Ride Quality

Fasteddie · 11-16-2021, 07:52 AM

I have a 2018 24D built on a 2017 MB 3500 chassis, w/ 14k miles, running on Continental LT 215R16E tires. Everything has been checked out as in perfect condition. My rig rides like a truck, very firm, stiff & you feel every crack & seam in the road. Yes, I know it's built on a truck chassis, but my wife (Dianne) can't stand the ride. We have driven other RV's built on the exact same chassis & they all ride as smooth or even smoother than my car. Di has stated that if I can't fix the ride we MUST sell the rig. I have installed a Hellwig anti-sway bar & Sumo rear #47 bump stop springs. This stopped the swaying but did nothing for the ride's smoothness. I need HELP.

Morich · 11-16-2021, 08:16 AM

Maybe a first trywould be the tire pressure. Do you have a tire pressure monitor to see what the actual pressure does as you drive?

We found airing to the recommended pressure was no good on our 30 foot as with the TPMS we were able to see the pressure varies constantly and when airing to 82 PSI as chart info showed, we were often riding closer to 100PSI as the tires warmed!

Since tire pressure is an estimate for what makes them wear best,we reduced the "normal" way down and got much better ride.

Part of the question became how I had been trained to think of air pressure as fairly constant when it actually varied with lots of small points like which side was the sunny side!

If you like the RV, it will be much cheaper to buy a TPMS to see what the pressure really is after 10-20 miles and then adjust your thinking on what pressure is best for the combo of ride and wear.
It may be cheaper in the long run to replace the tires in five years instead of 6, if you can avoid the expense of selling and rebuying the RV?

gurroz · 11-16-2021, 08:45 AM

I agree with Morich. We use the Ezee TPMS and notice the pressure varies. It will increase when the temperatures go up and when climbing in altitude. The TPMS also monitors tire temperature which is a great safety feature.

BobC · 11-16-2021, 09:20 AM

I seldom disagree with Morich but I disagree with his comments in post #2. The pressures noted on the tables are "cold pressures" and aren't intended to reflect the pressures your TPMS will read when driving, they're the tire manufacturer's minimum cold pressures for a given weight with the full knowledge they will increase as you drive. Going below these minimum pressures is clearly not advisable.

On the other hand, if you're inflating to the pressures noted on your door placard or to the pressures embossed on your tires you're likely inflating your tires more than necessary. The door placard pressures assume your MH is loaded to its GVWR and is fine if you're actually loaded to the full GVWR. The pressure embossed on your tires is the maximum pressure for the design of the tires. Safety-wise, either of these pressures is OK, but your ride will suffer. Again, while driving, your TPMS will read higher pressures, which is completely normal.

Check out Roger Marble's (aka Tireman9, a Winniowners member) blog. Roger is a retired tire engineer and is an expert on the subject.

https://www.rvtiresafety.net/2011/03...and-roger.html

Here are a couple of Roger Marble's posts on this topic:

https://www.rvtiresafety.net/search/...ld%20Inflation

https://www.rvtiresafety.net/search/...ion%20Pressure

P.S. I think you're missing a number in your tire spec. Are you sure it's not LT215/85/R16E or something similar?

**creativepart** · 11-16-2021, 11:49 AM

It is a truck and there is only so much you can do to make it ride like a car - some folks replace the leaf spring suspension with air bags.

There are air ride suspension modifications available for Sprinter Vans. I've seen them listed for up to $13,000 installed.

Kelderman sells a similar product for $3,000 not including installation.

https://kelderman.com/shop/2014-spri...air-suspension

Fasteddie · 11-16-2021, 03:08 PM

To Bob C. Yes I left out the "/85" on my tire size, it's as you stated. To everyone else, I've already lowered the tire pressure to 50 lbs (cold) on all 6 tires. I did this after talking w/ a tire specialist, not a salesman. It did make a small improvement, but nothing like the others we've tested.
A little personal background here, I'm not a newby RV'er, & prior to retirement, I was the National Fleet Mgr. for a large const. co. & I was in charge of over 125 vehicles. So I do know quite a bit about trucks, trailers & cars. I also certified every driver for the type & class of vehicle they were assigned to.
If anyone has a rig like mine anywhere near Gaithersburg MD, 20878 I love to test drive it to compare. Please contact me. Also, thanks for the suggestions so far.

BobC · 11-16-2021, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fasteddie

A little personal background here, I'm not a newby RV'er, & prior to retirement, I was the National Fleet Mgr. for a large const. co. & I was in charge of over 125 vehicles. So I do know quite a bit about trucks, trailers & cars. I also certified every driver for the type & class of vehicle they were assigned to.
If anyone has a rig like mine anywhere near Gaithersburg MD, 20878 I love to test drive it to compare. Please contact me. Also, thanks for the suggestions so far.

You certainly have the background to figure this out. Also, when posting, give your complete year and model name, which I think is either a View or a Navion. I understand they're virtually identical but I didn't know what a 24D was until I Googled it. Via the User CP, you can set up a signature block similar to mine that gives all the details.

Given your background, I apologize for mentioning this, but a light load is often the cause of a rough ride.

Winnieowners' Member list is also searchable via the "Community" tab. I didn't get any hits on View 24D or Navion 24D but I did on both View and Navion. Even if you don't find someone close to you, you can send them a private message (PM) and see what they're experience has been.

IRV2.com, a Winnieowner's sister forum has a Sprinter chassis forum that may be of some help to you:

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f280/

IRV2 also has a searchable members list via its community tab. You may find an owner there.

Good luck and keep us posted.

akeagle · 11-16-2021, 09:35 PM

Here's another possibility, or at least a possible contributing factor: When we bought our Minnie Winnie I used the same (reliable, so I thought) air pressure gage I had used for my cars and pickups for several years. I thought it took an unusually long time to pump up the motorhome's tires, but hey, those tires took more than twice the air any of my 4-wheelers so that must not be a big deal.

Our shakedown cruise took us from Anchorage, Alaska to Seward. All seemed pretty well on the paved roads, but on a small dirt/gravel road leading to a campground the ride nearly rattled our teeth and shook things out of the cabinets. Surely that wasn't right to have to creep along that road a 5 mph, was it?

When we arrived back home, on a lark I bought a new and more accurate air gage and guess what: the old gage was reading 7 pounds low. So the desired 75 pounds in front and 80 in the back was actually 77 and 87. Once i let that excess 7 pounds from each tire the ride was much more reasonable.

NavOwner · 11-21-2021, 04:30 PM

You have a Navion or a View I take it. Many many owners have upgraded the sway bar to Hellwig and the rear springs to Agile Fox in order to improve the ride. I did on my 21 Navion even though the new ones have an “beefier” sway bar but these two upgrades made an immediate improvement in ride.

DrMack · 11-21-2021, 05:06 PM

2017 View. We've done a couple of things: 1. Helwig sway bar to reduce rocking side to side; 2. Sumo springs front and back (my jury's out on this one); 3. Most significantly, replaced OEM seats with Bostrom air rides covered in lamb's fleece (I'm an old pilot and have therefore learned from experience why every professional and military cockpit uses fleece upholstery). The coach still rattles on washboard roads but we just glide along in our air rides.