Heavy Weight

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Hi All

Just a thought, how much weight can a corolla handle at the back before it may damage something, suspension, springs, shocks, etc?

For example, I carried 18 packs of laminate flooring earlier today, plus a load of other things, we're talking over 250kgs, now all my parts ie shocks n springs etc are in good condition, no issues, but the car sat very very low indeed, now I'm left wondering could it have caused any damage??? it was only for a 6 mile journey saying that.

Please let me know your thoughts, thanks all.

Sammy

[Uncle Buck]

Difficult to say without seeing the car Sammy, but as a general rule of thumb - if the wheels disappear into the arches & you hear the bump stops thudding over every rut in the road, then you've overloaded it. Taking the wheels off and having a good look at the shocks/springs would be a good way of seeing if anything is amiss :)

Look for any leaking from the dampers or any snapped parts of the springs i.e.. the pig-tail ends of these can often break without being obvious .....

[oldcodger]

Hi Sammy,

Sounds like you have been splashing the cash !

Did some similar load lugging with mine the other year, ( block pavers) and had the same thought /problem , how much weight to carry.

If you look in the hand book you have the max weights in there + the weight of any Roof Rack load, but I find the best way is to say that the weight of five adults in the car at, say 80 kg each, so thats about 400kg, though I would take that as a real maximum fand not for long journeys

Also important to incease the tyre pressures for a full load as detailed in the handbook to avoid any problems to the tyres.

Cannot see your springs or dampers being damaged over a careful short jouney, though some very old dampers might expire / leak.

Sailed though the mot the other week, though he was going to fail me as he found a glass cut down to the cords on one of the rears which I had not seen when doing the service.

Asked if I could put the spare on, but health and safety prevented that, however he let me pass because he said he could see I looked after the car and knew I would change it straight away - phew !

He also said its well worth keeping cars like ours as the are so reliable unlike so many modern cars including Toyotas who have too many electrical faults as he says there are so many new electrical things they don't have the expertise to build in the reliability these days...

Did you buy hubby some knee pads for laying all that flooring ?

[korat102]

Bit late now but...while 250kg doesn't sound like a lot, when it's all concentrated at the back, it puts a lot of pressure on the rear springs. Try to spread the load as much as you can when you're carrying a heavy load. Fold rear seats down if you can and push the heavy stuff towards the centre of the car.

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Hey THANK YOU guys, really appreciate your input, the next times she's up i'll have a peek underneath, and its not very often that she's up lol, touch wood, everything seems to be A okay for now, no unusual sounds or knocks.

Take care all, any hey Oldcodger, paving slabs, come on, would never dream of that! Good to hear from you!

[Cyker]

My brother's old D4D Corolla was used to transport an absolute crapload of rubble to the dump when we were ripping out the inside of his house (Including such lovely things as Horse hair plaster, one of the interior walls, an old fireplace and its surround, the concrete surface of the garden...) and while the car sat quite low it didn't flinch once despite repeated trips. The only tricky bit was when he went a bit too quick over a speed cushion and scraped the exhaust!