Noseweight

reading noseweight reply`s the thought occur`s how do we all weight our noseweight

do we weight at the hight of the tow ball or till the inner tube dos`nt go down any more

there`s got to be a difference between the two

valter 

I measured mine ages back with a so called proper nose weight gauge, but you only needed to look at it differently & it gave a different reading. My caravan was at more than it max when I had a virtually empty front locker so I just let the self levelling rear suspension sort it out ............. not ideal.

However I saw a bloke at a CC site a few months back lifting the front of his van by hand to check his van's nose weight. He was only a little fella, & I couldn't help asking him if he had a calibrated back! ;-)

However I saw a bloke at a CC site a few months back lifting the front of his van by hand to check his van's nose weight. He was only a little fella, & I couldn't help asking him if he had a calibrated back! ;-)

Yes........... when he can't lift it then the noseweight is too much ,otherwise it must be ok   ;-)

Hello, I have a 2011 Mazda6 2.2 dci 163Ps Takuya Estate.  Kerb Weight 1575kg.  It has a maximum tow of 1600kg is this car capable, and is it safe to tow a caravan weighing 1600kg?  

Thank you.

Hello, I have a 2011 Mazda6 2.2 dci 163Ps Takuya Estate.  Kerb Weight 1575kg.  It has a maximum tow of 1600kg is this car capable, and is it safe to tow a caravan weighing 1600kg?  

Thank you.

The towload limit specified by the car manufacturer does not take into account the driver's ability to exercise appropriate due care and attention. It is a purely technical limit assuming an experienced driver. Towing something as heavy as you have indicated may place too great a demand on the driver's ability and should therefore be avoided. But in the end, it's the driver that determines whether an outfit is safe or not so long as other limits are not exceeded.

Hello, I have a 2011 Mazda6 2.2 dci 163Ps Takuya Estate.  Kerb Weight 1575kg.  It has a maximum tow of 1600kg is this car capable, and is it safe to tow a caravan weighing 1600kg?  

Thank you.

Hi

If you go to the outfit matching page of this website and type in the details of your vehicle, it will give you recommendations of caravans for which your outfit is suited based on the caravan industry recommendation of an 85% towcar/caravan ratio for novice caravanners.  One of the suitable caravans shown on the search which I have just carried out on your vehicle states that it will tow a caravan weighing in at MTPLM of 1125Kg so you are probably being a bit optimistic to tow 1600Kg.  The caravan industry recommends no more than 100% weight ratio for experienced caravanners providing that the towed weight is permissible in respect of the tow car's published capability.

I hope this helps.  See page 666 of the current Sites Directory for more details.

Alan  

Hello, I have a 2011 Mazda6 2.2 dci 163Ps Takuya Estate.  Kerb Weight 1575kg.  It has a maximum tow of 1600kg is this car capable, and is it safe to tow a caravan weighing 1600kg?  

Thank you.

Write your comments here...

This would not be a safe match according to the club thats for sure !! There are other factors you should take into account such as your experience of towing and most importantly how the tow car is loaded, If you have 4 adults and all their paraphenalia in the boot lets say 500kg over kerbweight and your van is 1600 your cars weight will be nearer 2000kgs..I am sure you can see where this is going...as long as you dont go over your maximum axle loadings and vehicle weights it will probably tow ok. It will be heavy and a handfull to stop in an emergency.Whether anyone on CT would admit it there are a lot of people towing at over 100% and even more towing with badly loaded cars/vans that are no where near 100% but are so badly loaded as to invite outfit instability.IMHO

Other opinions are available.

Tj

This would not be a safe match according to the club thats for sure !! There are other factors you should take into account such as your experience of towing and most importantly how the tow car is loaded, If you have 4 adults and all their paraphenalia in the boot lets say 500kg over kerbweight and your van is 1600 your cars weight will be nearer 2000kgs..I am sure you can see where this is going...as long as you dont go over your maximum axle loadings and vehicle weights it will probably tow ok. It will be heavy and a handfull to stop in an emergency.Whether anyone on CT would admit it there are a lot of people towing at over 100% and even more towing with badly loaded cars/vans that are no where near 100% but are so badly loaded as to invite outfit instability.IMHO

Other opinions are available.

Tj

So long as the outfit is within the specified limits of gross train weight and towload there is no reason to question its braking ability as the car manufacturer will have taken this into account when establishing the limits. The safety of an outfit is dependent on the driver who has got to be aware of its limitations and act accordingly. There is no denying, however, that an unfavourable weight ratio is going to make things more difficult for him.

With 32 year's towing experience, I purchased a Bailey Olympus 534 two years ago.  Forgot to check noseweight first and subsequently discovered unladen noseweight to be 80kg.  Obviously, solution could not be to overload the rear to reduce noseweight as this would create instability so had to change car (2007 Mercedes E class saloon - noseweight limit 75kg).  Decided to buy 4x4 but found manufacturers such as Hyundai and Kia reduced noseweights to 80kg when fitted with automatic gearbox.  Eventually bought Landrover Freelander (noseweight limit 150kg) auto which tows beautifully when 'van loaded to noseweight of 90kg, although it's thirsty.  After talking to caravan salesman, I cannot help but feel there is a conspiracy of silence about noseweights because the implications for car suitability are potentially damaging for caravan sales.

I wouldn't see the need to add ballast at the rear to reduce the noseweight to an acceptable level to be quite as critical as in the response above, although I do agree that it should be avoided if at all possible. In other words, changing towcar for that reason alone is perhaps being a bit over-cautious.

However, having said that, the problem of high ex-works noseweights seems to be limited to UK manufacturers. Without spare wheel and gas bottles in the front locker, my (Continental) caravans were almost balanced when they stood at the dealer's, i.e. almost zero noseweight. I suspect that UK manufacturers, in an attempt at reducing overall length, design their caravans with short A-frames. As a result, the whole caravan body structure is moved forward relative to the axle, thus increasing noseweight. For Continental manfacturers, overall length does not appear to be so important and their caravans' centres of gravity are closer to the axle.

Hi, can anyone help before we buy a towcar? Have seen a Ford Mondeo Titanium X 2.0 TDCI 140 and want to match it with a Lunar Ultima with MPTLM of 1345. Outfit matching is saying its 86% which seems ok but its saying noseweight is 105% what does this mean and is it ok? would really appreciate some help asap as we have to decide on this car quickly, thanks Jo