noticed this with 3 f bodys, time to ask
02-26-2014, 08:11 PM
#1
noticed this with 3 f bodys, time to ask ok so it doesnt appear to be a major, got to fix now thing, had it on my camaro, had it on my trans am and just noticed it on my firehawk and all of them drive fine, aside from squeaks and creaks in the suspension of course from bad shocks and old suspension parts. anyways here it is, every one of them sit weird, looking at them from the rear the passenger side is noticeably lower by about an inch than the driver side, and looks like the car is slanted or tilted, its not a huge slant but if you look long enough you can tell and after that you cant not notice it. the other thing about it is in the rear wheel wells. looking at the rear wheels, driver side looks fine, sits as it should and doesnt stick out or recessed in, aligned properly with the body. the passenger side looks like its 1/2 inch lower than the driver and actually is since i rough measured it. trust me its not a tire that has lower pressure or something but thats what it looks like from a distance like i have a flat on one side, also the wheel looks recessed in the well, the body of the car actually extends past the tire and the wheel looks like it was pushed in about an inch or two from where it should sit. all in all it looks like someone picked up the body of the car off the rear axle and moved it over towards the driver side 2 inches then plopped it back down. its annoying to look at but seems to ride and drive fine. and ive owned f bodys for 4 years. anyone know what im talking about? i had one guy tell me its some bushing or arm or something that needs to be replaced in there. idk.
02-26-2014, 08:26 PM
#3
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I just recently posted about this in another thread where a new 4th gen owner was questioning sagged ride height on one side (passenger). I too have noticed this with all four of my 4th gens, and two of them were bought brand new and were still like this. All of them were a bit lower on the passenger side (0.25-0.75"). I have also measured this and found it to be true.
As far as the rear end being off-center, you could use an adjustable panhard bar to help with this (or perhaps it already has one, and it's adjusted wrong).
As far as the rear end being off-center, you could use an adjustable panhard bar to help with this (or perhaps it already has one, and it's adjusted wrong).
02-26-2014, 09:22 PM
#5
I just recently posted about this in another thread where a new 4th gen owner was questioning sagged ride height on one side (passenger). I too have noticed this with all four of my 4th gens, and two of them were bought brand new and were still like this. All of them were a bit lower on the passenger side (0.25-0.75"). I have also measured this and found it to be true.
As far as the rear end being off-center, you could use an adjustable panhard bar to help with this (or perhaps it already has one, and it's adjusted wrong).
As far as the rear end being off-center, you could use an adjustable panhard bar to help with this (or perhaps it already has one, and it's adjusted wrong).
and btw that new owner was probably the guy who just joined that bought my last trans am. because we spoke about it and i couldnt explain why it did that. was a 2000 black trans am
02-27-2014, 07:18 AM
#6
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The offset rear and ride height differences are inherent from the pan hard bar suspension. It is normal as both my 4th gens had it and so does my `12 Mustang. On my `98 formula I used an Adj PHB even at stock ride height to correctly recenter the rear when using wider wheels. The difference in ride height left to right changes under different lateral loads and is a product of the suspension lifting on left turns and squatting on right turns.
02-27-2014, 08:33 AM
#7
There seems to be no pattern to them. Some cars have the sag, some don't. No one has been able to pin-point where the difference comes from either. Even after installing aftermarket springs, shocks, control arms, etc we have noticed that these cars still have the "lean". The best solution we have come up with so far is to "heater hose mod" the passenger rear spring and leave the isolator in. This adds just enough to the spring to level it out.
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02-27-2014, 12:09 PM
#10
If all cars did it I would believe this to be true. I know s-10's were notorious for it because the gas tank was located on the driver's side. They leaned 1/2" to the driver's side. F-bodies seem to have no real rhyme or reason to them. It isn't even consistent based on models. I have seen 2 cars of the same sub model (IE Ws6, SS, etc) and one would have it, one wouldn't.
02-27-2014, 02:52 PM
#13
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For example, my '02 doesn't lean enough to be noticeable when looking at it on level ground, however a measurement taken from the wheel well lip to the ground showed a side-to-side difference of something close to 1/4". The lean on my '98 is noticeable to the naked eye (at least to one that looks carefully), and measured out to be right around 1/2". Both have stock suspension and the same options, same trim level, both have the jack/spare/etc. all in the stock locations. If this "lean" was result of only factory placement of equipment, then they should all be pretty consistant in their amount of lean. It seems that the only constant is that the passenger side is favored for the lean.
02-28-2014, 06:43 AM
#17
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I had Strano springs and Koni's on my `98 (sig) and it still had the lean.
My original point was that under different loads right vs left the articulation of the axle is different, this is a result of the swing arm/panhard bar system. If you were turning left before coming to a rest the wheel gap/lean should be greater on the driver side.. When turning right in the same situation the gap lessens on the driver side but doesn't change much on the passenger side. This is more noticeable on stock soft spring/shock cars.
My original point was that under different loads right vs left the articulation of the axle is different, this is a result of the swing arm/panhard bar system. If you were turning left before coming to a rest the wheel gap/lean should be greater on the driver side.. When turning right in the same situation the gap lessens on the driver side but doesn't change much on the passenger side. This is more noticeable on stock soft spring/shock cars.
02-28-2014, 09:29 AM
#18
I had a two door blazer--tank in the center--that had the lean. I'm thinking the front control arms were slightly misaligned on the factory jig, but that was just an untested theory. Some guys would go as far to put a taller isolator on one spring which was made and sold for that purpose alone.
