[Wizz954]

Think of it like a teeter tooter. If the weight is off you'll notice negative driving characteristics. Being parallel is ideal.

I’m slightly confused. You said to drop the tow ball down a notch. Are we trying to level the car or the trailer or both? From what I’m hearing there’s a couple of things to try.

1) Drop the towball a notch. This should have little to no change to attitude of car at rest with trailer attached as it is single axle. It will drop the trailer nose down at rest and aerodynamics will lift the nose up to level while driving, in turn this may lift the rear of the car at speed?

2) Drop the front ride height 2” as it is too high even without trailer attached. This will level out the car at rest without the trailer attached. Then with the trailer attached it will point less skyward. See car without trailer attached in daylight, there is a lot more clearance between front wheel and guard so the front ride height is wrong and looks much worse when trailer is attached

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

Often times having the tow ball too high will cause undo tongue weight increases. You may end up dropping the front end of the Touareg but also bring the trailer to a more comfortable parallel

 

[seafarer28]

Wizz,
I think now that you have replaced the springs and dampers you have introduced another problem, the Touareg now seems high in general and the front height needs to drop so to be in relationship with the rear.
In my view you need to correct the vehicle first and then go back and work on correcting the trailer as you set out to do in the beginning but now you have the new springs and dampers to factor in.

TonyB

 

[Wizz954]

Wizz,
I think now that you have replaced the springs and dampers you have introduced another problem, the Touareg now seems high in general and the front height needs to drop so to be in relationship with the rear.
In my view you need to correct the vehicle first and then go back and work on correcting the trailer as you set out to do in the beginning but now you have the new springs and dampers to factor in.

TonyB

Nothing’s ever simple is it 🤣
It’s going back next week to lower the front and once that’s level we work on the towball height.
I’ve also got a new problem, the jockey wheel is too short now. I’ve got a tall one on order that extends to over a metre fully extended to replace the swing away jobbie.

 

[Wizz954]

After driving the car for a few days on city roads and motorways I can say the new coilovers have made the car better to drive. Firm springs stop the car from rolling in corners and diving under brakes. It still absorbs bumps well and doesn’t feel harsh at all. The only time I notice the springs is when crawling over speed bumps and leaving petrol stations. My old Prado was very firm and jiggly with its uprated springs. The Treg is streets ahead in refinement.

 

[Wizz954]

Today I towed the caravan up to Maroochydore to the tow bar installers to fix the electric brake controller. The van towed nicely, stable at 100kph without any sway. The only thing that disturbed it was when the road got rough and the rear of the car felt firm and noisy.

Overall very happy and even happier with 10.3 litres per 100 km. That’s half what the Prado used to drink.

 

[Wizz954]

Some final tweeks done to the spring preload and ride height. The front was feeling overly firm and riding too high. Turns out the springs had too much preload out of the factory and different on each side. Preload reset to 10mm each side and front ride now slightly lower than the rear for a nose down attitude.

I’ll hitch up the caravan again and see how it all sits.

 

[Wizz954]

How does it look? Is it level now? Also springs don’t look so tight

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

The rear appears slightly higher, what's your fender to ground front and rear?

 

[Wizz954]

The rear appears slightly higher, what's your fender to ground front and rear?

Ground to fender 85cm rear, 84cm front, so 10mm higher at the rear or less than half an inch. Intent is to have the car not point noise up too much when towing.
With the van attached the ground to fender is 82cm rear so 20mm lower than the front or less than an inch. The car and van look pretty good now imo. Van is slightly nose down 50mm lower at front which someone here said was preferable

 

[meggsy]

Looks great -- good work.

 

[Wizz954]

Looks great -- good work.

It’ll attract less attention from the weight police now it sits level. I’ll get it weighed with and without the bikes in the back to see how the tow ball weight and rear axle load varies.

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

Ground to fender 85cm rear, 84cm front, so 10mm higher at the rear or less than half an inch. Intent is to have the car not point noise up too much when towing.
With the van attached the ground to fender is 82cm rear so 20mm lower than the front or less than an inch. The car and van look pretty good now imo. Van is slightly nose down 50mm lower at front which someone here said was preferable

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Looks great to me, well done! How is the comfort of the new suspension vs stock? The handling too?

 

[Wizz954]

Looks great to me, well done! How is the comfort of the new suspension vs stock? The handling too?

After getting the preload set correctly, it is now taut handling and comfortable at the same time.
It doesn’t have that stock floating pillow feeling any more. You can feel it’s firmer by the way it holds flat in corners and is as close to a sports car feel you can get in a car this size. What makes it ride comfortably is the well tuned compression damping which means it absorbs bumps without any jarring or rattly feeling and the rebound damping controls it well on extension.
It’s close to a factory tune and nothing like an aftermarket “upgrade” that shakes your teeth out.
The family hasn’t complained and that is the acid test!

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

That's awesome! Thank you for your findings

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

Can you supply the exact link you used?

 

[Wizz954]

Can you supply the exact link you used?

Links to Titan Suspension in Australia below for 7P and 7L versions. The factory is Malaysian so there’s likely to be distributors in other countries for folks outside Australia.

Volkswagen Touareg (7P) Coilovers - TITAN SP-3 Suspension Kit

Volkswagen Touareg (7P) (2011 - 2018) on TiTAN SP-3 Coilover Suspension Kit ⭐ Fully Adjustable Height⭐ 30 Click Damper Setting⭐ Monotube Construction⭐ 2-Year Warranty The SP-3 is the optimal choice for street use and the occasional spirited driving. If you have a modified car that occasionally...

titansuspension.com.au

Volkswagen Touareg (7L) Coilovers - TITAN SP-3 Suspension Kit

Volkswagen Touareg (7L) (2002 - 2010) on TiTAN SP-3 Coilover Suspension Kit ⭐ Fully Adjustable Height⭐ 30 Click Damper Setting⭐ Monotube Construction⭐ 2-Year Warranty The SP-3 is the optimal choice for street use and the occasional spirited driving. If you have a modified car that occasionally...

titansuspension.com.au

 

[Wizz954]

Now I’ll set the towball height for the boat which needs to be a little lower I feel. This is a dual axle so I’m thinking if I can get the trailer main chassis rails level to the road fore and after of the axles, this will balance the 2 axles with same weight. Any thoughts out there if there is a better way?

 

[Wolfy]

I don't think you 'need a bigger boat'

 

[Wolfy]

For our international friends who may not have got the ad

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