Very new to caravaning had first outing this weekend in Dumfries and went fairly well. Would anyone recommend any suspension accessories for the rear of the car. Do they make a difference to towing? Any recommended brands. Thanks
Normally, hitching a caravan doesn't (shouldn't!) have a dramatic effect on rear suspension of car if both loaded correctly! AFAIK pretty rare these days for anyone to use supplementary accessories on modern car suspension.
If the caravan info off WWW correct, your nose weight of 5-7% of van weight puts it around 70-100Kg (subject to the MAX figure for car/towbar which takes precedence!), which is typical and rarely a problem for most cars in good working order.
Correct nose weight is critical to safe towing, so really needs to be checked and adjusted as necessary (Do NOT put weight in very rear of caravan to achieve correct nose weight, remove excess weight from nose - otherwise it'll tow like a pig/be dangerous!). If the car appears to be excessively 'tail down', not unknown for police to stop and check the loading, equally if nose weight too light, just asking for the outfit to start 'snaking' and nasty accident!
Late to the party but as stated above, nose weight is key, the weight on the back of the car is basically the same as carrying a slightly above average weight passenger in the boot!!!
Make sure you have a nose weight guage, measure it on flat ground and play around with nose weight but would start about 75-90kg, taking into account the maximum nose weight that your car allows, make sure you do check the maximum nose weight allowed though as I remember having a BMW 3 series a while ago that had a maximum of 75kg (which was why we got rid of it)
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Topic: Bmw318 towing a 520/4 coachman highlander
via mobile 06/7/2025 at 7:15am
