Sorrento - twitchy ride

[crispy1]

Just wondering how you feel about the ride of your Sorrento when towing. Any repsonses most welcome.

 

[clivea]

Hi, we tow a Bailey with a max weight of 1400kg and the car is fine. I don't notice any undue twitching although I do tend to ensure the car is loaded in the rear seat area (dog has back bit) and I use the van's full noseweight of 100kg. I am also a bit paranoid (so wife says) on loading the van. Are your tyres at the recommended pressure?

Other Clive

 

[crispy1]

Hi Clive,

I've checked the tyres and they are a bit down on the recommended 54 psi. We've got a Bailey Ranger 500/5 and a 2.5 auto Sorrento. We took the van out for only the second time on the weekend. On the first occassion I found the ride to be very twitchy and the van seemed to be moving around quite a lot. On this occassion we loaded the van with the weight more towards the front rather than over the axle and I found it to be a lot more stable generally. I've now bought a nose weight gauge as i'm getting a bit paranoid about it. I know there is quite a rough ride with the Sorrento and I was wondering whether this is the cause of the movement or whether i'm just being too critical and this amount of movement is normal. Power-wise the Sorrento pulled like a dream.

I'm very new to caravanning and would be very grateful for as much help as I can get.

 

[Jane4]

Hi, we have had our Sorrento for just over 2 years now, we tow a Swift Challenger 510, we find the ride very smooth. We travelled down through Spain last May and down to France in September, plus lots of towing in UK and it is as solid as a rock. We do use the maximum nose weight, we previously towed with a Volvo 740 which was nowhere near as steady. We also successfully towed ourselves on and off through the copious mud at the National CC Rally last weekend!! Lots of other 4x4's has to resort to be towed by a tractor!

 

[VonRyan]

Hi,

I know you have checked your van tyre pressure,but have you checked the Sorento. I recently had the alloys and tyres changed under warrenty and I did not check the PSI of the tyres once they had been replaced and the car was twiching like mad and every bump felt like it was falling down a 4" pot hole and with the van on the back it was a terrible ride.

I decided to investigate with a very accurate digital tyre pressure gauge and found the Sorentos tyre pressure was at 47 PSI all round.Once I made sure the tyres were cool some 2 hours later I adjusted the tyre pressure to the manufacturers 35 PSI at cold. What a diffrence,the vehicle was smooth and towing a 1400kg Elddis was fine,no problems at all.

On returning home I went to the dealer who said they had checked the tyre pressures and set them to 35PSI. On checking their tyre inflator that had been calibrated not a month previously they found it was out by approx +25%.

Get a good tyre pressure gauge and check your tyre pressures as the ones at garages are renowned for being out.

Hope this helps

Rob

 

[Fouldsy]

Hi Crispy

My Sorento manual is mainly driven on country lanes and the ride is hard and an uneven road suface can make the car feel twitchy.

Before the Kia we had a Scoob Forester, much better ride solo but when we hitch the van up........the Sorento is fantasic, the handling is v similar to solo but you hardly notice the van is there. The Scoob was all over the place.

You are now probably looking too hard and every bump seems like a problem...I have been described by the long suffing wife as obsessively anal...must be a caravaning guy thing.

Good loading as you have described makes the difference, I wont go anywhere until I have checked the nose weight.

F

 

[TripHazard]

Sorrento never feels twitchy when towing here crispy, i tow a bessacar cameo 550GL with a top box and the kids bikes as well, the self leveling suspension sorts out the load at the back and it behaves well. For a good bit more advise why not drop a post here too we are a very friendly bunch and I am by no means a technical expert maybe one of the members can suggest summit

Martin

http://kiasorento.proboards46.com/index.cgi?

 

[RogerL]

When checking tyre pressures "cold", do it first thing in the morning - before breakfast (assuming you have been out in the car all night)!

An hour's sunshine, even in the UK, can heat tyres up 1-2 psi and give inconsistent readings.

Always check, and adjust, tyre pressures after a visit to a dealer or tyre outlet!