just follow the trucks, that stops them pulling out to overtake you which then causes people in the 2nd lane to pull out in front of me in the 3rd lane and when I'm on cruise at 90 thats annoying!!
Over here in France I often used to tow at 130kph and never had any problems with instability. When living in the UK I always towed on the motorways at 60ish mph and yet again never had any stability problems.
The number one thing to do when towing is to ensure your caravan is VERY correctly balanced with nothing heavy stored up high and absolutely as much as possible that is heavy stored inside the caravan as close to the axle line as possible. When it comes to towing the accurate balancing of the caravan is critical.
Lastly, always make sure you have your wheels/tyres balanced as it can and does make an enormous difference.
Quote: Originally posted by bigjimmy on 01/12/2011
Over here in France I often used to tow at 130kph and never had any problems with instability. When living in the UK I always towed on the motorways at 60ish mph and yet again never had any stability problems.
The number one thing to do when towing is to ensure your caravan is VERY correctly balanced with nothing heavy stored up high and absolutely as much as possible that is heavy stored inside the caravan as close to the axle line as possible. When it comes to towing the accurate balancing of the caravan is critical.
Lastly, always make sure you have your wheels/tyres balanced as it can and does make an enormous difference.
And check van tyres are correct and car tyres at correct pressure for towing the extra weight.
I tow a couple of MPH faster than the wagons are going.
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Usually keep it at just under 65 on the speedo as its a bit out so works out on the GPS at 60 exactly. Don't have any stability issues. I just slow it down to 50-55 when its windy.
Zafiral & Bigjimmy have prettywell hit it on the head. Personally, I prefer to travel at around 60. (I use the term 'around' very loosely....) I load our outfit correctly, noseweight/car tyres/'van tyres etc all spot on. I have towed in windy conditions and both in and out of those coditions been passed many times by White Van Man going at an obvious 90+, and have never experienced even a waggle.
Many years ago, while towing, with a 1979 Passat (borrowed from the company I worked for) I towed an old scrap Peugeot 404 estate on a trailer to a scrapyard. Going up a slight incline (Culham, towards Abingdon on the A415 if anyone knows it) I experienced a snake, and I mean SNAKE. I hit a slight undulation in the road on a slight bend and ended up with the car/trailer at probably nearly 90 degrees to each other. My passengers became very quiet, and I just held the steering wheel firmly, not touching either accelerator or brake, and after about 6 or 7 such swings, the whole outfit straightened itself out. Bear in mind that the total weight of the trailer and Pug was way in axcess of 100% of the car, and I reckon I was lucky. But I kept my cool. No way would I have tried to accelerate or brake - I had been taught not to years before in our previous towing career! (used to tow with an old Renault 16GL 1470CC - then later with a 20TS - great fun, cut my towing teeth on those old cars) As said before on this forum, snakes are very unpleasant but on has to do the right thing, even if it doesn't feel right!
FWIW
Pete
PS - I use a stabiliser and don't care if that upsets anyone - lol
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Topic: Motorway Towing Speed ?
