Steering wheel jerks when braking

I have a 2015 F-Type R. I have noticed that when I quickly hit the brakes, the steering wheel will very often jerk to one side. Sometimes it is left, sometimes it is right, and sometimes it does not happen at all.

My theory is that it follows the slant of the road. Roads are made to drain water. The left side slants left, the right slants right. This is obviously subject to change depending on the terrain, but in general is the case. In many cases, the steering wheel will jerk left if I am in the left lane, right if I am in the right lane. Again, not always the case, so this is just a theory.

I know the 2015 is not drive by wire, so this probably contributes.

The easiest way to reproduce this is to let go of the wheel, get going at least 10mph, then give the brakes a quick punch.

Important considerations:
-It does not happen every time
-It seems to jerk left more often than right, but sometimes it does jerk to the right.
-There is no "wobble" felt while braking.
-Car has 6.5k miles on it.


Is this normal? Does anyone else notice the same thing in your 2015 F-Type?

 

From what it sounds like, your tires are "tramming". Basically following the grooves of the road or in your case, the "slant". Tire wear patterns can contribute to this as well. I don't have this issue though. It wouldn't hurt to take it the dealer and have them inspect it though. The repair manual does have a section to address your symptoms aka "veer under braking". It calls for inspection of the alignment, brakes, and steering system.

 

It's fairly common in cars on wide tires, and even the fronts on these cars are relatively wide.

I see you are in NoVA, and as you well know our roads are beyond full capacity, get worn out quickly and in poor condition. Many have grooves worn in from heavy truck traffic.

 

Usually called "tram-lining" over here. Particularly pronounced in lane 1 of motorways where the big fat trucks spend most of their time carving out grooves over time.

Never owned a car with such fat tyres as the F-Type before, and never experienced such bad tram-lining before, but luckily I'm usually overtaking in lane 2 or lane 3!