When we purchased our 2013 PleasureWay Excel TS it come equipped with Hankook tires which I was not familiar with. One of my concerns when we purchased the PW was the poor handling. The comments on the forums varied from people who had no problems with handling to those who were having similar concerns as I was and I was honestly beginning to wonder if we had made a mistake buying the PW. Previously I had driven a 2500 HD Silverado Diesel for 7 years (every day) and when RV'ing pulled a 34 foot 5th wheel with it so one of my concerns was how much the "change" in vehicles was impacting on my expectations.
There are all kinds of "add-ons" people are installing on their vehicles to improve the handling but fortunately I was encouraged by another PW owner with an automotive engineering background to avoid them, do the basics and "just drive it".
The basics consisted of replacing the Hankook tires (the tire dealer allowed me $600. trade in against a set of new Michelins. He also recommended using one size larger (265) once he made sure they would clear the fenders when turning. This would give me a slightly larger footprint with more rubber on the road. This change made an immediate improvement. The next thing I did was an alignment using the PW specs (not Fords) and this made a terrific improvement. After he did the alignment the mechanic took the vehicle out for a drive and his comment was it was now driving absolutely straight but he noticed when it went over a crack in the pavement or a pothole he thought there was too strong a reaction which he referred to as "bump steer" and he wondered if it needed some kind of a steering dampener.
I took the vehicle to our local Ford dealer and after much pushing they installed (at my cost) a "steering damper" somewhat like a shock absorber on the steering. This immediately eliminated virtually any of the "bump" jerking effect on the steering even when we drive over a railway crossing.
Subsequently after doing some digging I learned that up to and including 2007 E350's Ford had been installing this steering dampener to correct the bump steer problem.
Bottom line with discussions I had with the retired automotive engineer, tire dealer, the alignment mechanic, PleasureWay Head Office (who are terrific) and tire change, alignment and finally installation of the steering dampener the vehicle handles very well. I would encourage anyone having problems to read, read, research, talk to PleasureWay H.O. (they are great), and avoid any hasty action which unfortunately you can get into if you just immediately react to the suggestions of everyone you talk to (mechanics and other PW/RV owners). This course of action will get you what you need and save you a lot of money and aggravation (well maybe not so much on aggravation).
