Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

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Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

January 07, 2024, 07:35:20 pm

Hi folks - We have a 2008 Nimbus 36ft and tow a Jeep Grand cherokee.

We have new Michelin tires, new airbags, and new drag links. For the most part coach handles ok. Road variations will definitely move us around, but 25mph wind gusts will practically have us pushed into the other lane. Coach requires constant steering input to keep it on the road. Just finished trip to AZ with high winds in West Texas. Do I need new shocks, (they arent leaking)? Does it need an alignment (runs fairly straight with no wind and good roads). Or do they just handle lousy? We have 50,000 miles on our coach. Hope there is a solution here. Appreciate everyone's help.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #1 – January 07, 2024, 07:51:07 pm

We have an older U320 36' and pull a full sized HD2500 Chevy. We made the trip to and from Las Vegas last year and had new Michelins, shocks and a new Safe-T-Plus on the steering. Besides the terrible roads(I-40), we had no problems with the wind. I have read in some of the posts that tire pressure may something that also can cause lane movement. I would believe that your issue is fixable since our '01 tracks true and straight under all conditions.
Good luck with it and safe travels.
Glen

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #2 – January 07, 2024, 08:03:59 pm

I also own a 2008 Nimbus. Mine is 38 ft. And we tow a 21 Jeep Trailhawk. We travel east Texas and Arizona frequently in high winds and gusts. My air bags and shocks are all good . Yokohama tires are 3 years old. Do not have Saf-T-Steer, but I hear it helps in wandering and instability in wind. I do not have any issues I wouldn't expect in driving these bread boxes thru these conditions. I have discovered that running my tire pressures towards the high end, 115 front, and 105 rears, the rig is more stable going down road, although slightly more jarring when hitting potholes and such. I do my best to avoid them ...

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #3 – January 07, 2024, 08:29:17 pm

Quote from: mikez98072 – January 07, 2024, 07:35:20 pm

Hi folks - We have a 2008 Nimbus 36ft and tow a Jeep Grand cherokee. We have new Michelin tires, new airbags, and new drag links. For the most part coach handles ok. Road variations will definitely move us around, but 25mph wind gusts will practically have us pushed into the other lane. Coach requires constant steering input to keep it on the road. Just finished trip to AZ with high winds in West Texas. Do I need new shocks, (they arent leaking)? Does it need an alignment (runs fairly straight with no wind and good roads). Or do they just handle lousy? We have 50,000 miles on our coach. Hope there is a solution here. Appreciate everyone's help.

I'm afraid your expectations of how a bus should handle in a 25 mph crosswind is a bit high, probably more than a bit high.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #4 – January 10, 2024, 05:14:10 pm

Remember,
You're driving a big sail down the road in crosswinds.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #5 – January 10, 2024, 05:31:02 pm

My U225 handles the wind well but I don't drive if I know the wind will be strong.
The only good wind is a tailwind. Here's a link to a wind map that I've posted before...
Wind Map

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #6 – January 10, 2024, 06:19:43 pm

A few years ago I had a blowout. I believe I hit something unseen in the road. I bought a replacement tire and rim for the drive home. I have the Uniroyal RS20's on my coach but could only find a Michelin XLEZ tire where I was. I will say that at the same pressures (I was running 100psi in the fronts at the time), it did feel like the Michelin wallowed more and felt more spongy than the Uniroyals.

I ended up putting two new Uniroyals back on the front, and still have the Michelin as a spare.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #7 – January 11, 2024, 11:54:49 am

When you say "do they just handle lousy?".... maybe, but compared to what?

It's common to have some movement in high wind situations, it's also common to not like the experience.
But are you actually being moved into another lane or just feeling like it could happen if it blew a little harder?
I'm thinking start with checking your tire pressures, then perhaps checking the shocks, some have different settings that may help to stiffen them up a bit.
The other thing is to check yourself, it's very common to feel stressed & tense in those circumstances and tense up the shoulders, back, handgrip etc, believe it or not, this is actually making it worse. The impact of the wind is felt much more than when relaxed, you get tired more easily and your correction input to the wheel is stiffer/jerkier (sometimes called "overdriving").
25mph gusts are not fun but should not be too much for the coach to handle. 25mph steady and 40mph gusts is not worth driving in for my taste, I would find somewhere to stop and wait it out. There's nowhere I need to get to that's that important.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #8 – January 11, 2024, 12:53:26 pm

Where we live requires traveling through 2 heavy wind areas when we depart. Going east we have to navigate the Palm Springs pass and going north the Mojave desert and Owens valley. Because of reservation issues with .Gov camp grounds if you don't show you forfeit your site. So we have driven many times in 40 mph winds with gusts to 60 mph. It is not fun but doable by slowing down and being ready for the overpasses sucking you to the windward side as you are compensating for the wind, Also trucks that are traveling faster than you will suck you up as they pass. Our current 320 handles better than the '81 FTX even with air bags. We have traveled north in winds that have the trucks laying on their sides both in the median and on the right, slowing down is the only way to travel in 50 mph winds and it is a white knuckle situation.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #9 – January 11, 2024, 01:03:34 pm

Our coach came to us with Henderson Motion Control Units installed on the corners. I don't know much about them. I have been pleasantly surprised at how stable the coach is in the wind.

The one time it felt really bad...

The day after we bought the coach, we were coming home to Arizona across Oklahoma. The cross wind was brutal. It was tearing the tops off the grass and propelling them sideways, suspended in the air across the highway. It was hypnotic, like driving in a snowstorm.

The wind was constant, so I could adapt my steering pretty well to compensate. What was bad was when a semi passed us on the windward side. The wind break felt like a sudden and giant suction forcing us toward the trailer. A day of that is negative fun!

Anybody know much about the Motion Control Units?

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #10 – January 11, 2024, 01:48:07 pm

When I had the Monaco Dynasty it came with a Howard precision steering system and it worked
great in cross winds. I could set it so I wasn't pulling on the steering wheel to go straight. It was
awesome but when He died it went out of business.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #11 – January 11, 2024, 02:30:03 pm

Don't the newer Foretravel's have some type of "active air" suspension for what I suspect is driving in the wind. And maybe going around a corner faster ??

There's a reason Foretravel's have that system. I'm a little envious too.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #12 – January 11, 2024, 10:40:50 pm

We have a 99 36' 65,000 miles on the clock and the drive was not good requiring constant wheel adjustment to stay between the lines, constantly on the rumble strips, new shocks, new air bags, then tie rod ends, alignment, new steering box checked everything, the Michelin tires only had about 6,000 miles on them.

Traded in the Michelins and got Toyo and the problem has been resolved. Evidently the Michelin tires can have plat in the tread that may affect your steering.

Everyone said it's a big box, you are over steering etc but it was the perfectly good tires that only had about 14,000 miles on them.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #13 – January 11, 2024, 11:32:04 pm

Our '89 GV has the fresh water tank right up over and forward of the front axle and when we have to drive with windy conditions I fill the tank all the way until it overflows. Seems to help keep the front end more stable and tracking true.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #14 – January 12, 2024, 01:12:02 am

I have also noticed that Hawk. When the diesel and propane are fuller, drives better...

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #15 – January 12, 2024, 01:42:37 am

Quote from: "Irish" – January 11, 2024, 10:40:50 pm

We have a 99 36' 65,000 miles on the clock and the drive was not good requiring constant wheel adjustment to stay between the lines, constantly on the rumble strips, new shocks, new air bags, then tie rod ends, alignment, new steering box checked everything, the Michelin tires only had about 6,000 miles on them.
Traded in the Michelins and got Toyo and the problem has been resolved. Evidently the Michelin tires can have plat in the tread that may affect your steering.
Everyone said it's a big box, you are over steering etc but it was the perfectly good tires that only had about 14,000 miles on them.

X2. When we first drove the coach home I hated it. Not wind but would for a better word fall off the center roll of the road both directions. Found some seized tie rod joints and resolved issue. I actually always praise how well it drives in the wind and cross wind. Toyo tires also. Always figured they all handled really well in the wind. Inerstate 40 up in Texas with 45-50 mph crosswinds.👍👍 actually slowed down and pointed out a SOB to DW and she asked why he was swerving around so much. Hit cruise control and spend back up to cruising speed comfortably. We get terrible winds out west and my only complaint is fuel economy dropping off. Also it's never a tail wind EVER. Im always heading into the wind both directions on every trip with my box kite coach

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #16 – January 12, 2024, 04:01:54 am

I found my tag axle coach was unaffected by the same winds that would push my 34 and 36 foot coaches.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #17 – January 12, 2024, 11:26:47 am

Driving a big slab sided box will always result in some movement. Esp when the winds are gusty. It's just physics. It's not going to handle like a Corvette.

It's something you just have to deal with and it gets better as you get to know how your coach handles the wind.

Wind doesn't bother me too much as I pulled a set of FedEx double trailers from the Black Hills of South Dakota to Sheridan, Wy. 5 nights a week for 10 years. I have actually had a trailer lift off the ground.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #18 – January 12, 2024, 11:54:52 am

A few years back we came thru a cross wind area out on the plains and I looked over at the DW and she had hid her face behind a map. The crosswind was buffeting us every time we met a semi and the ditch on her side was right up by the road. Scary for the both of us. Got home and noticed that the passenger front was lower than the driver's side. The leaf spring on that side was collapsed!!
Searched and got brand new springs installed on the front. Awesome improvement!!!
I guess what I am saying is that you should have the front end suspension and steering components checked for wear. Deterioration of your steering gear can be so slow as to be unnoticed for a long time until it becomes dangerous.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #19 – January 12, 2024, 11:33:18 pm

Ive been thinking about the Toyo tire comment. Wonder if it really makes that much of a difference? People have mentioned about adding stabilizers and blow out protection and Ive always been curious on their effectiveness. Adding trim to offset the wind or road level makes sense but I also like feeling the side wind loads real time and not concealed by some external gadget. If you are close to your tire weight limit then you add in several thousand pounds to the down wind front tire you may be exceeding its limits. When I originally purchased tires I had zero experience with other tires that are recommended on the coach by Foretravel. I run a little more tow in than recommended but Ive never experienced poor handling in the winds. Or excessive tire wear. Full fluids my front axle weight is 11,400 lbs. I am very happy with its wind handling characteristics. Im not going to change a thing. Maybe I just dont know any better

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #20 – January 13, 2024, 04:58:28 am

When I got my coach it had Michelin Tires all the way around. They were fairly new so I ran them for about the first five or six years. I did have a "wondering" problem with my coach at this time. I had to change out these tire because the sidewalls were cracking and "Dry Rotting" . That is when I put Toyo Tires on all the way around. What a difference it made. The Toyo Tire has a stiffer sidewall, and I believe they do not flex as much as the Michelin Tire. The wondering in the steering went away after the tire upgrade. Having a Grandvilla, with the low profile I do not get the side wind resistance that the square sided coaches get, so I have not noticed very much cross wind movement. Also, I run "H" series tires on the front, and am about to put "H" series tires on the rear for more weight capacity and stability.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #21 – January 13, 2024, 02:19:41 pm

I should mention a circumstance that's also possible. Happened to us. Coach was wandering some but worse with passing trucks.
Took it to Fortravel for an alignment and some other stuff. Turns out we had a ride height valve ( left rear ) out of adjustment. Coach was riding primarily on the left front and right rear air bags. After that adjustment it did drive better and trucks affected us less.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #22 – January 13, 2024, 03:50:25 pm

Hey, I forgot!! We also took our coach to FT on our maiden voyage. I mentioned that it handled bad. So the coach got an alignment checkup (at 64,000 miles) and it turned out that the toe-in was way off. Once it was set to the spec on the inside of the glove box door the coach handled like a dream--compared to B4.
Lesson learned: Either make sure the specs are what FT says they should be or take it to FT and have them do it right, compared to someone who doesn't normally work on coaches like ours.

Re: Wind gusts - Coach handles poorly

Reply #23 – January 13, 2024, 06:04:10 pm

The day we brought our 1993 U300 home from Oklahoma to SW MO it was quite windy. I didn't notice it, and didn't have any problems. Then we stopped and I opened the door. Rather, I unlatched the door and pushed it open about an inch. The wind slammed it against the side of the coach. Boy, was I surprised!

That was the tallest thing I've ever driven. Our current travel trailer is about the same size as the Foretravel, but not as heavy. I do slow down to even less than I normally drive when it is windy, and even more if it is gusty. We usually don't have to be any particular place, so if we have to stay another night to avoid the wind we will do so. If we need to leave a day early to avoid the wind we will do so.

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