OB really susceptible to crosswinds?

[mooble]

I took a long road trip in the OB for the first time this weekend and I have never driven a vehicle that was so susceptible to crosswinds. For what it is, the OB is reasonably light and it rides much higher than a traditional wagon. That being said, I still didn't expect to be fighting the steering wheel every second of a three hour trip. This wasn't a hurricane mind you, just a slightly strong 20-25 mph wind with an occasional gust. Does anyone else find this to be the case?

Sadly my first impression of the OB steering hasn't improved either. It's vague on-center and wanders too much. I thought varying the tire pressure might improve the steering, but it hasn't so far. I love almost everything about the OB, but the steering still vexes me. I guess nothing is perfect...

[JCBERB]

Yes the steering does drive me nuts along with the cross wind issue. Perhaps we can take it to a shop and have the alignment tweaked a bit. I cant stand how it just wanders off on its own. I too checked my tire pressure, was over a by a couple of PSI on each wheel, but it didnt change the handling really.

[upflying]

There are long threads about wandering and inability to hold her straight.
I'm like you, love the OB, hate the directional control.
An out of spec alignment seems to be the solution.
I discovered the wandering with less than 10 miles on mine.

[wutbürger]

That's the price you pay for a larger, AWD jacked up station wagon that barely weighs more than my last VW Golf unfortunately. The weight to surface area ratio sucks, not to mention the alignment specs from the factory do not help. My best advice? Fill that sucker up with another 800lbs or so of people and gear - it rides MUCH better when I do that

In all seriousness, the only thing that helped a bit was the upgraded 19mm RSB; it seemed to tighten up the car and make the wind gusts MUCH easier to deal with. I've kind of gotten used to it, but it's deffinently not ideal.

[pgh]

Allthough my early 10 does not have the shakes it still exhibits some unsettled behavior in winding conditions. Alignment, bigger RSB , perhaps tires can help but like some of the folks have pointed out it seems to be a characteristic of this gen OB.

[subiesailor]

You need more bricks in your shorts. LOL - When we pack heavy for road trips the OB handles far far better than it does when its empty its also less affected by winds. Either way tall car light weight + winds equals fun times keeping it between the lines.

The legacy is night and day different hardly ever seems to be impacted by high winds on the highway and is the sedan version of the OB minus the raised suspension.

[mikelipke]

Mooble:
What model year is your OB?

[ckhbuy]

Yes, the sway in big cross winds was my chief complaint as well for 1.5 years. I upgraded to a 19 mm rear sway bar last week and I just can't keep from smiling now on the turnpike. Doesn't eliminate it 100%, but boy, what an improvement! Wish I'd done it 1.5 years ago. Give it a shot!
christopher

[iainb]

We just did a round trip from NJ this past weekend and the OB was great on the highway, as it always is.

It's nowhere near as susceptible to cross-winds as the 4Runner's I've had on long trips.

[fun2drive]

I didn't notice my OB being any more susceptible to cross winds than other vehicles I have owned that were 4WD or that had a lot of exposed vertical area.
What is bad is the alignment specs the OB uses for the 10-13 which don't contribute to self centering which increases workload a lot.
I have been unable to get my alignment done until I get back north here in a couple weeks but when I do the toe will be set to neutral or slightly negative 0.01 degrees.
Will report back if this helps or not...