My 1997 XJR needs new tires this spring when I put her back on the road. It suffers from a noticeable case of tramlineing with the rubber I have on now. I have read some posts where it appears to help to replace the original 255/45/r17 size with a narrower 235/50/r17. Has anyone tried that fix and did it help, did someone try it and regret the decision? I'm a little hesitant to replace the OE size and before I put out $1000.00 to $1200.00 dollars out I'd love to get some feedback from the great group we have here.......thanks

 

About a year ago I put a set of new 235/50/r17 Kumho Ecsta 4X's on my '95 XJR...Love 'um. Tramlining 95% reduced over the old stock size Goodrich Comp T/A's. Smooth (for an XJR) ride and little to no tire noise that I can notice. I ordered the tires on line from Tire Rack for around $130 each I think and had them shipped right to my installer for mounting and balancing.

 

Thank you so much that is just the sort of feedback I am looking for

 

Post back with your decision and the end results, please !

Cheers
DD

 

I will definitely do so should be late March.......

 

I belive tramlining can be caused by worn steering parts too? Compared to my former vehicle, a BMW E32, my XJR is virtually tramlining free. Stock 255 tire size.

 

Indeed true.

Or incorrect alignment settings. Or loose wheel wheel bearings.

Tire condition and tread design as well, of course.

Over a period of time I had tramlining reduced significantly on my XJR but the biggest contributing factor has been tires. Eventually I went to 225/60x16 tires and the tramlining disappeared completely. The reason for the downsizing was to get tires that would provide a decent tread life. Eliminating the tramlining was just a bonus :-)

Cheers
DD

 

So can anyone recommend a premium tyre to minimise tramlining and keep the soft jaguar ride?
I have a Daimler X300 with 225/60 x 16. It is a tyre size which I like as my Ford Falcon runs these - on that car I have Bridgestone Turanza ER300's which give good handling and grip, and are reasonably quiet on the coarse-chip NZ tarseal

Are there any better options for the Jag/Daimler 16" wheels?

 

I changed my tyres to 235/50/17 Kuhmo,s
Because of the tram-lining issues I also have a set of anti tram-lining upper control arm bushes fitted that where designed by a fellow XJR owner when I was on the XJR6 forum
The anti tram-lining bushes did improve the tram-lining problem a bit with the 255/45/17 Falken ziex tyres but when they wore out I had my rims spun up trued and restored fitting the 235/50/17 Kuhmo,s
I would never go back to the 255/45/17 tyres again even if someone gave me a brand new set of Michelin,s
I would put them on-line and sell them
The 255/45/17 tyres are okay if you are racing but round town and everyday use the 235/50/17 are a superior choice

1 The car is smoother and less rough riding more like a jaguar should be even though I run 40 psi in them

2 The car handles better with the smaller tyres
Before the car would dig in and under-steer badly pretty frightening when you are heading for a wall now with the 235/5017,s I can induce over-steer easily with my right foot

3 As the side wall is slightly higher no gutter rash on my rims after 3 years

4 they have a much straighter side-wall less tyre rolling around and look really good on the 8 inch rims
I get more comments on the 235/50/17,s then I did on the 255/45/17,s don't ask me why I just do
My speedo was 6 k,s out with the 255/45/17,s it now 4 k,s out I think if they made 245/50/17,s the speedo would be close to spot on

5 I am really happy with the Kuhmo,s reasonably priced last long and grip well even in tropical down pours that are a regular occurrence here in summer I cant vouch for them in cold climates doesn't get under double digits here even in the middle of winter at 4 in the morning

Hope this helps there are quite a few brands of 235/50/17 tyres on the market do some research and look for some feed back not necessarily on the tyre size you are looking at but the tyre model
Tire-rack lead me in the right direction a couple of times with their tyre feedback,s
And as you can see in the photo,s they don't look wrong on the car

 

Excellent information! My XJR came with Cooper Zeons that are hard and tramline like crazy. Fitting my former XJ6 wheels and Yokohama winter tires last fall was a revelation: no more tramlining. I never would have thought that. How can a soft winter compound have less tramlining than a tight performance compound? It must be due to lateral "squish" allowed by the 2 cm wider stock tire size.

So why would Jaguar with such excellent knowledge about suspension quality specify a tire that allows such ubiquitous tramlining? Marketing? ie a few points higher in skidpad numbers to compete with that era's M5?

BTW Doc: I love the look of your XJR. My now deceased XJ6 was the same navy blue. Love the colour. But I notice your window trim is blacked out. Mine is chrome. Were there different specifications for different geographic markets?

 

Yeah, I think that's it in a nutshell

Note that XJR/8 owners seldom complain about tramlining. I suspect the front suspension changes on the X308 cars must play in.

FWIW, tramlining is not a Jaguar exclusive. I've driven Corvettes, 911s, etc that were bad tramliners.

Not every car I've driven with sub-50 series tires has tramlined. But every car I've driven that tramlined had sub-50 series tires :-)




Yes.

For one example, North American XJR/6s got bright window trim. ROW cars got the black stuff.

Cheers
DD

 

Those of you using less than 255 tires on your XJR, how does it affect putting the power down? If I leave the traction control on while flooring it, the power is cut 3-5 times before hitting 100 km/h. Can't say the the XJREngineers bracket made the "problem" any less Brand new Falken FK 452 @255/45/17, but same problem on the Pirellis I had on before.

 

Thanks! Too bad though, I like the blacked out look better on the XJR.

 

My car came with a brand new set of those Falkens when I bought it
Driving home from Sydney up to Queensland I nearly killed myself took my eyes of the road for a second and I was in front of a truck at 2 am in the morning
I put that down to the tramlining that's when I started to read the forums about these cars and the tramlining issues
I ordered a set of custom anti tramlining upper control arm bushes from one of the XJR6forum member's they did make a small difference but I was really missing my old XJ40 Sov
My traction control came on a lot then to
Fast forward to now I have a full ECU remap From Andy cold air induction full Exhaust system from headers to tailpipes better inter-cooler pump and 3.54.1 diff gears from a N/A XJ6 with tight LSD and a few other little things here and there
I can get a slight chirp out of the tyres on hard acceleration but the traction control does not kick in unless its on grass or really slippery surfaces
on good hotmix in the dry it just grips the car launches better as well and I am using 235/50/17 kuhmo,s I actually find the car faster than ever before not because of the tyres but because of the gears before it had to wind out now it just goes you would think becasue of the gears and skinnier tyres the traction control would come on more often it doesent
I have a section of road where I live that is about 3 kilometres long and is slightly downhill in very good condition and has no roads coming in or on to it and I can see right to the end incase the cops are on it this is my high speed test road best I could ever get was 200 to 210 k,s an hour and that was running it close to the end from standing start in drive now ill see 220,225 k,s an hour in the same stretch with the Falkens I would get traction control kicking in so I would turn it of now I don't even turn the traction control of not a big fan of Falken tyres

 

Doc,
Considering I bought the Fk452 based on positive feedback on several boards for high performing cars, I really don't like what I am hearing. Hope your Falkens were bad, or something like that. But that won't explain my overactive traction control. When turning it off, it is anything but a beginners car. The road drowning in smoke, two black rubber trails (yes, the ltd diff still works) and ever increasing need for wider road. Oh well, guess that means my engine haven't lost too many hp's over the years.

Btw, just noticed you also own a 1978 Capri? Had one of those too. Signal Orange, as Ford called it. Yellow, according to everyone else.

 

Maybe its the roads or weather conditions over in Denmark not sure

I did buy my car of an old guy so he might not have done many k,s on the tyres but years old gone hard not sure

I was so impressed by the kuhmo,s I bought another set for my wife's Citroen C5 after a set of toyo proxes they are another tyre I will never buy again they where rubbish very grippy but balancing and alignments where constant got the kuhmo,s didn't even bother to get a balance or alignment for 30,0000 k,s after fitting and alignment and balancing they just never needed it go figure
I have a mate with a High horsepower 66 mustang he also swears by the kuhmos he also had Falkens first not the model we have but he also said never again

My Capri is a 78 X pack which I imported from the UK year and half ago its going to be a very fast toy when its finished hopefully mid year my compliance plate says it should be orange its white I like the white I am to old for an orange car (LOL)

 

I have a set of Continental DWS on my XJ6 in a 225/55/16 (stock size is a 225/60) and had a set on my Volvo 240 in a 225/45/17 and have had great luck with them. Smooth, quiet and they handle very well. Definitely worth looking in to.

 

For what it's worth, my XJ6 was tramlining very badly on approx. 40% worn Pirelli P6000's when I got it. I changed them for a set of new Toyo Teo Plus 225/55/R16 (standard size for my car). Whether XJ6 or XJR the X300 does seem to have perennial tramlining issues. Anyway, the problem disappeared immediately the Toyo's went on. They are probably the best tyres (sorry, but we spell it with a Y not an I in this part of the world!) that I've ever had on any car. Supple, quiet, great handling and I ride at 38psi. Whatever else may or may not cause tramlining, I am 100% convinced that tyres are the culprit. In our city we have an extensive tram network, and driving across REAL tramlines has to be the ultimate test!

 

Well boys I downsized the tires got a 4 wheel alignment and the results are in:

Ordered 4 - Cooper Zeon RS3-A 235/50R17 tires online with Canadian Tire to be delivered to my local store as they don't carry them as store stock, these tires get generally positive reviews online and were also well priced at $165.99 each.

Had them installed this past friday along with an alignment total cost taxes in came to $947.11. I have now put about a 100 km mixed city hwy and the results are impressive. The frequent twitching and darting felt before is really completely gone felt very stable on a 150 km/hr high speed hwy run and none of the following of ruts at intersections in the city that were unnerving and frustrating me. Don't know how much can be chalked up to the alignment part of the situation, I don't have a scanner but from the printout provided the front toe was the measurement that was out of spec and brought into spec. So I have to say the results of the downsizing were a success. The tires look good, they fill the wheel wells and still have that mean meaty look to them.

 

I was just going to ask if anyone had tried a touch more toe-in. The factory spec seems a little on the low side.