rel3rd

My car seemed to look a little lop-sided, so I measured it on what should be level ground here at the shop I work at. FWIW, I've also had people say it looks lower on passenger side rear, which I agreed with.

Ground to fenderwell on passenger side rear is 27-1/2"

Ground to fenderwell on driver's side rear is 28-1/4"

3/4" difference.

Suspension "mods" are minimal.

SLP lower control arms (boxed stockers, non-adjustable)
Spohn adjustable panhard bar (same exact measurement side to side, FWIW)
Stock DeCarbon shocks and struts
Stock springs front & rear
Stock swaybars and end links, front & rear
Stock torque arm
Stock 17x9 10 spoke SS wheels w/275/40/17 GoodYear F1's

Springs are in their "pockets" and I can't "see" anything out of place or anything.

What could make the car lop-sided like this?

rel3rd

Really?

1lowZ-28

just a thought but have you check to see if the rubber isolater is still on top of the rear coil spring. if it came out it would make about that much difference.

rel3rd

Yeah, I checked. I'm baffled. Everything that should be there, is still there.

I thought with my "race" suspension stuff in there, it made it lop-sided somehow, but it's back to stock suspension now, and still crooked...

takeoffeh

My '87 has the same problem. I replaced the rear springs and shocks, and the driver side is almost 1 inch higher than pass side. I think it has to do with the track bar: it kinda pushes on one side of the car, therefor liftinf the driver side. I'm gonna "fix" that quick by taking the upper isolator off the driver side spring and slipping haeter hose over the coil, to sorta compensate. Believe me, it was driving me CrAzY too!
Also, because of the track bar, see if your pass side is alot harder to compress vs driver side.

The_Bishop

That doesn't make any sense at all. The track bar does not 'push' on anything, it merely locates the rear axle from side to side. If one side of your car is harder to compress than th other, then you have something binding.

takeoffeh

Think about it, at least on my car the track bar didn't fall right into place, the car had to be pushed on a good bit, so the bar is installed "pre-loaded" in a sense. Whatever the reason, I'm so tired of the car leaning that way, I'm doing my "fix" the way I described earlier.

MTL_Z28

Actually if you do a search you'll find this is pretty common on 4th gens. My car stock was also about 3/4" lower on the passenger side, I forgot what the explanation was for this but if I'm not mistaken that's the way they came from the factory...

rexcellent

Yea, I would say mine is about 3/4" lower on the right front than the left front. I didn't notice it until I lowered it so maybe it is the springs, or maybe it is just more noticeable now that it is lower.

takeoffeh

I've been looking at the rear of 3rd and 4th gens and most of them seem to be level. A couple had a noticeable lean, and one leaned the on the opposite side.

rel3rd

Well, I've come to the conclusion that on my specific car, it is not the stock springs, shocks or struts causing it.

I installed an LT-1 Pro Kit on my car (2000 SS), along with Bilstein shocks and struts and car is still 3/4 of an inch lower on the right rear...

Pics aren't the greatest since it is raining and cloudy out, but you get the idea...

BTW, I haven't checked side to side measurement, so I probably still need to adjust panhard bar.

Billy Biker

My 95 formula with 85k miles and stock suspension had a big diff in height in the front especially left to right. Very noticeable. The passenger front was ALOT lower than the drivers front. The alignment shop couldn't set the camber because of it. I replaced both front springs/struts and the rear shocks..and the shop shimmed the back springs slightly, and it pretty much cured the prob. Plus it improved the ride and quieted it down a TON. It actually makes a nice trip car now. Neither the shop or dealer could diagnose the problem tho. Honestly I think the prob was the springs squashed down from torque twist...its a very strong running car, and I think the first owner used the power alot and just wore the springs out. When you hit the gas hard the passenger front wants to compress and the drivers side wants to lift...and the drivers back wants to compress and the pass side wants to lift, thats why they had to shim the rear drivers side up/remove shims from the rear passenger side, and the front pass side was sagging. And thats why I had them replace the springs with new suspension. They didn't know what to do lol. Figures
At least this is my theory
I still wonder why the suspension felt so shot at 85k miles tho? Is the GM 4th gens suspension just low quality or what?

burnin_rubber_irocz

Probably a really stupid question to ask but did you check the tire pressure? My car did this for a while and I didn't know why. I would always look at it and think that it looked a little lopsided until when I was checking my tire pressure. That side it was leaning to was lower. About five psi lower than it should have been. My tire has a small leak somewhere that about every week or so i'll notice it looks like its leaning noticeably and i'll have to air up the tire. It was leaning to the passenger side rear tire only, but it made it seem like the entire side leaned. Like I said probably a stupid question and i just made myself sound dumb or your problem may be that simple. I wondered the same thing about my suspension and it was my tire. I have big tires on the back and they stick out so if one is lower I don't notice. Especially since I'm the driver and don't look at the passenger side as much.

rel3rd

To "fix" it, here is what I wound up doing.

I swapped on LT1 Eibach Pro-Kit spring set and Bilstein HD shocks all around.
Car was still lop-sided, as I expected, and rear rode like CRAP, like I expected.

I then swapped back on the stock rear springs with the heater hose mod. Car rode fine, but was still lop-sided, so I cut 1/2 coil out of driver's side rear coil spring, then added the "heater hose mod" to the bottom of the passenger side spring. I also had to "shim" the right front shock up 1/4" where it bolts to lower control arm.

Final outcome...

The car height is within 1/4" at all four corners....finally.

T/A-Bob

I have never seen this documented, so it is pure speculation on my part.

There is always someone in the driver's seat (when the car is being driven). Measure the ride height with a driver in there and see if that lowers the driver's side so it's close to the passenger side.

Maybe the suspension is set (from the factory) so the car sits level when a driver is sitting there ... ???