Rear suspension trailling on the floor
 

Good Evening Folks

Just been away for the weekend first tow with this car V90 not exactly as expected The rear suspension seems to be a problem as when the caravan was hitched up the car was trailing on the floor the rear tyres were inside the wheel arch by about 50%. The nose weight was measured it was 100Kg so not overloaded.

Anyone else had this issue if so how did you solve it.

I do not want to take this out again until a solution is found as it made the normally ok steering very light.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Thanks
Beetee

Something not right there. I have a v60 and with the tow ball / Hitch weight At 90kg the rear is down about an inch from normal. Do you also have a heavy load in the boot before hit hung up the caravan?

As Nick says something not right.

More info. might help.

How did you weigh the nose weight?

What else did you have in the car?

Was the boot full?

Were the rear seats occupied?

Did you have a roof box?

Does your V90 have the optional active \ air suspension?.
dis it return to normal when you unhitched the van?

Hi All
I will try to answer Whymans questions first
1) No roof box
2) Standard suspension
3) Nothing in the boot
4) Nose weight measure with a calibrated nose weight gauge
5) 2 adults on board total 24 stones
6) Nothing in the rear seats except the awning 30kgs

The nose weight stated by Volvo for the car is 110kgs

Uniqueue i have crawled under and yes it is a transverse spring and it appears to be some type of plastic!!!

Would changing the shock absorber help Bilstein do a shock which they recommend for heavy loads and towing B6 Sport I think its called

Thanks again

Rear suspension dampers have no effect on the ride height, that is the springs job .
The car is adequate for the job , take the whole rig down to the dealer let them have a look at it .

what happens of you sit on the edge of the boot does the car go down a lot? you would be a similar weight to the caravan i would think . or get 2 people to sit there.

The rear spring is a composite material first used on the 960 23 years ago developed with Lotus so well proved .

Hi folks
Thought i would post a couple of images of the car having had it out last weekend again still don't think this is right. Also the whole unit feels unstable i suspect this maybe because the front seems to be lifted due to the saggy bum.
Does this look right to any of you guys any useful comments are more than welcome
Facts
1 car boot empty save spare wheel and Volvo supplied tools
2 rear seat empty
3 two occupants in the front about 24 stones
4 105kgs Nose weight
5 All up weight of the van 1850Kgs over public weighbridge
6 Tyre pressure car 38 psi calibrated gauge used
7 Tyre pressure van 42 psi calibrated gauge used

no images there to look at .... ?

Sorry folks
Just seen this and tried to repost the images but unable to do so can someone do a walk through of the please.
I have tried the instruction on the help pages but no joy i know the problem appears to be the file size 4Mb but i have no idea how to reduce this.

Regards

Number 4 raises a question, what is the permissable nose weight for your car?

I ask as both my manual P1 V70 and manual P3 XC70 have a nose weight limit of 75kg

With a measured nose weight of 75kg the V70 dragged it's arse, but it was a softly sprung car, you really noticed it when passengers got in the back and 200k miles did not help. The XC70 by comparison may drop an inch at most. It is a firmer sprung car BUT it's ride hight is higher, hence the caravan and car sit more level.
The effect of nose weight is greatly increased if the hitch is low, while you need a slight nose down for stability too much and you loose both stability and crest clearance. All those gouges on speed calming humps are caused by low vehicles and towbar.

As a last resort can you still get the inflatable spring as sisters that fit inside the rear coil springs.

Paul.