[jgustafson]

I have a pro-kit on my SVT and my left rear corner sits lower than my right rear. The kit has been on the car for 20k. Is this the shock, or the spring? Thanks

Bumping this to the top, replaced shocks still making a scraping noise. coils getting checked on Wed. hopefully. should i start looking at the frame?

ROUND TWO

Took the car into the original shop, they said collapsed spring. Springs were changed, both rears. Full inspection was done. They also showed me that the frame test after the accident showed no problem signs.

I take it back and have two people in the car on Sat. night, problem is still there.

ROUND THREE: Advice needed

I call the shop today and they are completely confused, they have no clue what to check next. They propose that they roll my left quarter panel, but I don't believe this is the right way to fix the problem. The car still visibly sits lower on the driver side rear.

The reason i keep going back is they are doing most of the work at a severely discounted rate. Also Farmer's will not cover any work, they say it is too long after the accident.

What could possibly be wrong?

 

[nov173]

That would be the spring. When it was installed was the suspension torqued down with the weight of the car on the suspension or in the air? That could do it.

 

[nov173]

also is your spring fractured?

 

[jgustafson]

Hope not, I'm going to go have it looked at then, luckily these have a warrenty on them. this is crap lol Thanks for the help though

 

[rnap_83]

Just to add a second opinion, I agree. I think it would be the spring as well. Has it been like this since they installed them or just recently? How much difference in sag is there from one side to the other?

 

[jgustafson]

Just recently, I would say maybe a half in. in the difference in sag.

 

[Geezer]

As nov173 stated springs normally control the ultimate ride height. Eibach has pretty good quality control so I'm going to rule out a difference in spring height or spring rate....but you never really know. A couple of other things to look at: Are both springs seated exactly where they should be and are the isolators (the rubber disc the spring is seated in) on straight and not binding (on the higher side of the car). Usually its the high side where installation problems are found.

That said the problems could lie elsewhere like a bent control arm or a tweaked chassis (out of alignment (body work) as a result of car accident in the past).

 

[jgustafson]

Everything besides the car accident I'm gonna check out. The car was never in a rear impact, i did hit a guardrail in the front, but would that tweak the rear?

 

[rnap_83]

Because of it happening just recently it sounds like the spring may be broken, fractured, or out of the correct place. I would check into those options first, see what the spring looks like and how it is sitting. If everything looks good. to rule out if it is a difference in spring rates, swap both rear springs and see if the car sags the other way.

 

[Geezer]

Everything besides the car accident I'm gonna check out. The car was never in a rear impact, i did hit a guardrail in the front, but would that tweak the rear?

Depending on how bad, yes it could. Did it have to go on the rack to pull it back within spec (spec is some cases can be several tenths of an inch) or just some panel replacement? Your car has a uni-body and bending one corner of the chassis up or down can have the opposite affect to some other location because of the way everything is tied together but, clearly, not to the same degree as the original damage. The chassis has to be pulled and stretched back into shape and rarely do they get it perfect.

For example, say you take what was a perfectly flat and straight metal bar. You bend it in several places for the heck of it. You then place it on an anvil and try to hammer back into shape. Rarely will you ever be able to remove all the sags and humps. You can get it close but not perfect. Now if that bar is now considered the chassis of the car and a suspension pick-up point is on one of those sags or humps you can get a pretty good idea that it could affect the static height at one or more locations. And the result is that sometimes its more visible than we would like.

 

[jgustafson]

they never had to put it on the rack, just panel replacement. Is there a way to check if the frame is whacked?

 

[Geezer]

they never had to put it on the rack, just panel replacement. Is there a way to check if the frame is whacked?

Yes there is but I'm not sure its worth it. Body shops use laser alignment racks (which aren't cheap) and I'm sure they'd charge you a set up fee (sorry i have no idea what it might be) to check it out. Its not like a simple front end alignment rack and there's all kinds of physical measurements at exact locations that have to be made as well. I'm guessing they would have checked that depending on the amount of damage. Body shop people pretty much know when a car has to go on the rack by simply looking at the amount of damage and where it occurred.

 

[jgustafson]

Sounds good, I'm going to get that spring checked out ASAP

 

[jgustafson]

Bump to the top, more info added to first post.

 

[age]

my neighbour recently put in new suspension and the back right was a few cm lower. he took it back to the shop and the people said that the spring height has a pretty loose tolerance from the factory so he probably got one of shorter ones. they replaced it for him and now its better but still not perfect.

 

[03OrangeSVT]

Its very common for the drivers side of a car to sit a little lower than the passengers side, it all has to due with wear... the drivers side everything tends to waer a tad faster than the rest of the car since it ALWAYS has extra weight on it.

 

[jgustafson]

bump info added to first post. Please help I'm at wits end!