diff --git a/runtime/rastrace/method_trace.c b/runtime/rastrace/method_trace.c
index 87b50bde8c3..eca88af2ea9 100644
--- a/runtime/rastrace/method_trace.c
+++ b/runtime/rastrace/method_trace.c
@@ -487,12 +487,12 @@ traceMethodArgObject(J9VMThread *thr, UDATA* arg0EA, char* cursor, UDATA length)
 			char stringArgBuffer[DEFAULT_BUFFER_LENGTH];
 
 			J9InternalVMFunctions const * const vmFuncs = thr->javaVM->internalVMFunctions;
-			char *stringArgUTF8 = vmFuncs->copyStringToUTF8WithMemAlloc(thr, object, J9_STR_NULL_TERMINATE_RESULT, "", 0, stringArgBuffer, DEFAULT_BUFFER_LENGTH, NULL);
+			char *stringArgUTF8 = vmFuncs->copyStringToUTF8WithMemAlloc(thr, object, J9_STR_NULL_TERMINATE_RESULT, "  ", 2, stringArgBuffer, DEFAULT_BUFFER_LENGTH, NULL);
 
 			if(DEFAULT_STRING_LENGTH < strlen(stringArgUTF8)) {
-				j9str_printf(PORTLIB, cursor, length, "%.*s@%.32s...", (U_32)J9UTF8_LENGTH(className), J9UTF8_DATA(className), stringArgUTF8);
+				j9str_printf(PORTLIB, cursor, length, "(String)%.*s...", (U_32)DEFAULT_STRING_LENGTH, J9UTF8_DATA(stringArgUTF8));
 			} else {
-				j9str_printf(PORTLIB, cursor, length, "%.*s@%s", (U_32)J9UTF8_LENGTH(className), J9UTF8_DATA(className), stringArgUTF8);
+				j9str_printf(PORTLIB, cursor, length, "(String)%.*s", (U_32)J9UTF8_LENGTH(stringArgUTF8), J9UTF8_DATA(stringArgUTF8));
 			}
 
 			if ((char*)stringArgBuffer != stringArgUTF8) {