Rear suspension height not level

[White Lightning]

He could be the first VR-Nascar Or maybe he's got a fat person on the nearside hiding somewhere in the car?

On the same note, at least the car is probably level when I'm driving

Thanks for the replies though guys. I am going to have to try and sort this out once Christmas is out of the way.

[SGHOM]

Check the front suspension Wayne.
I had this problem & it turned out to be the front N/S strut bolt loose. the strut had dropped slightly & was not located in the 'peg' . worth a try ?? 2 minute fix !

[The Vee]

TBH honest, think it may be just worn springs. We noticed this when it was having it's engine replaced and the front suspension (lower half) was in bits. Certainly the horseshoe - strut mounting bolts are fine on it. Easy check though, just look to see that the same amount of strut protrudes through the clamp at the top of the horseshoe (the bit that goes from the strut, then either side of the drive shaft and fixes to the lower arm). The clamp bolt is at the rear of the strut as you face it from the wheelarch and is a 17mm, or is it 19 - can't remember!! It's unlikely to move as the bolt actually locks it in place by going through a small slot in the strut. It can happen if a wrong diameter bolt is fitted ie too thin or it snaps and falls out - extremely unlikely.

[Spirit]

Don't forget I have some original springs in the garage if you want 'em Wayne

[White Lightning]

Thanks guys

I will check the bolts when it's not too cold and dark ... and Pete, thanks I will bear that in mind about the standard springs. I seem to recall that people don't recommend just fitting lowered springs on these and that really if you are going to change the suspension you should do the whole lot i.e. shocks and springs ?!?!

[The Vee]

Just had a thought! Is it actually any worse than when I last saw the car? Or is it just that the original prob needs sorting. Was the NSF leg taken out when you had the top mount done? As for complete upgrades of suspension, then complete assemblies are always going to be better, but depending on the amount of drop, then original shocks may be satisfactory if in good order.

[White Lightning]

Just had a thought! Is it actually any worse than when I last saw the car? Or is it just that the original prob needs sorting. Was the NSF leg taken out when you had the top mount done? As for complete upgrades of suspension, then complete assemblies are always going to be better, but depending on the amount of drop, then original shocks may be satisfactory if in good order.

Difficult to say but I think this is still the original problem. The suspension did seem to be all over the place when I first got it back but I put that down to the fact that the car was up on the stands for so long and would take time to settle again. I thought it had sorted itself out but obviously I was wrong.

I don't believe they actually touched the NSF leg when they did the top mount in the end.

[White Lightning]

Well this is turning into an ongoing Saga...

Andy and I replaced all of the springs on Saturday with Pete's original post-facelift springs. Interestingly, the post-facelift springs were slightly longer and now as a result the car sits a little higher. Anyway, more importantly, the car is still listing over ... not a lot but enough to bother me.

I've got the measurements at home but basically when parking the car one way in the garage the offside is 8mm higher at the front and rear. And when parking 'tother way it's 5mm higher on the offside at the front and 2mm higher at the offside on the rear. You can also notice the difference when doing the finger test between the tyre and the wheelarch - although the difference is more noticeable on the rear ...

All of my shocks looked to be a reasonable order - not that they affect ride height anyway. We confirmed that they are all Mitsubishi KYB shocks (and also noticed that Pete's old post facelift shocks had different part numbers - but we didn't fit those anyway).

[Nutter_John]

Wayne , maybe have a chat with Rally or Red , I'm sure they will have a car jig which could be used to see if the chassis is twisted ( I pray it is not )

Good luck with your quest

[White Lightning]

Well John, that is where we will have to start looking next if we are going to get to the bottom of this. Andy and I still think it's a problem at the rear as it was noticeable that is was a lot harder to get the nearside rear leg back in compared with the offside rear leg i.e. the amount we had to push down the hub to get the assembly back in place ...

Car seems to handle fine though and no over sensitive AYC nowadays (since having the correct tyre pressures!) so 'tis really strange ... also we can't see any evidence of accident damage but the rear end has been repainted, I was told about this when I bought the car off Mike but that was apparently due to the fact it got damaged (scrape'd) during shipping ...

[ralliart-type-s]

Could the problem be down to rubber bushes being worn?? new arms or poly bushes will fix it i think u'll find.

[White Lightning]

This is still ongoing ...

Took the car into AP for them to have a look a few weeks ago and Kev said that the rear anti-roll bar was bent. So, this week I collected a new anti roll bar from Mitsi and today set about sorting out the problem. When I looked at the new anti roll bar it seemed to be bent the same as the one on the car. So before I considered fitting the new one I removed the rear drop links and the anti roll bar and took the car for the spin to see if it levelled up.

And ... no ... the car is still "on the p*ss" and is sitting too low at the passenger rear side.

I also put the new and old ARBs next to each other and they are exactly the same.

The bushes were not in great condition so I will fit the new bushes when I refit the old ARB tomorrow. I just hope that Mitsi will give me a refund on the unused new ARB.

So, back to square 1 again ...

Anyone got any other ideas what on the rear suspension setup could be affecting ride height ...

[Spirit]

Ohhh arse mate...........

[horndog]

Bit of a blast from the past - Did you come to a conclusion on this?

Whan cleaning the car today I noticed that my back end looked a bit off, parking on level ground it looks as though my rear passenger side is 12mm lower than my drivers side. ( front end is within 3mm )
Tyre pressures are all 32psi, tyres are all new with less than 300miles on them
I recently Tw**ted a kerb and broke my rear hub carrier, Replaced it, the rear wheel bearing and the wheel and had a 4 wheel allignment, and was wondering if anything else may be bent? any tips before I start randomly replacing all my rear suspension bits

Cheers
Marc

[Humpty's Revenge]

Marc has your car got coilovers?

[horndog]

No its Tein-S lowering springs & Bilstein shocks ( front and rear )

[Humpty's Revenge]

No its Tein-S lowering springs & Bilstein shocks ( front and rear )

AH throws that theory out the window.

[Nick Mann]

How certain are you the ground is level? I'd find ground elsewhere and recheck. Several different spaces in a multi-storey car park for example, as they tend to be flat and level.

[horndog]

Its a new car park area, I parked front in then span the car 180 and rechecked, error was near enough the same (as far as I could measure with a tape)

I will try a different area tomorrow and recheck

[horndog]

I took my spirit level with me this morning the carpark is flat left to right, (it slopes slightly front to back - approx 3deg)
I rechecked the heights and rear Passenger is 14mm lower than rear driver,
on the front it is the opposite way round front passenger 4mm higher than front driver