CRowe14

So our fellow member enoch861 had mentioned something I considered strange pertaining to his newly purchased LS, referencing a variance in suspension height, particularly in the rear-driver and passenger side.
This is what he had posted in an existing thread:

enoch861
"So I just noticed something interesting today.. My drivers side of the car seems to be lower than the other side. Almost as if one side's suspension is raised or the other side is lowered. I can fit 3 fingers on the left/drivers side and 4 on the passenger/right side. I find it difficult to think that 2 shocks on the same side can go bad at the same time. And no, the car doesn't have air suspension.
Any ideas what could be going on? It's not really noticeable (reason why I didn't catch it until today) but if you really look at it from the back you can see it."

I replied with this:

crowe14
"I found it interesting that you happen to discover, what would also appear to me, a very strange observation, so I decided to go into the garage and see what I could find out on my car. Oddly enough, my front end on each side happen to be the same: three fingers comfortably. The rear passenger side, 3 fingers and rear drivers side, it seems as if the wheel is further out, as I can fit two fingers but the wheels seems to hit my third finger sooner and not as much room for the third (ring finger) to slide in...
What could this be, as I also do not have A/S."

enoch861
"You hit the nail on the head.
I further inspected it today and it does look like the front are just fine although the drivers side might be a bit lower although it could be due to the rear being lower. But it's same thing you found on the rear drivers side except in my case the rear drivers side really is lower because if you look at the car from the rear you can clearly see its leaning off to the left. I might have skinnier fingers because on the passenger side I can fit 4 fingers while the drivers side I can only fit 3."

To add additional information to these findings, I personally don't seem to suffer any comfort loss due to this phenomena. Just a strange finding...
As stated, neither one of us have A/S

Any guesses/feedback/opinions??

As always, thanks CL family.

tbilisi79

If the car has never been in an accident, I'd look at worn out suspension bushings, after that springs, look for leaks around struts.

Devh

I have actually corner balanced two cars in the past. A lot of the variation is due to the unevenness of the surface that cannot be perceived by looking at it.. Unless it's grossly exaggerated plus or minus one finger is well within the margin of error. Until you can get a car on a four wheel rack that is calibrated to be true you will not know that the car is out of balance.
If the car drives fine turning the wheel left and right along with even tire wear (camber) I wouldn't worry about it. If the car has an stability issue to the point where it feels uncertain then it's time for a thorough inspection of all four corners.

enoch861

I just find it peculiar they'd only go bad on one side and not the other. I'm thinking it's the springs because the drop is pretty low but I'm still puzzled as to how one side of the car is like that. If suspension bushings were going, typically they're audible with some weird noises. But suspension is pretty quiet other than a slight thud on slow speeds when you go over a speedbump. But that noise is coming from the rear passenger side. The struts all look dry, so no leaking but I'll have to double check.

Originally I thought it was the surface that was uneven but my garage is pretty flat. So everywhere I've driven I've checked and the story is the same. I've even parked on uneven ground with the passenger side being lower but you can tell right away that drivers side is still sitting lower as if the car is lowered. On the plus side, it seems to drive just fine. I'll get some pictures posted so you guys can see the difference.

Devh

No garage is flat, it only appears to be flat. A slight variation that you cannot see that is spread out over a distance is enough of a variation. One finger is well within the margin of error. Even on a absolute flat surface you cannot expect all four corners to remain exactly perfect as springs do not all settle exactly the same between each other.
If a car is out of corner balance you would certainly know when you feel a vast difference between left and right turning.
.

enoch861

Just popped outside quick (I'm at work) and took some pictures. Hopefully you can see the discrepancy although they're not really good pictures. Sorry the car is kind of dirty, it's been raining the last few days so no time/need to wash.
Right (passenger side):








Left (Drivers side):






Rear (Not really as noticeable in this case. I'll have to take one when I get home):

Devh

That surface is way too irregular.

What you need to do is find a level surface then measure the top of the fender opening (highest point ) using a measuring tape to the center of the hub. Do not measure to the top of the tire.

enoch861

Yep, surface is way too irregular but you can still see it. I was just trying to give people an idea of how low it is. It's exactly the same on completely level ground, which my garage is. I haven't done any measurements but it looks like it's about an inch lower than the other side. When I get home tonight I'll grab a tape measure and actually measure it to give some hard numbers.

Luxofreak

After you park the car on a flat surface, leave it neutral (put something in front/back of the tires so the car won't roll) and measure again. When the car is in put in Park quickly, the rear end will squat because the brakes are electric/automatic. It's not much, but enough to make a difference. If measurements in Neutral are the same as in Park, and there is a difference between sides, either the previous owner was heavy, or the car was in some accident, or it just needs some adjustment.

enoch861

So I finally took some measurements today. These measurements are from the center of the wheel hub to the bottom of the fender:
Drivers Front: 15.5"
Drivers Rear: 15.3"
Passenger Front: 16.1" (give or take .1)
Passenger Rear: 16.1" (give or take .1)

I doubt the previous owner was heavy otherwise I'm pretty sure the seat would also have some issues haha
It's possible it was in a car accident.. No real way for me to tell. Although I'd say it was put back together immaculately in that case other than the suspension.
What kind of adjustment would it possibly need? I don't think the control arms or suspension is adjustable in these cars?

enoch861

Here's another picture from my garage that clearly shows the drop:
The garage is pretty much level.

CRowe14

Wow!
That is quite a dip.
I'll have to do some of my own measurement's when I get home today.
Tbilis, Devh and Luxo, thanks a lot for your feedback.
Im inclined to go with Devh's theory, as my differences (though I have yet to acutally measure anything) are different, they're not drastic, and as stated, I don't feel any ill effect from how it drives.
Luxofreak made what I thought to be a fantastic point regarding how the rear end seems to drop once its in park. enoch, did you measure when the car was in Neutral?

enoch861

Yeah, it's the quite the dip although it's not really noticeable when driving.. but I don't have another SWB LS around me that I can compare with. There is a LWB with air but those two aren't example comparable.

The car was in park when I took the measurements. I'll take some more measurements tonight when I get home with the car in neutral to see if that makes any sort of difference. I wouldn't think it would make any difference but we'll see.

Devh

Try one more thing if you could. Sit in the passenger front and rear, then take another reading.

enoch861

I'll definitely do that once I figure out how to clone myself