[xbgs351]

My BA Falcon utility is a very scary car to drive at speed on country roads. My 30 year old XB Fairmont can be driven considerably faster with a lot more confidence.

The BA's leaf spring rear works very well, unfortunately the front suspension has obviously been tuned with only comfort in mind. When you drive over a rough section of road, you get to experience the front of the car floating and a sudden bump will totally throw the car out of balance.

It can be very scary as the car may feel to be well within it's limits, you hit a minor bump and suddenly you are in all sorts of trouble. I wonder how many people are getting killed by cars that display these handling traits.

I would be interested as to what other peoples experiences and opinions on this matter are.

 

[fullthrottle]

yep...my exact feeling when i had the ute for the first week. I even took it down to pedders to see what they could do.

but now..use to it...quite comfortable at speed )

 

[XRFPV8]

My BA Falcon utility is a very scary car to drive at speed on country roads. My 30 year old XB Fairmont can be driven considerably faster with a lot more confidence.

The BA's leaf spring rear works very well, unfortunately the front suspension has obviously been tuned with only comfort in mind. When you drive over a rough section of road, you get to experience the front of the car floating and a sudden bump will totally throw the car out of balance.

It can be very scary as the car may feel to be well within it's limits, you hit a minor bump and suddenly you are in all sorts of trouble. I wonder how many people are getting killed by cars that display these handling traits.

I would be interested as to what other peoples experiences and opinions on this matter are.

maybe if you do a lot of country driving you need a Ford Territory might do the job on rough roads...

 

[xbgs351]

maybe if you do a lot of country driving you need a Ford Territory might do the job on rough roads...

Your kidding aren't you?

The car needs better shock settings, or preferably stiffer springs and better shocks.

 

[Noboss]

Your kidding aren't you?

The car needs better shock settings, or preferably stiffer springs and better shocks.

Look out !! your very close to saying somthing negative about the BA and there are some guys on here that will flame you for having that opion !!
And they know who they are .. LOL

 

[fullthrottle]

Hey make sure your tyres aren't over inflated. When I drove it out of my dealership I noticed the thing jumping up on normal road. I checked the tyres... 55psi!!!! wtf?!?!?

I now have the front 35psi and rears 30psi. Still does not handle like a sedan (its not suppose to) but i get much better sense of control.

 

[Bluedriver]

Look out !! your very close to saying somthing negative about the BA and there are some guys on here that will flame you for having that opion !!
And they know who they are .. LOL

:rofl: oh love it

 

[XRFPV8]

Look out !! your very close to saying somthing negative about the BA and there are some guys on here that will flame you for having that opion !!
And they know who they are .. LOL

hi sbutler, if you read the ''post's'' i cant see anyone being negative about a BA, exept some you know them well, anyway there is an idea that has been put up, to help xbgs351 on country road's who has handling problem. So he think,s he needs better shocks and springs. so i dont know where you are going with your flaming statement. try post something about the thread...
yes the whole world is intitled to there opinion just like me....
thx
BA Love it more :rofl:
:bowd:

 

[Noboss]

:rofl: oh love it

So do I. Come in spinners.

 

[russellw]

Do we perhaps think its possible to get this thread back on track or would we rather it was just closed so that some people can be happy in their smugness?

Looking at the relevant spring rates I'd suspect that they would be very sensitive to tyre pressures so it might be handy to play with those a little bit. From the little experience I've had with the BA Utes I think your assessment is probably correct as the front end is not in sync with the back and feels to be lacking in control - I'd describe it as jiggly. If tyre pressures don't help enough then perhaps some shocks with better rebound valving might help to iron some of the nervousness out.

Keep us posted.

Cheers
Russ

 

[XRFPV8]

. If tyre pressures don't help enough then perhaps some shocks with better rebound valving might help to iron some of the nervousness out.

Keep us posted.

Cheers
Russ

Russell, what about the shocks on the RTV Ute, or would they be too big and do you which company makes them...

 

[fullthrottle]

I'm telling you...tyre pressure helps!!
35 at the front... 30 at the rears... )

there must be something with dealers and pumping tyres up really high. The last two cars ive bought have had their tyres pumped to stupid pressures i.e. 50+ psi.

 

[russellw]

I'd not be choosing the RTV shocks I think as they aren't likely to provide an improvement. They have a higher rating but that isn't what you need - you'd probably find they would have even worse rebound control.

Cheers
Russ

 

[xbgs351]

When I took delivery of the ute I drove it directly to the tyre shop and purchased some Yokohama A539's. I believe it originally had Monza's on it.

At 35 psi it felt like I was on a cruise liner, so I have run it at 40PSI since. It is acceptable around town, but a nightmare on the rough roads.

I guess they don't have roads NSW type roads around the Lara proving grounds.

I have no doubt that I could get the BA to handle both predictably and well (I have done this with cars 30 years it senior), but I'm not really in the position to spend money on a company car.