diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index 00917ea3..ff5b3d48 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -125,6 +125,11 @@ type Dialer struct {
 	// If Jar is nil, cookies are not sent in requests and ignored
 	// in responses.
 	Jar http.CookieJar
+
+	// MaxErrorBodySize specifies the maximum size of the error response buffer
+	// in the case of a bad hanshake. If zero, a defaut max size buffer of 1024 bytes
+	// is used.
+	MaxErrorBodySize int
 }
 
 // Dial creates a new client connection by calling DialContext with a background context.
@@ -364,9 +369,13 @@ func (d *Dialer) DialContext(ctx context.Context, urlStr string, requestHeader h
 		// Before closing the network connection on return from this
 		// function, slurp up some of the response to aid application
 		// debugging.
-		buf := make([]byte, 1024)
-		n, _ := io.ReadFull(resp.Body, buf)
-		resp.Body = io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(buf[:n]))
+		bufSize := 1024
+		if d.MaxErrorBodySize > 0 {
+			bufSize = d.MaxErrorBodySize
+		}
+		limReader := io.LimitReader(resp.Body, int64(bufSize))
+		buf, _ := io.ReadAll(limReader)
+		resp.Body = io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(buf))
 		return nil, resp, ErrBadHandshake
 	}
 
diff --git a/client_server_test.go b/client_server_test.go
index e4546aea..d00ca0e4 100644
--- a/client_server_test.go
+++ b/client_server_test.go
@@ -575,34 +575,49 @@ func TestHandshake(t *testing.T) {
 func TestRespOnBadHandshake(t *testing.T) {
 	const expectedStatus = http.StatusGone
 	const expectedBody = "This is the response body."
+	const maxErrorResponseSize = 4096
+	tests := []struct {
+		name   string
+		body   []byte
+		lenMax int
+	}{
+		{"SmallerThanLimit", []byte(expectedBody), 1024}, // default value when MaxErrorBodySize is not set
+		{"LargerThanLimit", make([]byte, maxErrorResponseSize+100), maxErrorResponseSize},
+		{"ExactLimit", make([]byte, maxErrorResponseSize), maxErrorResponseSize},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			s := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+				w.WriteHeader(expectedStatus)
+				_, _ = w.Write(tt.body)
+			}))
+			defer s.Close()
+
+			ws, resp, err := cstDialer.Dial(makeWsProto(s.URL), nil)
+			if err == nil {
+				ws.Close()
+				t.Fatalf("Dial: nil")
+			}
 
-	s := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		w.WriteHeader(expectedStatus)
-		_, _ = io.WriteString(w, expectedBody)
-	}))
-	defer s.Close()
-
-	ws, resp, err := cstDialer.Dial(makeWsProto(s.URL), nil)
-	if err == nil {
-		ws.Close()
-		t.Fatalf("Dial: nil")
-	}
+			if resp == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("resp=nil, err=%v", err)
+			}
 
-	if resp == nil {
-		t.Fatalf("resp=nil, err=%v", err)
-	}
+			if resp.StatusCode != expectedStatus {
+				t.Errorf("resp.StatusCode=%d, want %d", resp.StatusCode, expectedStatus)
+			}
 
-	if resp.StatusCode != expectedStatus {
-		t.Errorf("resp.StatusCode=%d, want %d", resp.StatusCode, expectedStatus)
-	}
+			p, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("ReadFull(resp.Body) returned error %v", err)
+			}
 
-	p, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("ReadFull(resp.Body) returned error %v", err)
-	}
+			if len(p) > tt.lenMax {
+				t.Fatalf("body size=%d, want <= %d", len(p), tt.lenMax)
+			}
+		})
 
-	if string(p) != expectedBody {
-		t.Errorf("resp.Body=%s, want %s", p, expectedBody)
 	}
 }