What contributes to chassis ride height?

[s2driveruk]

Just a thought on this I had the other night which i need to check out, are H&R springs the same for aircon and non-a/c'd cars? Mine is low on the drivers side front which is the side with the most weight I guess from the engine itself but also the bits of aircon too.

Hopefully now the car is off the road i will discover something obvious but you never know....

[Animal Mother]

I would say that if you fill all fluids to max, oil, water, fuel ets and have tha standars spare in the rear the car would sit right. Not enough fuel in the tank would cause the front to dip down on one of the corners.

[Flat on my back]

Didn't think any standard or custom spring took into account weight differences between L and R. You'll need adjustable platforms or get your car corner weighed and fit the appropriate spring for the driving condition in each corner. Or just forget it cos the cars weight will change that much with people, luggage and fuel that it'll always be abit off.

If the cars got ac there probably is a spring option for with and without.

Stop being soooooooooo picky

Did i say this ealier.

[s2driveruk]

I would say that if you fill all fluids to max, oil, water, fuel ets and have tha standars spare in the rear the car would sit right. Not enough fuel in the tank would cause the front to dip down on one of the corners.

Thats a good point actually the 20+kgs of spare tyre has been removed....

[s2driveruk]

Didn't think any standard or custom spring took into account weight differences between L and R. You'll need adjustable platforms or get your car corner weighed and fit the appropriate spring for the driving condition in each corner. Or just forget it cos the cars weight will change that much with people, luggage and fuel that it'll always be abit off.

If the cars got ac there probably is a spring option for with and without.

Stop being soooooooooo picky

Did i say this ealier.

well originally i didn't give a toss but i keep noticing when its parked up you can tell its down on one side more than the other.

[pixsaudisex2]

so does this mean the front of too as well one side down should mean the front goes up a bit too. surely,

[Keeper of The Kitten]

Also, be careful not to confuse differences in ride height with differences in the wheelarch positioning relative to the wheel.

Sometimes the wheel will appear to "fill" the wheelarch nicely on one side and leave a gap on the other ...which may have nothing to do with actual ride height when measured at a specific reference point...

...and I tend to agree with you David, it's more of an aesthetic annoyance than an issue with function, particularly if the car behaves normally and everything wears evenly.

[s2driveruk]

hmm if i get a sec later I will measure to the top of the arch from the floor to illustrate what I mean...

[Keeper of The Kitten]

That's the point I'm making though ...if one side wheelarch, relative to (for example) the sill line, is lower than the other, the car may still be riding level, but look lower on one side. These are older cars and they didn't use laser guided body panel alignment when they were made.

[s2driveruk]

yeah i understand but it wasnt always this way....used to be normal looking

[Flat on my back]

Try this trick, calculate the required load in FULL beer cans you need to 'adjust' the car height to normal, place inside the vehicle in the correct corner until satisfied.

Now, wait and admire your work for as long as you can knowing that there are full cans of beer in the car getting warm. Empty cans you and some mates can join in and you'll have completly forgotten what the problem was.

Worked for me.

[S2central.net]

like your thinking there - heheh

[Animal Mother]

Maybe springs are knackered due to too much (or not enough) shagging in the back of your S2 down that dodgy little dark carpark you have found!

[s2driveruk]

beer and shagging, I knew I'd overlooked the obvious