Help - Low ride height Drivers Side

[mep12345]

Since I bought my S3 it has ridden low on the drivers side about 20-25 mm lower than the left at the front and 10mm lower at the rear. The springs on the front right wheel appeared over compressed (front right was 10mm shorter than the front left when under load with the springs closer together), but both the rear ones were at the same length when under load. Using the steve heath bible I diagnosed spring compaction as all shocks were set V V V hard. I therefore softened the rear shocks and replaced the front shocks and springs and am running them softer (rear AVO shocks set at 1 click and front Gaz shocks and matched springs set at 12 clicks - these were the settings advised by simply shocks if I couldn't change the rears (money at present causes a problem)) This has almost sorted the problem with the right hand "droop" reduced to about 10mm front and 5 mm rear with both front springs compressed to the same dimension as are the rears. When changing the front shocks I did notice the wishbones were more free to move (approx 30mm play) than the left (approx 20mm play) while the shocks were off, but all components seem to be in reasonable condition, straight and true although some of the bushes look like they could do with replacing soon (no movement but looking tired).

I have not yet had the car reset using a 4 point tracking system so I suppose it could be this and intend to do so in due course (but would have expected the ride height to be within a couple of mm front and rear if it was just this), but want to rule out any other items I should change before wasting my money on this.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Cheers

Mark

[GreenV8S]

Where are you measuring from? To get any useful figures you need to find / make a flat level surface. You can usually do this fairly easily starting from a reasonably flat bit of road/driveway/garage using a spirit level and a few thin planks to put under the lower corners. You need to get it within better than a quarter of an inch, which is *far* better than you can tell just by looking at the ground, you will definitely need a spirit level or equivalent way to measure it for flatness.

Then measure the ride height from the chassis to the ground. It may not be exactly level from side to side but you should expect to find a similar discrepancy front and rear i.e. both leaning left or right by a similar amount. Also measure the spring lengths on all four corners, and the overall damper lengths i.e. distance between the centre line of the upper and lower mounting bolts.

These measurements will enable you to work out whether the chassis is level and whether it is twisted, and whether the corner weights and ride heights are similar.

You'll find that with the chassis set correctly the body will look miles out because they're far from symmetrical in the first place and the rubbers between the chassis and the body can yield with age. Don't pay any attention to the body until you have got the chassis and suspension dimensions sorted.