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VE Calais Sportwagon ride and towing issues. Rough ride with little capacity to tow!

UFO

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^ good advice!

pete, just to clarify a little more...
6x4 trailer (weighs about 200kg).
but the load weights you are talking about (1700kg+) is pretty damn heavy!
my bet is you got a stock standard box trailer, no passive braking or anything right?
just be careful you arent overloading it mate.... because no amount of suspension mods will keep that baby safe and steady on the road.
i have a sportwagon too, pedders lowered with standard shocks, 20" rims and low profile rubber.
my last tow in it was a dual axle car trailer with full plate floor (the trailer alone is 6-700kg). then a Subaru Forester on that (1200kg?). even with my lowered springs and stock shocks, she was nice and stable and towed beautifully.

i honestly still dont think its the wagon mate, there's something up with what you are pulling behind it. i know you said you've towed with other cars in the past and been fine, but I reckon it's definitely something about the trailer.
when you last towed, can you describe what was happening?
was the trailer loosey goosey all over the road behind you? was the rear of the car squatting? how much load were you carrying at the time?
tyre pressures nice and high? (trailer should be 40psi, and car tyres up a little more than usual- exact pressures depend on wheel/tyre combo you are running).
questions posed by Seasmi are interesting too... when does the problem happen?
 

UFO

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I must add that without the trailer the rear end would readily bounce up and down and now does not.

hmm... that sounds like a shock issue in the rear of the wagon. but you say this has been lookd at?
 

peterd43

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More info.
The wagon has been fitted with Heavy duty King springs reset to give a standard height appearance and Pedders gas sports struts in the rear.
The ride with car unloaded and tank close to empty can be quite bumpy and pitchy.
Today I loaded in 4 20 KG (80KG) of gravel for 1 of my home projects and found that the ride improved a lot and may be the answer to my problem.
This has the effect of loading up the suspension to make it work better.
My trailer and tyres are in good order and frequently towed on long country trips and interstate.
I thank everyone for there comments and help thus far.
 

VTSS350

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So it towed ok with 80kgs in the trailer but was bumpy with the trailer empty?

Is it possible that the trailer is quite small and being bounced around by the road when empty thus affecting the car??
 

UFO

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nah... it sounds like he's put 80kg of gravel in the back of the wagon, and this has improved handling. this makes sense because he's got the heavy duty springs in there.
with nothing in the back, those heavy duty springs would indeed make things a little bumpy in the back.

but then the question arises, why put heavy duty springs in the back of the wagon? i can understand HD springs in a ute, but unless OP is carrying heavy things in the back of the wagon on a regular basis, is his current setup overkill and only adding to his woes?

personally pete, I reckon the higher spring rate of the HD springs are going to give you more trouble than they are worth.
 

peterd43

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The car had 4 20 KG bags (total 80 kg) in the back and no trailer.
This appears to settle the ride down and may well tow better in the present state.
Note my original question was has anyone experienced ride and towing issues with the the VE sporwagon fitted with Standard suspension?
The comments sent are from owners who have VE sportwagons fitted with FE2 suspensions and lower profile tyres and many are lowered as well.
This is indicating to me that the FE2 suspensions is a better load carrier than the standard suspension.
 

peterd43

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As i said earlier on I have found that the higher rate springs have stopped the back of the car bouncing up and down when driven along an undulating road.
When a trailer was towed this up down movement was increased.
When driven along a winding undulating road the car was quite unstable which led me to start changing the suspension.
My conclusion is now that the STD standard suspension is much softer than the FE2 suspension-too soft to tow with!
 

thebassman

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I tow a caravan with an ATM of 2028 kilo behind my 09 SSV SE Sportwagon and although I Can feel it pulling around a bit on our **** roads the car handles it really well. I also have a 1 ton 6×4 that is easy to forget is there. No mods. Just a Heyman Reece load hitch for the van which as it turns out I could get away without. I was apprehensive about pulling that weight with a VE but am really happy with it's capabilities
 
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Have no problem towing with my sportwagon with standard suspension. Usually tow a heavy homemade 6x4 trailer. Tows the same, with or without a load in it. Only difference is in the braking distances.
 
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