driving in the wind
 

I took a drive from North of Buffalo NY to Erie PA and return yesterday alone the NYS Thruway(I-90) which runs next to Lake Erie. My odometer turned 1000 miles yesterday on this trip, so my experince driveing the HHR is limited, but I gave well over a million miles in driving experince. The wind blew me all over the road, it was hard to keep a track in the lane. Is this common? If it is, its going to be a scarey winter here. Are there suspension upgrades available for the LS that would help with this? I do alot of driving which is why I traded for the HHR. Thoughts or comments?? Thanks, Rick

I live in CT and we have days that can be pretty windy. I have driven in a area with probably 10 different vehicles rangings from.....

Hyundai Accent '00
Chevrolet Camaro'01
Pontiac Trans Am '02
Dodge Ram 1500 '06
Buick Century '00
Chevrolet HHR '07
Ford Fusion '06
Ford Explorer '02
Acura Integra GSR '95

On this particular stretch of freeway, it heads into a valley and there are times where the wind really pushes you. On all the above listed cars I did notice the wind, when it was especially windy days.

The HHR on a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being the least noticable and 10 being very noticable I would call the HHR a 6. Where most of the other cars were 4's and 5's. The truck and explorer were probably around a 6, MAYBE 7. But with the weight it helped stabilized them

I don't find the 2LT suspension to be anywhere near that bad, but my last two rides were full size vans........ The HHR is a high profile vehicle so there will always be some of this but sway bars and some shock/strut/spring upgrades will make it better.

Wind
 

the same guidlines apply, no matter what the vehicle. the larger the tire you can stuff under it (and a good set of shocks), the better it will be behave. I can report that our 2010 HHR SS is very well planted at 100, even in moderate wind on the NY Thruway. if the road is heavily rutted like our Route 84, it plays havoc with the ride even at 60 on a windless day. ironically, my crew cab dually goes right down that road, because the dual rear wheels fit nicely into the tractor trailer ruts.

Adding rear Cobalt SS springs will level it & lower the center of gravity, it helps...

It's the same as driving a van, more side panel for the wind to catch on...

Not quite the same as a van, but almost....... Vans are much worse.... or the HHR is much better...... (with the better suspension, that is..... 2LT or better) I imagine the LS would be more of a handful.

No, I know it's not as bad as a van... I was just comparing it as the effect is the same. More side means more room for the wind to hit. Of course a van is bigger, means even more side for the wind to catch. And then there's semis!

Odd, I have an SS and drive in windy conditions frequently, especially lately of 30-40 mph (60+ gusts) on the side of the car. It moves, but is better then most cars I have had in the past. All my cars have been smaller cars except for a 74 Chevelle.

As others noted, if you modified the suspension that would most likely solve the problem