Suspension lean/sag, can't figure it out???

[454RAT]

I tighten both till they are snug.

Ive heard that they built these cars to lean so that under load or with passengers it sits/rides even........... not 100% sure of this. But when you think about how all the g-bodys have one rear tire that is closer to the fenderwell on the rear than the other, due to the body being slightly off to one side.......

 

[Brown_Gbody]

I too have experienced this phenomenon. I had a '71 Skylark that sat lower on the d/s. Was told by a frame shop back then that this was common on the GM cars. So, I just learned to live with it.

 

[grizwald]

maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but the front clip of the car looks mis-aligned to the rest of teh car. i mean, comparing the roof line to the top of the header panel, they don't appear to run parallel. i would suspect a twisted frame, bent rad support, or worn bushings. i can't see the suspension causing that issue...but i'm certainly no expert!

 

[Robert1320]

Until you scale the car on a flat surface and get corner weights it all guesses.
Scaling the car will help you define bent, broken or out of adjustment...

 

[KEVINS]

Are the front and rear springs "clocked" properly?
I would do as mentioned above and loosen all the front/rear control arm bolts, put it back on the ground and see if the car levels out. If not then swap the springs side to side and see if things change, doing all this with the bolts loose. It's possible one of the rear springs has sagged or maybe it's the wrong spring.
You can also remove the rear springs and measure their free length to see if one is shorter.

ks

 

[MalibuRacing]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I will check spring clocking. Also, I'm going to take it to a body shop to get them to realign the front fender and check the frame. If they don't find anything, I'm going to find another front end specialist to check my work and everything out.

The main problem is the tire rubbing when hitting a bump even while going straight. Not sure what the backspacing is on the MCSS wheels but they sure do look like they stick out too much to me. The tire is rubbing on the outside edge (near the fenderlip) of the wheelwell. I feel like a wheel with more backspacing would do a better job of centering up the wheel in the wheelwell. Another thing to look into.....

BTW, the tires I have on there now are 215/70/15 front and 245/60/15 rear. Yeah, that's a tall profile on the front tire.

 

[Spaceboy1980]

I would try putting the entire car on jack stands at even heights then measuring from the ground to each spring perch front and rear to see if one is perhaps higher than the other one of the pair. You would have to set the car on it's frame and let the suspension droop. If that doesn't reveal the issue perhaps measure the amount of suspension travel each side has at full droop and ride height. That should at least isolate it to frame or suspension.

 

[Tony_SS]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I will check spring clocking. Also, I'm going to take it to a body shop to get them to realign the front fender and check the frame. If they don't find anything, I'm going to find another front end specialist to check my work and everything out.

The main problem is the tire rubbing when hitting a bump even while going straight. Not sure what the backspacing is on the MCSS wheels but they sure do look like they stick out too much to me. The tire is rubbing on the outside edge (near the fenderlip) of the wheelwell. I feel like a wheel with more backspacing would do a better job of centering up the wheel in the wheelwell. Another thing to look into.....

BTW, the tires I have on there now are 215/70/15 front and 245/60/15 rear. Yeah, that's a tall profile on the front tire.

Your front tires are almost 3/8" taller than your rears.

Why is that front end on there again? Could it have been in a bad accident and bent the frame?

I would look at an Alstar shim for the front spring:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=all+star+shim&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=GZT&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&prmd=ivns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1454&bih=837&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=12184145713909753036&sa=X&ei=0kLJTcKZKYOI0QHPmpnYBw&ved=0CGcQ8wIwAg#

And a rear spacer to try and bring up the driver side of the car.

It sounds like a frame issue, but at this point you should be able to shim the suspension to level it out then get a proper front end alignment.

 

[MalibuRacing]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I will check spring clocking. Also, I'm going to take it to a body shop to get them to realign the front fender and check the frame. If they don't find anything, I'm going to find another front end specialist to check my work and everything out.

The main problem is the tire rubbing when hitting a bump even while going straight. Not sure what the backspacing is on the MCSS wheels but they sure do look like they stick out too much to me. The tire is rubbing on the outside edge (near the fenderlip) of the wheelwell. I feel like a wheel with more backspacing would do a better job of centering up the wheel in the wheelwell. Another thing to look into.....

BTW, the tires I have on there now are 215/70/15 front and 245/60/15 rear. Yeah, that's a tall profile on the front tire.

Your front tires are almost 3/8" taller than your rears.

Why is that front end on there again? Could it have been in a bad accident and bent the frame?

I would look at an Alstar shim for the front spring:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=all+star+shim&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=GZT&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&prmd=ivns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1454&bih=837&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=12184145713909753036&sa=X&ei=0kLJTcKZKYOI0QHPmpnYBw&ved=0CGcQ8wIwAg#

And a rear spacer to try and bring up the driver side of the car.

It sounds like a frame issue, but at this point you should be able to shim the suspension to level it out then get a proper front end alignment.

You're right Tony, that could be the reason the 82-up clip is on there. It may have taken a hit on the front at some time in the past and they replaced the front clip with the later model version. I'm going to take it to body/frame shop to have it checked out. I can't see any visible damage, but who knows?? I'll see what the findings are and go from there. You're also right on the tires. According to my calculations, the front tires are 26.9" and the rears are 26.6".

 

[Phoneguy]

If it makes you feel better my car is an 1/2" higher on the drivers side after I changed springs. It was lower on the drivers side before the swap. But I was measuring a bunch today. Come to find out the core support bushings on the drivers side is about a 1/4" taller than the passenger side, so there's a good chance that that could be were most of the 1/2" is coming from.