I recently did the front upper control arms on my '01 and, despite preloading the suspension (by using a jack under the knuckle to lift it up until the car was lifted off the jackstands) before torquing the bolts and everything, the ride height seems to have increased at the front by 1-2 inches, with the right side riding about half an inch higher than the left (I put them on 300 miles later than the left). I took the car in for an alignment yesterday and despite doing that, the car is also tracking slightly to the left. Any ideas on what could have gone wrong?

For additional context, my old UCA's were completely shot and the bolts were disconnected from the bushings entirely.

 

Does your vehicle have air suspension?

 

Nope, I took it to my mechanic to see if I had screwed something up and he had suggested adjusting the ride height sensors, but as far as I can tell, base models don't have that.

 

The FSM describes confirming the ride height before performing an alignment. However, there is no procedure on how to adjust the ride height on a standard suspension vehicle.

 

Are they cheap Chinese arms? OE parts are a copy of the original part the cheaper parts are a copy of a copy of a copy so sizing and such can be different the best thing to do is to check the old arms against the new ones side by side. The arms changed and changed the ride height so there has to be an issue with them unless something was reassembled incorrectly.

The ride height sensor is on the rear of the camber arms and that is for the auto leveling headlights. There is also one for air suspension I think. I would get a second opinion your mechanic doesn't not sound very competent.

 

Mine seemed this way at first in fall of 24 when I had upper and lower done with OEM, but perhaps it settled in. Now when I look at it on level concrete, it's even.