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Suspension Sag
1997 328is w/ sport pckge
Passenger side rear of the car sags more than 1/2" lower than the drivers side. I thought maybe it was just my imagination, until I measured from the ground to the top of the wheel well on both sides. Passenger side was almost 3/4" lower than drivers. Is this a bad shock mount, bad shock, spring hat, or bad spring, or something completely different? What kinda cost am I looking at?
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Every Boy Becomes A Man. A Fortunate Few Reverse The Process. 97 328is Black on Black 5 speed Sport Package, Short Arm Intake with ABS Molded Heat Shield, Custom Mounted Front Strut Bar, Elevated Clutch Stop, Polished Aluminum Roundel Shifter, AC Schnitzer Aluminum Pedal Set, Chrome Instrument Cluster Rings & Carbon Fiber Bezel, Crystal Clear Corners, OEM Clear Tail & Side Lights, Scalloped Headlight Trim, Custom 'is' Grill Badge, Alpine C43 Stereo Upgrade, Front Bumper Filler Last edited by supertack; 04-25-2007 at 05:04 AM.. |
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04-25-2007, 03:36 AM
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aftermarket swaybars? spring pad missing or misaligned spring?
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HPDE Instructor (BMW / PCA / Apex) Here: 1997 M3/4 Byzanz/Magma ~ 2006 Yamaha R6 ~ 1997 R1100RT ~ 1991 Ford F-150 5.8l ~ 2015 Kia Optima Gone: 2001 330i Silver/Grey ~ 98 Camry V6 ~ 97 Camry I4 ~ 97 Mazda 626 I4 ~ 93 Sentra SE-R ~ 88 Toyota Truck I4 |
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04-25-2007, 05:48 AM
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No swaybars, everything is stock & original. The sport package lowers the suspension a bit, but I'm not sure if that entails anything extra under there.
I've read in a few forums that BMW has the driver side sit higher to account for the added weight when the driver gets in, but I tend to think thats bunk. The thing is, I'm very aware of how my car looks at any given moment, & I've never noticed this difference before. All of a sudden I looked at the car from the rear, & the passenger side looked lower. I measured, & sure enough. Whats up?
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Every Boy Becomes A Man. A Fortunate Few Reverse The Process. 97 328is Black on Black 5 speed Sport Package, Short Arm Intake with ABS Molded Heat Shield, Custom Mounted Front Strut Bar, Elevated Clutch Stop, Polished Aluminum Roundel Shifter, AC Schnitzer Aluminum Pedal Set, Chrome Instrument Cluster Rings & Carbon Fiber Bezel, Crystal Clear Corners, OEM Clear Tail & Side Lights, Scalloped Headlight Trim, Custom 'is' Grill Badge, Alpine C43 Stereo Upgrade, Front Bumper Filler |
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04-25-2007, 07:01 AM
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Nobody's experienced this, huh?
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Every Boy Becomes A Man. A Fortunate Few Reverse The Process. 97 328is Black on Black 5 speed Sport Package, Short Arm Intake with ABS Molded Heat Shield, Custom Mounted Front Strut Bar, Elevated Clutch Stop, Polished Aluminum Roundel Shifter, AC Schnitzer Aluminum Pedal Set, Chrome Instrument Cluster Rings & Carbon Fiber Bezel, Crystal Clear Corners, OEM Clear Tail & Side Lights, Scalloped Headlight Trim, Custom 'is' Grill Badge, Alpine C43 Stereo Upgrade, Front Bumper Filler |
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04-26-2007, 01:26 PM
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I have but it was due to mismatched sway end link lengths. Took me a year to diag.
Is the shock leaking? How's the RSM. Is the pass. low or the driver high?
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HPDE Instructor (BMW / PCA / Apex) Here: 1997 M3/4 Byzanz/Magma ~ 2006 Yamaha R6 ~ 1997 R1100RT ~ 1991 Ford F-150 5.8l ~ 2015 Kia Optima Gone: 2001 330i Silver/Grey ~ 98 Camry V6 ~ 97 Camry I4 ~ 97 Mazda 626 I4 ~ 93 Sentra SE-R ~ 88 Toyota Truck I4 |
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04-26-2007, 07:07 PM
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I need to jack up the car this weekend & inspect what things look like down there.
I thought about rear shock mounts, but everything I read about that said I should be hearing a kinda thumping sound back there, and it's still very quiet. Thinking about this rationally, It can really only be the shocks/mounts or the springs right? One thing that I'm not sure if is related, I noticed a bit of intermittent wheel squeak at variable speeds. The sound seems to be coming from the front drivers side, which coincidentally is the opposite corner of the sagging suspension. I know it's not the brakes, cause the sound happens when the brakes aren't depressed. It's only intermittent at this point, & doing things like quick little turns back & fourth, or slowing down seem to make it go away. Could the sagging suspension on the rear passenger side be causing something to squeak on the front drivers side. Come on folks, somebody's gotta have some insight on this!
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Every Boy Becomes A Man. A Fortunate Few Reverse The Process. 97 328is Black on Black 5 speed Sport Package, Short Arm Intake with ABS Molded Heat Shield, Custom Mounted Front Strut Bar, Elevated Clutch Stop, Polished Aluminum Roundel Shifter, AC Schnitzer Aluminum Pedal Set, Chrome Instrument Cluster Rings & Carbon Fiber Bezel, Crystal Clear Corners, OEM Clear Tail & Side Lights, Scalloped Headlight Trim, Custom 'is' Grill Badge, Alpine C43 Stereo Upgrade, Front Bumper Filler |
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04-27-2007, 03:25 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 104
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supertack,
Seems to me that the cause would have to be either the springs (or their seats), or the anti-swaybars (less likely). Shocks or shock mounts should not be a cause since they do not support any weight. (Yeah, I know that Bilsteins have a small spring force due to the gas pressure.) Your sig says that you have a "Custom Mounted Front Strut Bar." What is that? Could it be related?
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David Frost Formerly smitten by a 1993 325i Sport with 170K+ miles. Now infatuated with an Audi A3 2.0T DSG. |
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04-27-2007, 07:21 AM
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The front strut bar is just that, a strut bar that has custom made mounting tabs I had fabricated. This should be no cause for a few reasons, first it's in the front & my issue is in the rear. Second, it's really doing nothing to the suspension of the car, only holding the front strut towers stiff. Lastly, I've had it on for 4 years, & this rear suspension issue just recently happened.
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Every Boy Becomes A Man. A Fortunate Few Reverse The Process. 97 328is Black on Black 5 speed Sport Package, Short Arm Intake with ABS Molded Heat Shield, Custom Mounted Front Strut Bar, Elevated Clutch Stop, Polished Aluminum Roundel Shifter, AC Schnitzer Aluminum Pedal Set, Chrome Instrument Cluster Rings & Carbon Fiber Bezel, Crystal Clear Corners, OEM Clear Tail & Side Lights, Scalloped Headlight Trim, Custom 'is' Grill Badge, Alpine C43 Stereo Upgrade, Front Bumper Filler |
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04-28-2007, 07:12 AM
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Jacked up the car today & inspected the underside. I noticed that the shock of the side in question had the upper plastic casing broken & dropped down around the lower part of the shock. Obviously the plastic casing has nothing to do with the sagging; however, I'm thinking some kind of impact may have damaged the shock & thus caused the casing to break. The spring looked pretty normal to the other spring, but the side in question was now more than an inch lower than the other side.
Any help?
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Every Boy Becomes A Man. A Fortunate Few Reverse The Process. 97 328is Black on Black 5 speed Sport Package, Short Arm Intake with ABS Molded Heat Shield, Custom Mounted Front Strut Bar, Elevated Clutch Stop, Polished Aluminum Roundel Shifter, AC Schnitzer Aluminum Pedal Set, Chrome Instrument Cluster Rings & Carbon Fiber Bezel, Crystal Clear Corners, OEM Clear Tail & Side Lights, Scalloped Headlight Trim, Custom 'is' Grill Badge, Alpine C43 Stereo Upgrade, Front Bumper Filler |
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04-28-2007, 06:46 PM
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Just some random thoughts:
First I would measure the distance the spring is compressed to make sure that the body or rather the 'frame' hasn't been been damaged. The shock isn't supposed to support any weight so I wonder if it was removed if the side would sag. That at least would tell you it is the shock. Better yet you could also try swapping the shocks left to right and see if the sag follows. If you bounce the car does it still sag or even out? How old are the RTAB's? I suppose its possible a poorly installed RTAB could put tension on the arm.
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HPDE Instructor (BMW / PCA / Apex) Here: 1997 M3/4 Byzanz/Magma ~ 2006 Yamaha R6 ~ 1997 R1100RT ~ 1991 Ford F-150 5.8l ~ 2015 Kia Optima Gone: 2001 330i Silver/Grey ~ 98 Camry V6 ~ 97 Camry I4 ~ 97 Mazda 626 I4 ~ 93 Sentra SE-R ~ 88 Toyota Truck I4 |
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05-01-2007, 06:36 AM
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1997 BMW 328is M52 In-Line 6
1997 BMW M3 3.2L I6
