Something jacked up with my suspension?

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Background...

When I first bought my SC, the tires were badly bald and one had a significant leak that kept it from holding air pressure. First order of business was new tires.

After I jacked the car to change the tires I noticed the car had a lilt to the passenger side. I wasn't sure if it was there before I started. No biggee because I was going to get an alignment and lowered to Euro height. Got that done. Everything was fine.

Now the problem...

Today I jacked the car to add 21mm spacers to the rears. The dang lilt to the passenger side is back!

What is going on? I'm not a suspension guru so type slowly.

djcdmv · djcdmv's Garage

If it is anything like mine, it will return to normal after a few hours or a short drive.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Ok... I'll wait it out. Can't drive it yet because I'm doing some other work. The lilt stayed last time until I had it lowered.

DohertyCM · DohertyCM's Garage

After you jack it, the suspension has to settle back to the adjusted spot. Drive it around the block then check again.

Oh Haha · 08-24-2012, 02:08 PM

Depending on how much you weigh, the car may sit level when you are in the driver's seat. A proper corner balance sometimes will not look right but make the car handle like it should.

I believe that you had this done when you had lowered, right?

My SC sits about 1/8" lower on the PS.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

I just measured from the ground to the the lip of the wheel well. Left side is 3/4" higher than the right.

Oh Haha · 08-24-2012, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tirwin

I just measured from the ground to the the lip of the wheel well. Left side is 3/4" higher than the right.

That's quite a bit.

How much do you weigh?

Either have a helper measure whilst you sit in the driver's seat or load your weight with items and do it yourself.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

215. It definitely looks off visually. It doesn't even look as low as it used to. I think I responded to a thread with my ride height once (post-lowering). Lemme see if I can dig it up and see if it's changed much.

When I had it aligned and lowered I don't think it was corner-balanced.

Flieger · Flieger's Garage

Stand on the doorsill and make like you are jumping up and down but don't actually jump. This will get the suspension to settle. Tire scrub and stiction in the suspension links/pivots causes this.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Dug up the old thread. See post #31.

Ride Height - How low is too low?

So it's about 1-1/8" higher on the driver side than it used to be.

After I drive it a bit I'll see if it levels out and report back. Guess that means I need to finish putting the car back together, huh? Seats would be helpful if I'm going to take it for a spin.

Assuming for argument's sake that it doesn't work itself out, isn't this something that should be fixed?

On a positive note the spacers finally make the rear tires look right.

Would the addition of the spacers possibly be the reason for the change in ride height? In my simple mind it seems like a wider stance would tend to make it have more negative camber.

mnez · 08-24-2012, 06:24 PM

After you have jacked it up and let it back down the body height will always be off, often significantly. This is normal. It's because the tires can't slip outwards against the floor, so the suspension binds up. That is why alignment racks have sliding plates under the wheels. Watch next time you jack it up from it's normal height, you will see the tires drag in at the bottom.

You can't make any conclusions on ride height until you've driven it around the block, parked in the same place, and made sure the tire pressures are the same as when you last measured.

Don't panic, I'm sure it will be fine after you've driven it.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnez

After you have jacked it up and let it back down the body height will always be off, often significantly. This is normal. It's because the tires can't slip outwards against the floor, so the suspension binds up. That is why alignment racks have sliding plates under the wheels. Watch next time you jack it up from it's normal height, you will see the tires drag in at the bottom.

You can't make any conclusions on ride height until you've driven it around the block, parked in the same place, and made sure the tire pressures are the same as when you last measured.

Don't panic, I'm sure it will be fine after you've driven it.

That makes sense. I am very careful to watch how much the floor jacks wants to move under the jack plate. I can see how if someone wasn't paying attention it could slide right off. I use a block of wood to give the floor jack something to bite into.

Maybe this will give me a good excuse to finish the other work.

It's been far, far too long since I've had her out on the road.

Too bad though. I was kinda hoping someone would say something like "that's a real problem right there. You better get on the phone with Rebel Racing and upgrade your suspension."

Not that I could do that right now. I'm gonna drive the heck out of the car before I get sidelined with my next project.

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

It's the peculiarities of the independent suspension....if you had a tube axle it wouldn't do that.

DohertyCM · DohertyCM's Garage

As I said go drive it around the block then measure....