it is very easy to overcompensate the steering, which could potentially lead to veering off the road especially if the road is a narrow track/country road. The effects of tramlining can be eased by subjecting the vehicle to an inspection and calibration of the wheels (i.e. a full geometry check) or replacing the tires with non-reinforced (soft-sidewall) tires.

References

External links

* http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47 {{Tires, state=collapsed Driving Road construction

See also

References

External links