Legacy unstable in moderate wind?

While driving on the freeway today - the wind was around 17-20mph and I was going at 75mph. I felt my car was getting tossed a bit. Dont know if it has to do with an AWD, its aerodynamics, weight of the car, or tire pressure(I havent checked yet). Anyone feel the same?

I get the same thing. The higher the speeds the more sensitive the car is. I've found the car nicely stable in a good wind at about 60mph and under.

 

I've learned to compensate for this behaviour with steering adjustments and/or reducing speed. There's a lot of vehicles out there with this, I could give you a list of the ones I've owned and/or driven and some of the heavier one's might surprise you.

My Mazda 6 is super-bad about this.

Ditto.

 

You can:

- lower it

- increase tire pressure

- stiffer tire sidewalls

- stiffer springs

- front lower spoiler

Mine blew off the road the other day and almost flipped over.

I've noticed that with RE-92s, the steering is very sensitive at highway speeds. With my new tires (Michelin PE2s) the steering requires more effort and tends to stay centered.

After driving Full-Size pickup trucks, Mini-Vans and Other sedans with the profile of a Barn.. I find that my Leggy is pretty stable in high winds. Thats not to say it does't get blown around..but not nearly as much as some vehicles I've driven.

With gas prices up in the air. I am going to change my driving habits and catch the tail winds........at least try to. :lol: :lol:

Mine blew off the road the other day and almost flipped over.

 

 

 

 

 

Mine blew off the road the other day and almost flipped over.

Yup ... happens to me all the time, Jedi.

 

But it usually happens to me when I'm doing more like 140 through a school zone.

 

 

 

I swear to god, the more I read car forums, the dumber I get. Either no one has any common sense any more, or they all failed intro to physics.

That's because common sense isn't so common anymore.

Or maybe the guy's driving through Hurricane Rita... hmmm, the Leggy's a bit unstable through a 120mph crosswind... :O

 

Seriously, drive safe. If it's not feeling good, slow down a bit. Could be poor wheel alignment, uneven tire pressures, etc.

I haven't been in a car that didn't react to winds when driving at highway speeds. They'll push you around a bit, that's no surprise.

Maybe the guy twitches while driving.

Okay...

 

leash the Dogs back fellas.. sheesh.

 

Try driving over the Mackinac Bridge in November some time.

 

http://www.mackinacbridge.org/

The guy will probably need one of those 5000-lb. sand bags that the Army Corp of Engineers are dropping into the Levees.

With Rita, if you take off the speed governor, we know the car is capable of at least 140mph then add in 165 mph tailwind = 305 mph.

I got rid of the RE92s and that's 95% gone.

The other five percent could be lift... Front air dam might improve things... dunno.

 

Anything to lower the air pressure and velocity under the car can help reduce lift, and keep more of the car's weight on the suspension, and thus on the tires...

 

Probably will also increase Cd a bit, and lower gas mileage a tad bit.

FYI, a front lip fixed that exact issue on someone's WRX STi and he gets a tad better gas mileage: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=848307

At first I did notice the mid-body wind effects on the MY05, but at some point last winter I stopped thinking about the wind and I've never noticed any effects since that time.