XC60 snaking when towing - switch to S60?

[MattBCL]

Thanks all for your valued input. I agree about the 60MPH limit, but I don't want to be driving knowing it's on a knife's edge; it's a big car and everything's loaded in the van as it should be (and it's a fairly new van too) so really, the outfit should be rock solid. Added to that the fact that it used to be very stable then I want to find what's going on in case whatever's failing/getting loose gives out on the motorway.

I'm going to get someone to look at the caravan suspension (I guess it could be the shocks..). Standard stabiliser is fitted and the stability friction pads on the tow bar are grease free - was serviced recently too. Tyre pressures are all good (I fitted an after-market pressure monitor for the car + 2 van wheels). If the van checks out then I guess it's back to the dealer to see if they can see something.

Thanks for all your help - much appreciated.

[Mr-V70]

Also check to height of the towball. This can make a huge difference to stability.

Sam

[mordred1973]

there must be an issue here, although every outfit is different, we tow at 92% and have done in very blustery conditions with no issue

[sunshinetours]

OP
Are you on original spec tyres - some cars can be very sensitive to tyres.

With a softish suspension set up on the SE I would think even more so.

I only towed previously with a low profile firm suspension set up so this aspect does concern me (haven't yet towed with our XC60)

Do report back if anything is found awry - I would say however some car and caravan combos appear just not to work too well which really doesn't help I know

Originally Posted by GJB

Changed from XC90 to XC60 last year if anything tows better is the caravan fitted with a friction head on the tow bar and was the cars tow ball head cleaned off before use, will reiterate what has been said before max towing speed in UK 60 MPH but can be faster in Europe.

Its unlikely any XC60 would be able to legally tow above 90kph in France due to the cars gross train weight (its irrelevant what van is being towed).
Most other Euro countries are lower than that for towing speeds .

I do absolutely agree your outfit should be unstable purely because your are travelling at 60mph though

[ex Triumph Man]

Unless I have missed something, but no one seems to have mentioned the nose weight of the caravan on the hitch as well as the hitch height. These are areas which must be correct. An old pair of bathroom scales is the easiest way to check the nose weight of the caravan.

All round tyre pressures of the car and caravan are also a must along with a good stabiliser as already mentioned.

Good luck with your checks

[volvo145]

If its a fairly new van it might still be under warranty.

[sunshinetours]

Originally Posted by ex Triumph Man

Unless I have missed something, but no one seems to have mentioned the nose weight of the caravan on the hitch as well as the hitch height. These are areas which must be correct. An old pair of bathroom scales is the easiest way to check the nose weight of the caravan.

All round tyre pressures of the car and caravan are also a must along with a good stabiliser as already mentioned.

Good luck with your checks

OP mentions noseweight and loading has been checked in his first post otherwise as you say many would have suggested that first

[MattBCL]

Great response everyone, thanks.

OK so I’d summarise the things to check (and my responses) as:

1. Tyre pressures all round. Increase the car’s to see if better: Yes, worth doing. I run two sets of tyres (summer/winter), and obviously the winters are on it now (Continentals) so will give it a try on those this weekend. I’m a fair weather camper only so have never towed with these yet.

2. Stabiliser operating correctly? My mate’s a qualified trailer / caravan engineer and he didn’t notice anything last service. Might be worth him taking another look though. I also recall the van hitting a kerb during a low speed tight turn a couple of seasons ago which really shook things (to the extent that I got out to take a good look for damage). Could be it’s knocked something out of alignment on the van or even bust the damper. Definitely worth a closer look now I think about it… however I think the problems started some significant time after that (was OK for months afterwards).

3. Van wheels balanced? Yep, could be. Had this problem with a low loader trailer but was more a high speed vibration than side-to-side snaking. Might be worth doing though for a few quid.

4. 4 wheel alignment after the bushes were replaced? The main dealer did the work but am guessing they just fitted the parts and nothing else, so could be worth a look. Tyre wear is normal though but could be worth checking seeing as it’s done a few miles now (85k).

5. Hitch height? It’s a standard fit Volvo towbar plus it was OK in the first few years. The van assumes a nose-down attitude so the back doesn’t lift at speed. It looks entirely normal and like any other outfit in that regard. It also has trailer stability built into the electronics - but I have to say if it's kicking-in I can't feel it!

6. Tyre make? It could very-well be squishy sidewalls allowing the back end to oscillate laterally (i.e. the snake movement). I think the summer tyres are Pirelli so I’d expect decent performance, but the rims are 18” so the profile is a whopping 65 (245/65 R18 if I recall) so there’s a chance there’s some flex in the sidewalls for sure. I’ll try upping the pressure to see if that firms them up.

7. Nose weight? I’ve a nose weight gauge which I can use for this. To be honest, I’ve only started using it since the problems and always have it sub 90Kg which is the limit on the tower itself. However, reading the tech data on my model, the vehicle’s limit (separate from the towbar itself) is a lower value of 75Kg which surprised me for such a big car. However, it seems happier with a heavier loading (less up/down pitching over small bumps), but I will reduce it to 75Kg having re-read the data. Thinking about this just now, this extra weight could be flexing the rear sidewalls more than they should be (links to the point above).

I’ll have another look at it all this weekend and see if I can find what’s causing it. As I said in my original post, I’ve a newer (2011) S60 R-design with much firmer suspension and lower profile tyres (235/40 R18) which may prove a more solid base to tow with, albeit without AWD and the ground clearance I have with the XC60. It’s a brilliant car and I may just put a towbar on that if I can’t trace this; if nothing else, it would be interesting to see if the fault transfers over (which would isolate it to a van problem).

If I come to any conclusions after my checks I’ll be sure to post back what I find. Really appreciate your help on this.

Matthew.

[Whyman]

Might be worth checking the age of the tyres particularly as you run winter and summer tyres.

On the sidewall you have a small block with 4 numbers in such as 4014 which means that the tyres were made in week 40 of year 2014. If you fitted the tyres in pairs then the should have the same or similar dates

Anything over 6 years old ie 0809 should be suspect and you need to check for cracks in the sidewall and between the treads. Having said that I ran the tyres on my last can for 9 years and the thing that let me down was the valve which suddenly decided to let go whilst we were on site in France. Lesson learnt.

[pagan8c]

I towed a Swift caravan with an S60 D5 215 and it was a very stable tow.I have changed to an XC70 because I have changed the van to a bigger and heavier 1 .Other than that the S60 is good.It was a geartronic so was able to tow a higher weight than manual box.I liked it and enjoyed my time with it. Always inflated the tyres too the economy setting which I think was 36psi all round.