93 300E. 100K miles. The drivers side front sits 1 1/2 inch lower than the passenger side. Combined with the snappy 400 wheels we added, the car now RUBS with 215 tires. Son added new struts thinking that may be the problem. Nope. Then the poor guy spent most of today adding new Bilstein springs. And again same result. He is bummed and I am confuzzled. So if the height difference is not the struts and not the springs then what?
Bushings? Upper shock mount? Spring pad?
iirc ride height is mechanically adjustable on some models
Jack up the front by the control arn, as close to the tire as you can, then check the ball joint for vertical play with a lever under the tire.
Note: If you use the jack handle for the lever, the end of the jack will whip up and you won't be able to put the handle back in to let the car down.
After you do that, get it up on stands with both wheels off and do some Sesame Street diagnosis, one of these things is not like the other. Check for things like bad bushings, a V shaped control arm, front suspension mounting points falling off the car... Something has to be different.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
On it!
I'd check spring pads first unless you know they were the same....and they are both present
In reply to chandler :
Good call there too, but I have an ulterior motive. I see people not checking these ball joints properly - if you check them with the suspension drooped, the spring will hold the ball joint under tension and you won't notice any play. Then you merrily go along until one day the ball joint separates. You have to support the weight of the car on the control arm, so the ball joint isn't being pulled taut.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:In reply to chandler :
Good call there too, but I have an ulterior motive. I see people not checking these ball joints properly - if you check them with the suspension drooped, the spring will hold the ball joint under tension and you won't notice any play. Then you merrily go along until one day the ball joint separates. You have to support the weight of the car on the control arm, so the ball joint isn't being pulled taut.
👍🏻 I like the w124 suspension because it's pretty easy to see what's happening in the front end. I lost a ball joint and almost ate one of my Vintage Volks from sheer negligence. Don't be me.
I haven't owned a w124 for a awhile, but IIRC, the spring pads have dots (or colors) on them that show the "lift" (for lack of a better term). You may need to go to a different spring pad. That said, I don't recall their being huge differences between the shortest ones and the tallest ones - maybe 10mm.
The other thought would be whether he torqued everything (in particular lower control arm bushings) with the car on the ground under load.
That's a huge difference. And it drives? Something sounds very broken.
Butters said:The other thought would be whether he torqued everything (in particular lower control arm bushings) with the car on the ground under load.
This was my thought. Always put it on the ground finger tight, bounce it up and down, then tighten the bolts that go through bushings. If they're tightened with the car in the air the bushings will then twist and bind when the car is on the ground.
Bushings tightened while drooped won't cause an inch and a half of ride height difference, though. On a car that heavy, it won't matter much for anything but bushing longevity.
Something is bent or the upper spring seat is collapsed or something to get a shift that dramatic.
********DOH!********
Mentioned this challenge to a buddy at work. He looked at me without even one blink and asked if we had inspected the rear suspension. Ummmmmmm no. So Nick walked out and stared at the rear of the car. Yup. empty car sagging noticeably on the left side. Turns out that the front of the car is connected to the rear of the car. We didn't have that one figured out. So now we have a place to start next time he comes home from school. Working on cars makes me feel sooooooo not smart sometimes.
You'll need to log in to post.
