Poor sense of center.
 

Greetings all,

I have just about 700 miles on my Rx-8. I am very pleased with one major exception. My car has seems to have a wondering heart. It dosen't pull consistantly to the left our right. It does however always seem to pull. It would appear to be very interested in following any slope or crown in the road. If you take your hands off for a couple of seconds, it will find a direction it would rather be going. Anything but straight usually. It's not a hard pull, just a wonder if you will.

I actually turned right around after taking delivery to have the alignment checked.
I was told by the dealer that I was intitled to 1 free alignment and this was it.
Problem was they didn't find anything they thought they could improve. They showed me the numbers were all within Mazda's tolerances. I had been at the dealer almost 6 hours at this point, so I smiled and left.

I was hoping the situation would improve when the tires scrubbed in. I had like 40 miles on it at delivery.
Well it's not getting any better, and I kinda feel ripped off with the one free alignment idea. I kinda feel like since they didn't change anything, this shouldn't be my one alignment.
The service manager stated that this "following the crown of the road" was common to these cars and "normal". It's not fun, that's for sure.

So, is it normal. Do all Rx-8's have such a poor sense of center on the street ? I am know expert but it feels like a little toe out maybe ?

mine will pull sometimes too, no big deal, just keep your hands on the wheel.
why are you driving without using your hands?

All of them will do this. You're getting direct feedback from the road.

I think the appropriate word is wander.. and no, I may not have known what you ment. Not everyone who reads the post speaks English natively.

My car does this too, it's just the road, not your car. Normal 4 door sedans are designed to give you less feedback from the road.. So they tend not to wander much.

It's just the dynamic reaction of the road against the tire. I believe that affetcts steering, hence the feedback. :)

Mine does this as well!

Mine does it, as does my BMW. With the bimmer, it's a function of the tires more than anything... When I went with some inexpensive (but fun!) Sumitomo tires, the wandering was markedly worse, but the "stickiness" was incredibly great.

With the 8, you have a combination of relatively wide, sticky tires (although I can't wait to get rid of the Portenzas), strapped to a light frame with very responsive steering. Hence the wander.

There's actually a word for this phenomenom that pro drivers and tire guys use, but I can't remember it... something about "trolley tracks?"

Tramling? Spelling probably isn't right but I've seen it discussed here before. Basically cars with wide tires will tend to follow the contours of the road (crowns or grooves). It's perfectly normal.

As for the one alignment thing...seems like a ripoff but you did ask for it.

Found this in the wheels and tires section:

rotarenvy is Offline:
Registered User Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: QLD .au
Posts: 198

offset v's handling?

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how dose offset effect the 8's handling? say going from the +50 std to a +38 or 40.

on my last car going from a +40 to a +38 the car started to torque steer, tramtrack, and became very nervous over bumps.

the 8 already has a tendancy to be very nervous on rough roads I don't wan't to make it undrivable.

since we're on this topic, have any of you who track / race your car found that the wheels needed alignment afterwards?

tramlining.

^^ That's the word I was trying to think of.

My eyes wander a lot, but my car seems OK. Well, those freeway grooves tend to make it wander a bit, but nothing bad.

If your car was lowered, make sure your caster didn't get screwed too bad. This can cause more excessive wander too.

As in aircraft, there is somewhat of an inverse relationship between dynamic stability and maneuverability.

Yep - normal with the low-profile tires that we have on our 8's. Tramlining is the right term. If you take the car out on a nice stretch of new pavement that hasn't gotten any grooves worn into it yet, it'll track straight and true. It doesn't take much of a groove of indentation in the road to cause it to tramline and walk around....

Yes, not to beat a dead horse. The 8 tends to wander! It's a combination of low sidewall, and steering feedback. Do not drive with both hands off the wheel! the car is very responsive to steering imputs and to road imperfections. If you don't want to feel the road then buy a caddy.

My car seemed to veer to the left when I got it. A trip to the dealership's service department later, and all was OK (they adjusted the tow a bit). Still, any road imperfections seem to be all the more obvious in the way that they affect the car's direction of movement, but I think that should be expected with any car as focussed on responsive handling as the RX is...

Dave

doesnt having tramlining mean that you have a good road feel and good feedback meaning that you have a good suspension meaning that you have a good track car? thats what i thought... does that make sense?

Silver_04,

Are your tires set to 32 PSI cold? Higher pressure causes the normal tramlining to get worse.

rx8cited

Wow,

Awesome feedback thanks. Tramlining ? My Mini Cooper S had 205/45 17's. It would pull hard towards rutts left by trucks. However it tracked straight, I mean perfectly straight. No wandering whatsoever. Must be a combination of width and profile ? Those tires definetly had less sidewall than these. It never followed any crowning, you could let go of the wheel or just take a slightly relaxed grip and you knew the car would go straight. My current tire pressure is 32. Thanks for asking as the sticker in my door jam somehow appears to blank in the psi section and hadn't gotten around to looking it up.
Just new car adaptation on my part I guess. I currently find myself constantly having to correct the car's path, which makes me look drunk, when I am not. :(
Nice to know the car is fine, thanks for the feedback. I've been driving fw drives exclusively for the last 6 years and at least the ones I've owned, don't do this unless visibal reasons can be seen in/on the road.

Just to add to the good stuff above, the 8 tramlines even harder when you brake on something that's other than flat and level. Be aware. If you have to hit 'em hard get both hands on the wheel and pay attention. I almost ran into a curb the first time I really tested the brakes.

Of course if you trail brake an 8 into a banked corner, it'll probably turn in for you! :)

A fwd car like a Mini will always tend to want to go straight to some extent. A rwd car like an 8 will not have such a tendency.

That makes sense. :o