I have a 2019 volvo xc60 PHEV, love the car. This year we bought a boat, before purchase I looked up the weight of the boat, but didn’t get the correct numbers for the boat on trailer and with fuel. Ended up towing approx 150-200 miles with about 500lbs more weight than the 3500lbs it is rated for.
On my last oil change the alignment check showed a bit of excessive “total toe” and the rear wheels now have a camber of -.3 degrees, the camber is slightly more than a check that was done 10k miles ago, but the total toe is quite a bit more.
Is this potentially caused by towing too much weight? Trying to decide between keeping the Volvo and getting a pickup for towing, or getting another suv that can tow the 4000lbs of boat.
thank you!
500 pounds over won’t have damaged anything on your vehicle. But it’s not a good idea to keep doing it long term, insurance may deny a claim if anything happens.
4000 pounds of boat is very doable with many SUV’s, for example to new bmw x5’s are rated for 7200 pounds. Even X3’s are rated for 4400 pounds. Audi Q5 is rated for 4400 too.
What’s the total mileage on the vehicle?
How many alignment checks since new, at what intervals? (Every LOF?)
It’s a 2019 with about 45k on there. I’ve had it since 15k and it’s been checked at least twice.
Call it “five” years now, and that’s only like 9K/year. So, on the regular alignment check schedule, it would be a full year, before you would get another check.
If you get an LOF/alignment at six months, twice this year, you would have three data points/inspections for the current age of the vehicle.
If because of age, not miles, the “rubbers” are starting to wear out, that information helps inform the decision of if you might be looking to move on to another vehicle, sooner or later. Like 2% at most of the miles have the trailer on it. Sure, additional weight/stress will exacerbate wear. But, at about five years is when you have to start doing some preventative “repair/replacement”, just for maintenance, to keep the vehicle operating at it’s best.
Have you replaced the battery yet? Are they still the OEM tires? Average miles for a five year old vehicle would be about 65-70K, so what is the recommended maintenance for that “mileage”, given the age? Do you live in a slat corrosion/rust environment?