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Directional stability in cross wind


bathtub tom
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I've had my '14 reg 1.3 petrol Yaris (with 25K miles) for a couple of years now and I've never been impressed with its stability in cross winds, compared to previous cars (apart from a Hunslet Scootacar which I took on the motorway once and never again). Recently, it seems to be much worse.

Is there anything I should be checking, like suspension bushes. All the tyres have plenty of tread and are correctly inflated. 5mm on the front SPs and nearly new Avons on the rear.

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I think that is just the way they are; The Yaris has quite a narrow stance but is quite tall and light which makes it quite affected by cross winds. I know mine is!
 

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After 30 odd years of driving Vauxhalls, Novas and Corsas, nearly all diesel, I would agree. I find my 2016 Yaris Hybrid much lighter on the front on dual carriageways in windy weather. I suppose it's very noticeable having had heavy engines previously. Not as bad as my first car though, a Hillman Imp :-)

Steve.

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I don't find it to be bad with a crosswind? I notice the crosswind more through the steering angle required to keep the car on the road but otherwise I don't feel the car is unstable or being too disturbed by it.

I've driven cars that are far worse than this!

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15 hours ago, bathtub tom said:

I've had my '14 reg 1.3 petrol Yaris (with 25K miles) for a couple of years now and I've never been impressed with its stability in cross winds, compared to previous cars (apart from a Hunslet Scootacar which I took on the motorway once and never again). Recently, it seems to be much worse.

Is there anything I should be checking, like suspension bushes. All the tyres have plenty of tread and are correctly inflated. 5mm on the front SPs and nearly new Avons on the rear.

I know what you mean, I always feel like grabbing harder to the steering wheel at motorway speeds. What size are your wheels? 15" or 16"?  First thing I would check is the tyre pressures. Sometimes the driver's side (usually right/front) loses pressure faster than the passenger side. If you want to add a bit more stability, try a set of wider tyres. I think Toyota tries to keep the Yaris economical with very narrow tyres.....

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Sometimes the driver's side (usually right/front) loses pressure faster than the passenger side

Why's that? I can't see any reason why that should be.

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7 hours ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

Why's that? I can't see any reason why that should be.

If you drive alone very often, then it is always heavier on one side of the car than the other, and obviously the front tyre on the driver's side bears more weight than the other three, thus it loses pressure a bit quicker than the others. 

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9 minutes ago, Justhandguns said:

If you drive alone very often, then it is always heavier on one side of the car than the other, and obviously the front tyre on the driver's side bears more weight than the other three, thus it loses pressure a bit quicker than the others. 

I've driven to work  and back, 5 days a week, for over a decade and always alone. I've never experienced this happening. They can lose pressure over many months, but always at the same rate in all tyres. The only difference I find in how quickly the pressures drop, is the branding of tyre. My current Goodyears hold their pressure very well, whereas I've had cheapo tyres in the past, where I've had to put in a few psi every week.

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It might be worth checking the tracking and geometry and getting it realigned - If the toe in/out is off that can have a noticeable effect on straight-line stability which is magnified by crosswinds.

Tyres can also have an effect; I've noticed some tyres tend to straight-line more stably than others, but I've not paid enough attention to that to find a pattern, just noticing the different handling characteristics!

 

re. tyre pressures; I think the #1 cause of tyre pressure loss is hitting things like bumps, potholes and kerbs. Just having pressing down on a tyre shouldn't cause any measurable pressure loss, but the shock from impacts is more likely to. I know ever since they put these infernal speedhumps and cushions everywhere and also the proliferation of potholes because local councils can't afford to fill them in anymore, I've been having to put air in more regularly!

I suspect another major cause is micro leakage from around the bead - I've noticed many tyre fitters just put the tyre off and on, maybe putting some of that paste stuff on, but don't wipe down the edge of the rim and bead area with a cleanish cloth so any debris stuck there will leave a tiny gap for air to escape..

The only reason I think that is because when I was using PunctureSafe, I never had to add air to my tyres at all for the entire time I had those tyres - I assume the puncturesafe was blocking up all the microleaks.

I stopped using it because I could never sort out the high-speed judder, and now I'm having to add air as I did before!


 

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On 2017-6-26 at 10:18 AM, Justhandguns said:

Sometimes the driver's side (usually right/front) loses pressure faster than the passenger side.

 

51 minutes ago, fordulike said:

I've driven to work  and back, 5 days a week, for over a decade and always alone. I've never experienced this happening. They can lose pressure over many months, but always at the same rate in all tyres. The only difference I find in how quickly the pressures drop, is the branding of tyre. My current Goodyears hold their pressure very well, whereas I've had cheapo tyres in the past, where I've had to put in a few psi every week.

I've also had this - across various makes of vehicle (Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Hyundai and Toyota) and tyres (mainly OE tyres including Dunlop, Pirellis, Continentals, Toyos, Kumhos, Michelins, etc).  We've run two cars for years, and often there is only one person in the car. Difference usually only 1-2psi despite regular pressure checks.

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7 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

 

I've also had this - across various makes of vehicle (Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Hyundai and Toyota) and tyres (mainly OE tyres including Dunlop, Pirellis, Continentals, Toyos, Kumhos, Michelins, etc).  We've run two cars for years, and often there is only one person in the car. Difference usually only 1-2psi despite regular pressure checks.

Mmmmm, maybe we should leave it there. This forum could turn nasty if we talk about who ate all the pies :tongue:

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Just now, fordulike said:

Mmmmm, maybe we should leave it there. This forum could turn nasty if we talk about who ate all the pies :tongue:

Not the reason. Driver weight up to 11 stone, so not excessive.

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1 minute ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Not the reason. Driver weight up to 11 stone, so not excessive.

Bugger, with that figure it looks like I'm the one who ate all the pies. Damn you Greggs :sad:

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Don't worry, PartsKing is still our Pie King as well :laugh:


 

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Have we been blown slightly off course?

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20 hours ago, Cyker said:

Don't worry, PartsKing is still our Pie King as well :laugh:


 

Oi I heard that!! .........I USED to resemble that remark, however no pie has passed my lips this year and now 2.5 stone the lighter :lol::lol::lol:

 

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Many years ago when an impoverished student, I drove a 1947 Rover 16 - on motorways at 70mph. As the tyres wore, it became unstable in high winds and disliked the grooves on the inner lane caused by heavy lorries.

 

Try swapping the front tyres to the rear and vice versa - assuming the tyres on the rear have more tread. Of course- as above - the tracking could be out if you have kerbed it or habitually park on pavements  (not that I am suggesting you would).

 

(Son's 1.0 Yaris had a propensity to spin !!! at low speeds due to tracking way out due to parking on pavements - sorted when tracking adjusted .. it was very badly out)

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2 hours ago, Madasafish said:

Try swapping the front tyres to the rear

As stated in my OP, I've already tried that. When I had the new tyres fitted (to the front) the old ones showed no signs of abnormal wear, so I discounted any suspension/steering alignment problems.

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On 6/28/2017 at 9:55 AM, Justhandguns said:

If you drive alone very often, then it is always heavier on one side of the car than the other, and obviously the front tyre on the driver's side bears more weight than the other three, thus it loses pressure a bit quicker than the others. 

Hmm... can't say I noticed this. I drive alone 99% of the time.

I have Continental Premium Contact 2 on my Yaris (OE), and so far they hold their pressures very well. In fact, it had been a couple of months since winter when I last did my tyre pressures (OAT +3 C), and it resulted in significantly over-inflated tyres. Very surprising. They were within 0.5 psi of each other (left/right). I checked them again the other day after 2 months - no problems.

A possibility for tyre inflation issues could be a damaged rim - might be worth checking. alloys don't like bumps or curbs, especially if taken at any speed, and can deform, or worse, crack.

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On 2017-6-29 at 0:19 PM, Parts-King said:

Oi I heard that!! .........I USED to resemble that remark, however no pie has passed my lips this year and now 2.5 stone the lighter :lol::lol::lol:

Good grief, you'll be chucking in that job and becoming a catwalk model soon 'eh? :biggrin:

But seriously, that's a pretty good result! Keep it up! :thumbsup:
 

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On 2017-6-29 at 0:19 PM, Parts-King said:

Oi I heard that!! .........I USED to resemble that remark, however no pie has passed my lips this year and now 2.5 stone the lighter :lol::lol::lol:

Admirable - must have taken a lot of willpower!!

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On 6/30/2017 at 11:50 PM, FROSTYBALLS said:

Admirable - must have taken a lot of willpower!!

...........and Slimming World :rolleyes:

 

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@Parts-King: I think your signature needs changing then! :laugh:

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6 hours ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

@Parts-King: I think your signature needs changing then! :laugh:

Never!! :lol::lol:

 

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