for the last month i have been travelling from bristol to plymouth daily in my masterace surf 2.0l petrol auto and have noticed the wind. this has been strong enough to make the auto kickdown when head on and the van to swerve about quite badly. the van has the TEMS set up and this always stays in soft unless braking or on a roundabout. Is there any way to set this to hard to help with the crosswind swerving and is the engine under powered enough for wind to make it kick down.
any ideas welcome - (#2324) jim, 23 Feb 02

Jim, I have the same feeling about my masterace surf.
I to have travelled up and down the M5 of late and on return from London last week, the wind was then head on I too had a hard time keeping the vehicle in lane.
I have looked at all the supsension bushes etc and all are OK.
Is this a common problem with Aces or just masteraces?
comments anybody? - (#2338) Barry T, 24 Feb 02

Likewise! I should think most of us have noticed that the Townie is about as aerodynamic as a garden shed!
I travel across the Severn Bridge every day. These past few weeks has been very entertaining. Not everywhere you can get a free white knuckle ride!
I think it's just something you get used to. If I find that my gearbox is hunting up & down because of the high headwind, then I just leave the overdrive off until it can handle it again. - (#2349) phil Jones, 25 Feb 02

Yep, mine goes all over the shop as well (2.0TD 2WD). I think it's down to the short wheel base and big overhangs. My taxi doesn't suffer, being about 2 tons with LWB and big wheels. That won't do much over 50 however so maybe I just don't notice. - (#2353) SteveFE, 25 Feb 02

just a consequence of being in a highish sided vehicle that is compact
(you want to try a truck in these winds!) - (#2355) skippy, 25 Feb 02

i to have played on the second severn crossing and find these to be invaluble rules.
1 when crossing from england to wales, if joining from the new m way from avonmouth as you hit the slip road switch off o drive as the wind at the top takes a good 10kph off your speed just as the box changes up.
2. as you pass each of the bridge columns steer a quarter of a turn left just ass you pass them this then takes care of the turbulence you hit.
3. grit your teeth.
on a more serious note does anyone have TEMS fitted and can it be locked in hard. i feel capsise a real danger in crosswinds and i am sure in hard it would be more stable.
my best performance in said winds was when we had 7 adults on board the wind didnt seem to matter so much. - (#2364) jim, 27 Feb 02

Jim
I'm sure if you drove a high-sided truck in the same conditions you might appreciate the Townie's capabilities more. As for TEMS, it is there to electronically measure the correct damping effect (supposedly) so no you can't manually set it. I can't say as I have especially noticed much difference whether it is set to soft or hard.
FWIW
Ian - (#2366) Ian Dunse, 27 Feb 02

I suspect as a Liteace owner I don't have TEMS. The Liteace seems to be of a lower spec than the Townace! But I'm curious to know what is TEMS? How does it work? and what advantage is it to the drive of the vehicle? Can it be fitted to a Liteace? - (#2369) stephen judge, 28 Feb 02

TEMS uses a computer to control adjustable shocks. It senses road spees, steering angle, and braking input, and drives adjustment motors in the dampers to make them firm at high speed.
It would require a lot of work and expense to install - (#2370) david miller, 1 Mar 02

hi steve i have liteace fxv with tems .it seems ok but is a gismo ok till it goes wrong i doubht
if you would know the differece in normal driving
when mine packs up it will normal shockers
they wont take me to cleaners
after all said and done its a van with windows - (#2540) david, 16 Mar 02