blown sideways

[avant-garde]

Hi, another quick one from me...basically I need to know if it is normal to be blown all over the road when driving a hightop camper in a breeze.

When driving it with anything over a slight breeze I end up constantly battling to keep the van pointing in a straight line. It starts to become pretty scary and not very enjoyable. It feels like I’m going to be blown over all the time but the worst part is having to avoid oncoming cars etc.

I've never had this happen on any modern vans just my '81 T25.

Is there anything I can do to alleviate this sideways movement? Would lowering the van help? (Out of interest my TR Spitfire had an anti-roll bar fitted between the front wheels to stop this sort of thing happening) Are there any modifications I can have done to stop this movement?

Regards,
Avant-garde

[Cruz]

Worn steering rack bushes, worn steering column bushes, worn steering couplings, worn suspension bushes (anti-roll bar, lower arm, drop link bushes etc etc), fit a front spoiler, etc etc etc etc etc

TBH my hightop hardly moves at all unless it's a 'knock you off your feet' gale

[jason k]

whs plus lower it with a quality kit (avo -50 ideal) and that will transform it

[horns]

Get a wheel alignment done if you haven't already - made a noticeable difference to mine.

[dansimpson]

Been blown all over frightened the crap out of me when I 1st picked up me van a couple of weeks ago, but it was extremely high winds and watching trucks infront been blown about made me realise it just wasnt a T25 hightop that suffers, just slowed down a bit and tried to anticipate when it would happen.

[avant-garde]

Many thanks indeed for the replies -that has put my mind at rest knowing that the problem can be fixed. Now it's just a question of where do I start.

...one thing though, can you tell me what 'whs' and 'avo' means as I can't find any reference in any dictionary

whs plus lower it with a quality kit (avo -50 ideal) and that will transform it

[horns]

Start by making sure the basics are right - wheel alignment, tyre pressures, bushes etc.

If it's still too much of a handful after that, then look at lowering, spoilers etc.

[billy739]

my hightop iasnt lowerd.

only mod i have is 195 70 15 tryes , front spoiler- not sure if this makes a difference and drives very well in the wind.

which roof do you have , this can seem to make a difference .

as above tho check the van out - 4 wheel alignment and for wear in any bushes- steering or suspension.

make sure you have good tyres at the correct pressure!

[HarryMann]

whs = What He Said (above (but should be in caps of copurse)

avo = Makers name of a lowering kit (or shockers)

TBH my hightop hardly moves at all unless it's a 'knock you off your feet' gale

Well, very hard to believe but everyone's impressions of movement and sensitivity are different, I'd say that's almost impossible myself

As said, start with tyre make and pattern, rating is correct and pressures are correct (cold) (as detailed on door shut plate)

Front spoiler definately makes a difference

Overloaded towards rear also bad.

All suspension bushes, partic fron radius rod rubber bushes, ball-joints, rod-end, rack etc.

Lowering at front c.f. back a bit should improve

[Cruz]

Maybe I over-egged the pudding slightly

But thesee days I never notice side winds. It's head winds that annoy me these days as they slow me down.

Maybe runnning 255/55/16's give me more stability as my van isn't lowered either

[Mocki]

mines a hiTop (9ft2") and it isnt lowered, i have 195x70x14 tyres and a front spoiler, yes the wind gets it, but not enough to need two hands unless its a" cant stand up wind "
stop hangin on for grim death and relax a bit, read the road, and check your tyre pressures.

[kevtherev]

Start by making sure the basics are right - wheel alignment, tyre pressures, bushes etc.

If it's still too much of a handful after that, then look at lowering, spoilers etc.

Ditto... plus spoiler

hi top owner.. once scared .. but no longer.

[avant-garde]

Hi again, many thanks for the advice. I shall be sorting all that out this week. Only thing is, I cant find is what the correct tyre pressure should be!

HarryMann mentions that the tyre pressure details are shown on the 'door shut plate'. I havn't got that info so how do I work out what the correct pressure should be?

Cheers again for all your helpful advice...don't know where I would be without this forum.

[HarryMann]

http://wiki.club8090.co.uk/index.php/Wh ... es_-_Tyres

Have you read that topic in the 80-90 Wikipedia?

If you haven't it would be helpful to know why you haven't found it or whether it's existence within the club's resources isn't very clear or obvious - should we advertise it more.

If you have, is it complete enough, or hasn't full enough information - we're always striving to make at least basic information more readily accessible, but are aware this isn't alwasy achieved.

I doubt that the tyre specifications and [pressure information plate has been removed from your van, if so you might get one from a similar vehicle being srapped, or the vehicle's original owner's manual.

It takes a bit of time to get accustomed to rear-engined vehicles' behaviour, as Mocki says, relax (a bit) but read the road ahead further, try to anticipate the effect of strong gusts and road camber, and to some extent slow down a bit in strong cross-winds.

New anti-roll bar bushes, front ones as well as drop-link bushes helps a bit, but check all front suspension for wear, very thoroughly. A good (local) MOT garage might do this for you by appointment, try to find one with older more experienced mechanics, most towns and villages have one at least. If you can get it to somewhere like Brickwerks (Yorks), SyncrosparesUK (South Moulton) or a friend on here who know their VW vans inside out, then so much the better.

[avant-garde]

Hi, yeah I read that before I went up to Scotland. The plate is all German and is mostly made up of ‘Z’ which means no info.
Getting back to the tyre pressure - I had to deflate all my tyres when I got caught inside a concrete Asda car park that ended up getting smaller and smaller the further I drove into it -somewhere near Hales Owen up North? The nearest garage was about a mile away which was far enough away to ruin the valves.

One valve decided to go up in Keswick a few days after that car park incident...the tyre fitters couldn't get the wheel off (due to rounded off wheel nuts), to change the tyre valve ...so they had to do it with the tyre still on the van. Since the car park incident I have been guessing the tyre pressures.

Bottom line is I have no history with the van, the door plate tells me it was made in Hanover in 1981 and that's about it. I drove back down to Cornwall from Scotland doing about 60-70mph (new engine had by that time run itself in) ...the faster I went the easier it was to control the van in the wind...albeit horrifyingly scary with my partner and 4 year old son ghostly white with fear and screaming for me to slow down!!!

I think all my tyres are around 30psi

I shall go with the tyre pressures mentioned in the wiki thing: FRONT: 2.5 bars (35 psi) REAR: 3.3 bars (47 psi) SPARE: 3.3 bars (47 psi).

Blew the engine up a couple of weeks ago when coming back from Dartmoor so a lot on my plate at the moment. Getting it looked at by the guy that fitted it this Wednesday Under warranty thank god!

I think the information on this site is tops. Okay, what I have found is that the more info there is, the harder it is to work out what's right and what's 'wrong'. Too much information can sometimes be as bad as no information.

Thanks again for the all the advice and help.