Ride Height

[juan.manjarres]

Can worn strut mounts/spring pads cause alterations in ride height?

The reason I ask is because I have seen other ti's that have my same suspension setup (h&r sports/bilstein sport struts) and sit between a 1/4 and 1/2 of an inch higher than my car in the front.

I've compared my car with three other ti's and they all sit about the same height with no rake. My ti sits very low in the front creating the rake effect.

Anyone care to chime in for possible theories?

[juan.manjarres]

Anyone?

[Yahweh]

No, is your front springs broke? Ive seen some aftermarket struts make ride height higher.

[3.2TI]

Yes, if your struts are REALLY blown and all the weight is being held by springs, then it can wear them and eventually compress them more than they should be. I had this problem with one strut on a VW and the car would even pull on the direction of the blown strut.

Now, you might also consider that size of tires that other members are using. You can be on 50's with 17" and some other member could have 40's 16". These factors are the ones you should look at when comparing same setups.

[juan.manjarres]

Hmm interesting. My struts aren't worn they are in good shape but I do get some creaking noise when I turn the wheel that is coming directly from the strut mount when I turn the wheel while stopped. The cars I've compared them usually have the same wheel setup, also I am comparing the gap between the wheel and fender.

[3.2TI]

Juan, I am not sure what the creaking noise can be but taking the strut assm off and re-seating them wouldn't be a bad idea.

[juan.manjarres]

I see. I went ahead and bought the mounts, spring pads, and strut tower reinforcements as I'm almost positive my mounts are shot. I will post up any changes when I reinstall.

[Uber E30]

Worn pads can change the height, they are just rubber that will eventually compress. Also something to note is that springs do compress more over time. If your suspension is several years old and you are comparing it to someone with a fresh setup, it may not look the same.

I had a really similar issue with two of my e30's. I had the same suspension on each, but on one of the cars i did the suspension about 3 years previous to the other one, and the older one sat about 6mm lower in the front.

[juan.manjarres]

Just replaced the strut mounts. The height in the front went up by about 3/4 of an inch to about an inch.

I compared the old mounts to the new ones and the rubber on the old ones has mushroomed inside the assembly.
My guess is as they wear the rubber mushrooms in.

Will post pics of before and after because this is useless without pics.

[juan.manjarres]

Not the best picture but might do for now.



After replacing front strut mounts



Up close pic