Sport Suspension...Irregular Height

[C280/////AMG]

I've had my Koni sport springs in my car now for about a year and have had nothing but pleasure from them, however since i've joined the club recently, i have a question to ask...

My car is a right hand drive model. Before i fitted the Koni springs, i had the eibach springs fitted and was very disappointed with their handling characteristics. Besides, after they were fitted, i noticed that the left side of the car was riding about 10-15mm higher than the right hand side of the car.

I then got the tuning shop to take out the eibach springs, refund me and put my normal springs back. i then went to a different shop which fitted my Koni springs which feel far better than the eibachs, however the problem remains that my right hand side of the car is about 10-15mm lower than the left of the car (front and back again). You can notice this by looking at the gap between the wheelarch and the tyre, both front and back.
Both tuning shops said that this is the case because the chassis of the car is made to compensate for the camber of the road, but i thought this was just a lazy excuse not to correct the problem.

Is this true?

[Proven Guilty]

if that were the case, every car in the world would have to be custom made to fit every region. at the most, they would have simply used #4 pads on one side, and #2 pads on the other side. you could always check if that's an issue

[C280/////AMG]

Yes, i agree. I have checked and both sides use #4 pads. By the way, the car's never been in an accident either (in case anyone's wandering).

[Pagz]

this is a commen issue,mine is around 8mm higher on the left.
will fix it if i ever get the KW kit =)

[kameraguy]

Not sure if this is the same issue as yours, but my car used to sit a bit uneven as well. When i had my Konis and H&Rs put in, my friends checked the spring pads and found one side was not inserted correctly. It was seated unevenly. After they seated it correctly, my car sits pretty even all around now.

I notice even new cars often sit unevenly from the factory. It's one of the things I can help but look for when at the dealership.

[Espresso]

Many car companies have a drivers side ride height HIGHER then the passenger...On LHD cars mind you(should be opposite for RHD, but someone may have used stateside alignment procedures & parts).
Reason is. There will ALWAYS be a driver & not always passengers. So with the weight of the driver(on average) the drivers side will squat down & make the car sit more level.

My car is the same way. When I am out of it, the left side sits up & the car is out of alignment, when I get in it the car is back into alignment. I also have it aligned properly WITH the stereo equipment installed & a FULL tank of gas.

[Benzon]

Yeah this reminds me that I thought my car looked uneven while looking at it one day. I think the drivers side appeared higher but don't remember I'll have to look when I get my car back.

[rman]

my car is RHD and higher on the right/driver's side by 1/4"

bugs the shit out of me

[OCKlasse]

Originally posted by rman
my car is RHD and higher on the right/driver's side by 1/4"

bugs the shit out of me

SAME!

[C WILD]

i've had exactly the same problem. My car is right-hand drive and used to ride 12mm higher on the passenger side front wheel. This resulted in me going thru 1 pirelli P6000 within 6 months (a very expensive affair). :(

i had this same problem until last week when i checked out out this issue on this forum and found out about spring pads. Rung up the dealer and gave them my chassis number and they were able to tell me which pads were fitted to my car at the factory (#3). So from this i ascertained that that i'd get approximately a 10mm drop by installing a #1 spring pad on front passenger side. This did reduce the gap but still when i look at it the passenger side still luks about 5mm higher. Barely noticeable but still annoys me having paid Aussie$250 to get this done... after the people working on it broke my upper control arm in the process of changing the pads.

[94benZo]

I'm kinda glad that I'm not the only one having this issue... At first after I fitted my eibach, I thought I was crazy, but then I actually measured the gap, my left is about half an inch higher...

[NEA-4311]

OK speaking of irregular heights, does anybody know why in some SLKs (R170) the suspension setup makes them sitting way higher than normal and in some it doesnt? It really doesnt matter if they are Kompressor or not...

Im very curious and my cousin is very... ummm... Furious! :p

[C280/////AMG]

Well this is a HUGE relief!!! At least i'm not the only one wit this problem...

[C WILD]

honestly mate, most ppl would never even notice. its coz you drive and luk at the car every day. The difference between left and right on my car is now only 5mm. i still notice but majority of ppl wouldnt.

i'd recommend getting the gap lessened either way.

[NEA-4311]

Originally posted by C WILD
honestly mate, most ppl would never even notice. its coz you drive and luk at the car every day. The difference between left and right on my car is now only 5mm. i still notice but majority of ppl wouldnt.

i'd recommend getting the gap lessened either way.

you/he ARE/IS noticing, that all it matters.

[C280/////AMG]

The point is not whether i notice or someone else notices. The point is that i wasn't sure whether i had a problem that needed to be resolved or whether it was common to all dropped 202's

[mike mac]

just an idea...check your tired pressures...it may make some diff

[C280/////AMG]

Thanks, i check them once a week (and i don't use the filling station gauges, as they're useless. I use my own gauge) and i'm running at 280kpa all round. It seems that this is a fairly common issue tho, so it must be a factory thing...