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Old 07-15-2016, 05:02 PM   #17
TyCreek
Senior Member
 
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Axis 24.2
State: Idaho
Posts: 533
THOR #1944
Opinions plus personal experience without understanding are still just opinions A lot of people fall for and believe snake oil marketing.

Each change we do may help or mask handling issues. Few really "think" about how their vehicle is behaving when they approach their handling issue. If we took the time to understand the characteristics of each handling issue instead of chasing an elixir fix, there would be far less evangelists of their aftermarket purchases.

I'd guess 9 out of 10 alignments purchased are not tuned for a chassis loaded at 90-100% all the time. Being "in spec" doesn't mean good alignment but a good alignment can make the difference between poor and excellent handling.

My advice to better handling is start with the basics and work your way through one fix at a time. Know your numbers! Weight, Tire pressures and alignment specs. Read about and understand these fundamental basics first. Learn the difference between yaw or wag and body roll. They are both commonly referred to as sway and often amplified or even unnecessarily induced by a drivers tendency to see-saw the steering wheel due to feedback from inappropriate chassis tuning.

Elephant in the room ... If for some reason a steering stabilizer with increased dampening was introduced ... remove it for assessing chassis behavior characteristics. However I don't recommend extended driving without the stock steering stabilizer because it will provide protection if you have a front tire blowout. In the end, once the vehicle handles great ... then by all means add your favorite steering stabilizer with increased dampening for the wonderful "fix the driver" isolation they provide. Personally I've tried and don't like center biased stabilizers but I do like driving with more dampening/isolation than what the stock shock provides.

Back to proper alignment ... one factor that very few address or even consider is proper ride height ... Sumo, air bag and different springs are methods to restore proper ride height. A set of tuned springs would likely be a best choice for the long haul. Since any change to ride height will change alignment ... shouldn't this be the first thing addressed by an alignment shop? Since that's not likely, we choose to ignore this factor (knowing or unknowingly) and chase aftermarket sway bars and stabilizers etc...
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Axis 24.2 "was" tug'n a JK
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