Uh oh...E36 Coupe Rear Suspension Problem?

[zoidberg]

Walked up to my car this morning and noticed it appeared to be leaning to one side a bit. Looking at the spaces between rear wheels and arches, it clearly is wonky. Observe:

Passenger side - about 1-2 inches gap:



Driver side - can barely fit my fingers between tyre and arch:



It's been driving fine and I hadn't previsouly noticed any probs.

My wallet has just run off and hidden in a corner. Gulp.

[apache]

Broken spring or a failed top mount, lift the carpet in the boot for a look

[zoidberg]

Lifted carpet and didn't see anything obvious, but then I've no idea what to look for.
Are the things you've mentioned fairly fixable?

[apache]

zoidberg said:

Lifted carpet and didn't see anything obvious, but then I've no idea what to look for.
Are the things you've mentioned fairly fixable?

Yeah, top mount you can do yourself and costs a few quid, broken spring can be replaced with a visit to ebay and should cost an hours labour

[zoidberg]

apache said:

zoidberg said:

Lifted carpet and didn't see anything obvious, but then I've no idea what to look for.
Are the things you've mentioned fairly fixable?

Yeah, top mount you can do yourself and costs a few quid, broken spring can be replaced with a visit to ebay and should cost an hours labour

Thanks for that, has put my mind at rest somewhat!

It seems strange that I haven't noticed any handling problems, unless the failure occured at the end of my last journey? Hmm.

EDIT: Would it be safe to drive to the garage in?

Edited by zoidberg on Monday 16th April 11:49

[Dunk76]

Ah-ha! The legendary E36 tilt!

Almost all E36s 'lean' to some extent - it's been discussed to death on E36coupe.com, I don't anyone has managed to explain why they do it.

Broken Springs and degraded top mounts are very common on these - although they'll usually be accompanied by clonking (springs) or thumping (top mounts) over bumps etc.

[apache]

zoidberg said:

EDIT: Would it be safe to drive to the garage in?

you should be ok, don't quote me on this though

[sjp63]

The Convertible has no gaps at the rear on either side if you look at photos - the top of the tyres disappear behind the arches.