Tilting Problem

[Superman]

It would seem to me that if a front torsion bar were snapped, then the adjusting bolts would not be pressing tight against the pads. As suggested above, sit on the corners of the car. If a shock were frozen, the suspension would be very stiff on that corner.

[Quicksilver]

My idea of a quick and dirty way to tell if the problem is from or rear is to jack up each side of the car, one side at a time, so it barely lifts both wheels and measure the fender heights at the front and rear. look and see if the front or rear compress more on the bad side. That should tell you which end is having the problem.

BTW, driving really hard without the rear antiroll bar can be entertaining. I always wondered how much the inside front was picking up.


Wayne

[Ruben911]

Wayne, Just some clarifications on the aforementioned procedure. I take it I have to jack up one side of the car until the wheels just clear the floor. How do I measure the fender heigths? is it from the floor to the fender lip, and on the same side of the car that is being jacked up or the opposite side? Also, I take it that what I'm looking for is for one of the heigts to be off from the others. Thanks

[Wil Ferch]

Wait a minute !!!....

Did anyone notice Reuben saying that the rear wheel sits further forward on one side of the car compared to it's companion on the other side ??

--Is the wheelbase the same on both sides?? ----

Wil Ferch ---eek !

[Ruben911]

Wil, I raised the rear of the car and took the wheels off. I found out that one of the alignment bolts (the one closer to the brake caliper) was loose on the rear driver side suspension arm (same side where the sway bar bracket broke). I am not sure if this is the problem but I re-tightened it and compared some of the dimensions against the passenger side rear dimensions. They appear to be close. I will mount the wheels tomorrow ant take her for a spin to see if it makes a difference.

Ruben

[Quicksilver]

Originally posted by Wil Ferch
Wait a minute !!!....

Did anyone notice Reuben saying that the rear wheel sits further forward on one side of the car compared to it's companion on the other side ??

--Is the wheelbase the same on both sides?? ----

Wil Ferch ---eek !

I think that requiring the wheelbase to be identical to the naked eye is a bit anal. How else are you supposed to get the correct quantity of wedge dialed in for all of them there left turns?


Jeeze, that was an important detail. Seriously though. With the adjuster coming loose you HAVE to have the car aligned and corner balanced. You can't eyeball it.


Wayne

[Ruben911]

Here is some additional info after having adjusted and tightened the loose alignment bolt (I adjusted it to be symmetrical with the other side). The problem still persists after having driven the car this morning. Let me know if this points to any potential root cause.

1) When I raised the rear of the car by placing the jack underneath the center of the engine case, the left (driver side) torsion bar cover cleared one of the equally extended jack stands, whereas it required another 1/2 inch of lift to clear the jack stand for the rear driver side torsion bar. The floor is level.

2) When the car is up on the jack stands the driver side suspension is 1/4 inch lower than the passenger side suspension (measured from center of brake disc to upper fender lip.

3) There is oil that has been leaking from the thermostat (I replaced an oil line recently when I added SSIs) and is covering the torsion bar cover with oil. I will be re-tightening this now. Don't know if oil can get in and affect torsion bar.

4) About a month ago I recall changing lanes in a road that was under construction an taking a approximately 3" drop at speed. I did not think it was a big deal then. This may have caused the sway bar bracket to shear and possibly the torsion bar to slip or break.

My next step is to remove the rear torsion bars and inspect. Any other ideas are appreciated.

Thanks

Ruben

[Britwrench]

Why would you need to remove the torsion bars? If they are broken the car will have a severe height difference and the suspension on the affected wheel will be on the bump stop. 1/4" difference is well within Porsche 10mm tolerance. What you need to do is take the car to a good alignment shop. If the rear suspension is misaligned, the steering wheel will not be central. One or so hours of labor at the alignment shop will determine the EXACT problem rather than "looking" for non-existant faults.

[tiorio]

Originally posted by Ruben911
When I raised the rear of the car by placing the jack underneath the center of the engine case, the left (driver side) torsion bar cover cleared one of the equally extended jack stands, whereas it required another 1/2 inch of lift to clear the jack stand for the rear driver side torsion bar. The floor is level.

This is very disconcerting, no? The torsion bar extensions are different heights? Combine this with:

Originally posted by Ruben911
I can tell that it sits about 1/4 inch farther forward on the wheel well than the rear passenger side.

I think it's not a bad idea to take it to an alignment shop as suggested above.

Oil on the torsion bar shouldn't cause any problems, in fact it can help inhibit corrosion. I don't think it's a snapped torsion bar as the car would sit against the stops on that side (or at least EASILY hit the stop on that side). Not much in new ideas but maybe helping to rule out some existing ones?

Good luck!