Fizzboy7

to the side whenever the asphalt gets soft? I can watch my steering wheel tug to the side (always to the left) when I hit one of these patches. I've noticed this getting worse as the front tires wear, but I've only got 5000 miles on them. My sport tires on my A4 did this too, but not as bad.
So, is it simply the nature of the Bridgestones and their tread pattern? Or does it also have something to do with having narrow tires up front and wider in back? If it's pulling this bad in the dry, I wonder what's going to happen in the rain...

FiveOhNine

It's called tramlining. Soft, wide, sticky tires tend to follow road grooves and irregularities. Add uber soft Lexus steering with zero driver feedback, and you've got a recipe for trouble. The rain may actually help a little bit as traction decreases, but I've never noticed a big difference.

slee18

iTrader: (1)

Dont forget Low-profile tires too!

Buds

Yeah mine has been getting worse as the tires wear (18k) but I'm pretty used to tramlining since my old Accord Coupe would do the same thing on occasion.

Bichon

Definitely a tire thing. I've got my winter tires on now (Pirelli SnowSport), and tramlining has all but disappeared.

Fizzboy7

Hmmmm... I'm not too impressed with this trait. For a sports sedan, the steering should do a little more to eliminate such tendancies. Oh well, you win some you lose some.
Thanks for all who answered. Before this, I had no idea what tramlining was.

Kaydee

tramlining is what keeps you from speeding on the highway and keeps you aware haha

Fizzboy7

Ahaha! Yeah, there is always a bright side to a negative. =)
What I find odd though is the freeway groves are fine. It's when on streets with old, soft, sinking asphalt I experience the pull to the left.

DaWhole9

Its COMMON on sports cars....ask someone with a 100k Carrera....same tendancies. I BARELY notice it on My IS350 with the Sport Package...it was actually WORSE on my Carrera....I wonder if the spring/steering difference on the Sport/X pack make a difference here.

mikez

It sucks on the highways in NJ since there is so much constructions and stripped concrete, the car pulls left and right, I actually had to change lanes the other day from my lane of stripped concrete to an inch higher broken pavement in the next lane and I was swerving out of control as soon as I made the lane change.

The electronics saved my *** that time lol

A.C Milan

but why is it ALWAYS to the left?

mikez

try running it over from the right hand side next time? lol

Sarorn

My IS did the same thing, always pulling to the left. After some research on this forum, I found that some IS owners had the same problem. Turns out the factory Dunlops were defective, which caused it to pull always to the left and you'd feel like you're losing control when you try to compensate. A few IS owners on this forum, including me, got our tires replaced by Lexus warranty. It takes a while for the warranty claim to process, but once they replaced my Dunlops with new Micchelin's the problem was GONE.

Fizzboy7

Interesting. Was it always pulling to the left or just on certain road surfaces? Mine only does it when I am on dark, soft asphalt. The car instantly goes to the left and it feels like I am sinking and slowing down. It's got to be the tread pattern reacting to the extra resistance of the soft road. I have the Bridgstones btw.