Volvo XC60 bumpy ride when towing

And I thought that both of us would have cottoned on that when weight is moved from bed to over axle the nose weight will increase and not reduce. 

What I should have said is that moving that weight forwards will overload the tow hitch. Mind you if he moved stuff from under the front lockers to balance that and built a nice pile over the axle ..........

not arguing with you Easy as your know exactly what I mean. 

An interesting thread that seems to be going south and degenerating into a squabble.

I know what you mean Lorna. I simply believe that if the OP moves stuff from underbed forwards that to maintain the noseweight something will have to move rearwards. Personally my belief is that if the noseweight is OK the fact that chairs are under the fixed bed is irrelevant.. 

Tow a Swift Challenger 560 with a 2016 XC60 D4 AWD. Had a similar experience with a bit of a bumpy ride, never experienced swaying particularly, so was quite happy had got the loading balance about right.

Always checked and adjusted tyre pressures to either towing pressures or daily use pressures. Forgot to do it one day and left the car tyre pressures at 35psi, perfectly comfortable ride. Talking to a mate of mine who owns a successful tyre shop and he says that if you happy you have got the caravan loaded about right and you are getting either bumpy rides or apparent swaying get the cars wheel geometry checked out, if one of those adjustments out then it may be just be exaggerated by that big white wobbly thing hanging off the back of the car..

Thanks Jacko, I wonder because my van is about 100kg heavier if it just exaggerates the problem. I always keep the tyre pressures as they should be, however I use Tyre Pal and notice that when the van tyres are up to temp the pressures increase to 71psi but I guess thats normal.

I even changed the caravan tyres to Firestones but it made no difference at all. The club suggested lowering the pressures to 57psi.

As we don't carry anything that is heavy it is quite difficult to place heavy items over the axle.

I will probably get the tyre geometry checked as I am running out of ideas. I am trying to find a lighter caravan I can tow to see if there is a significant difference it would be cheaper to change the van than the car but we do like the Coachman.

Phil and Mike

We run a 2015 Volvo XC70 with standard suspension (not Nivomat self levelling) and tow a Elddis with rear bed storage too. Tow bar can carry 90kg max and when the van is fully fully laden It is 1500kg.

When I first bought it it had Continental tyres, despite them being the correct load rating they were very bouncy as you describe, in fact I would also say squirmy. This is the 2nd tow car with Conti's that I found to be as described.

I too played around with nose weights but also found my spring loaded nose weight gauge was inaccurate by 15kg so bought a digital gauge.I currently run at 85kg.

When I changed the tyres through necessity, I opted for Pirelli as that is what Volvo listed as OE for my car. Identical rating. Transformed the ride when towing.

I run the tyres at max recommended pressure of 41 psi if on a long break and we are carrying next doors kitchen sink but if on a short weekend away with not much stuff I run at 38 psi. Less pressure does make it even smoother but I am mindful of tyre heat. The solo tyre pressure for my car is 35 psi. Not sure what yours are rated at. See the sticker on the B post.

In the van there is no more than 10kg of stuff at the back. All other stuff is at the front and on the floor just slightly forward of the axle to give the desired nose weight.

With regards to restraining moving loads I find a cargo bar from Milenco to be really usefulClick this linky....

I know my car is not an XC60 and my van is not a Coachman but my issues were similar to yours. 

HTH.

Thanks for that. This is not the first time I have seen the tyres blamed for a bumpy ride and I anticipate changing them as soon as needed, however the car has only done 12340 miles and the rear ones are only down to 5mm so it would be a shame to throw them away.

Did you change all 4 tyres at the same time ? and did you consider Michelin tyres as I have heard they are good as well.

I am considering changing to a lighter van but again thats more cost.

All four were changed.

The Conti's that came off had a load rating of 102 which equals to 950kg whilst the Pirelli are 97 which is 730kg Both makes had a V speed rating but the Conti clearly had stiffer sidewalls

Both were listed for the vehicle by Volvo and the tyre manufacturers.

The Pirelli were also a lot quieter which is consistent with sidewall stiffness, less transmitted noise.

My choice of Pirelli was based on what the car car could come out of the factory shod with although I did consider the Michelin Cross climates. Interestingly Michelin also recommend a similar load rating to Pirelli.

Have a look at your car and caravan tyres to see what load rating they are. Firestone are part of the Bridgestone Tyre Group. I had a set of Bridgestone tyres on a Subaru Outback. They were extremely hard wearing. If the rating for the van tyres is incorrect this may account for the harshness you are experiencing if there is excessive fore to aft pitching although I would be surprised.

My money is on car tyres as I am struggling to see that out of tolerance rear tracking geometry would cause your issue. 

A new set of tyres is cheaper than a fresh van and all the faffing about to do so.

I have recently changed all four tyres on my XC70 and chose Michelin all season SUV tyres instead of the Continentals, but they were more expensive. The rear still had 4.5mm tread after 42000 miles but wear was uneven.

So far I'm happy with the Michelins. The ride seems smoother and it's definitely quieter. Fuel consumption seems slightly better as well based on how far I get on a tank full. We don't see snow often in the south east so winter tyres aren't cost effective but hopefully all season tyres will cope on the odd occasion. Only time will tell how long they last.