E30 Zone

Hi,

The gap between the top of my tyres and the wheel arches is 80mm all round except the rear offside which is 50mm.

I've had a look underneath and the spring looks OK. The rebound test seems fine with 1 bounce.

Any ideas?

(It's a 318i auto pre-facelift saloon)

Thanks,

Assuming you've done the measurements with the car parked on level ground, the possibilities are;

1. Bent trailing arm
2. Seized trailing arm bush(es)
3. Different tyre profile/wheel size
4. Facelift rear wheelarch has been fitted - those were about an inch lower at the back than the pre-facelift ones.
5. Sagged coil spring
6. Broken coil spring mounting platform

Thanks for that,

I turned the car around 180 degrees and the measurements are the same.

1. ok, don't know - could be
2. ok, don't know - could be
3. same wheels and same make and profile of tyres
4. I measured both sides of the car and the gap between the wheel arch and the top of the car is the same
5. I measured the spring and the "saggy" side is 5 inches and the ok side is 6 inches
6. Can't tell, but it looks ok

It's getting the car MOT'd next week I'll get them to have a good look.
My rear disc brake conversion may be closer than I thought...

Sounds like a sagged coil spring to me...

Thanks, I think so too.

Could also be the damper, replacing mine made a noticeable difference to ride height.

Right, I replaced the trailing arms, trailing arm bushes and springs when doing a rear disc conversion. The car handles better with less wallowing around the corners but the rear offside is still 30mm lower than the rear nearside.

I have the dampers from the Touring donor car but have not fitted them due to no access to the top as I've got a big lpg tank in the boot.

Also, I noticed the rear beam moved when jacking up the car, could it be these bushes?
Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Could well be:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ame_Bushes

Thanks Speedtouch,
Yep, reading the article it looks like that's the problem.

OK, I've ordered the bushes.

How long should this job take? I'm considering letting the garage do it when they MOT the car this week.

Rear bushes replaced and its all OK now. No nasty thunks or dodgy ride height.

Good to hear that, dude.