Tire Stiffness & trailer swaying - resolution

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
The most interesting thing to me about Chris's experience is fixing a
trailering problem by changing the tires on the tow vehicle, something
I don't recall hearing about before. Each of the changes he made...

So, sounds like they went for the 'bottom line' on the tires.
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Eric Greenwell
Richland, WA (USA)

Eric.
I think the critical change was the lowering of the hitch point.
I have a Chevy Tahoe with Geolanders on it. I play with sports cars
a bunch and I can't believe how good these tires were at the limit.
When I changed the brakes a bit ago you could clearly see where
I was on the bump stops from cornering. I was suprised to see that much
body roll indicated when the feedback in the seat was so secure.

Besides that, tires usually are reactive to forces, not force generators.
In order for an oscillation to be established, the tires must be excited by
something. A high hitch raises a trailer CG ans contributes mightily to
swaying back and forth. Stiffer tires would be more difficult to excite,
but
they are masking the force, not curing its existance.

Scott Correa