Thread: Adjusting ride height with a rear beam

I am having some issues dialing in my ride height on the rear of my b14.

My passenger side wheel gap (147mm) is significantly greater then my driver side (120mm). I am measuring from the top of the wheel to the bottom of the fender directly in the middle of the wheel.

The car has coilovers on it but when I adjust the coilovers nothing really happens.

When I started adjusting the coilovers I reset them to a even point. 70mm between the top of the bottom locking washer and and the bottom of the top locking washer. Here is a picture to show explain what I mean.



While trying to get the wheel gap to decrease on the passenger side I had lowered that side to a 40mm gap on the coilover. This did almost nothing to changing the wheel gap. It was at 140mm. It also lowered my driver side to 102mm. So from here I went ahead and raised up the driver side and it really did not move the suspension much. I had a 100mm gap on the coilover.

After having one coilover almost maxed to the lowering point and one to the raised point I decided to reset them. Currently the car has a 80mm gap on the driver side coilover and a 60mm gap on the passenger side coilover.

My wheel gaps are at 147mm on the passenger side and 120mm on the driver side.

Now with that all being said I am trying to figure out what suspension components are not working properly on the rear of my car. The car does have 162,000 miles on it so I am sure that some things are worn out and need to be replaced.

It is more likely the bushings in the trailing arm to body are binding than repairs are needed.
This is easier said than done, but with the vehicle weight on the tires, loosen the bushing pivot bolts, then re-tighten.

You can do the same with the bushings for the SRL.

It appears my impact has finally met it's match.

I am going to soak those bolts in wd40 for a few days and give it another shot.

I dunno how to begin.

If you feel I am not understanding how the rear suspension works then you could always link me to an article on it.

I do not know much about the rear suspension.

I'm not much help, but I had coilovers on my old b13 Sentra...... I too pre set them all to the same height. FAIL lol... every wheel had a different gap.

Look at it this way and think about the weight bias/ balance.. Front is way heavier than the rear. Also the engine is heavier than the tranny. So left to right is different too. Now the driver's weight can counter act this some if its just 1 person.

Too get the wheel gap right all the adjustments will be different that's for sure.

i.e. if the RR is too high you might need to lower the RR and raise the LF or even LR to get the RR down.

Its like trying to get your cars weight balance better then factory if you had those cool electronic individual scales at each wheel. Its like the same scenario. Rear weights less than the front, so you can raise the front some and it will push down on the rear of the car and raise the rear weight (to a point) and lower the front weight..

Its just trial and error bud. Don't worry about them being the same. They never will. not left to right or front to back. To fix one wheel gap you will need to adjust more coilovers than that one.

I'm okay with the coils not being set the same but my issue is that no matter the setting the car is not adjusting it's ride height.

Also when I make hard left turns while accelerating the car understeer then goes into a full oversteer with a snapping feeling.

I'm not sure whats going on there bud..... Are you on the bumpstops or something? seized shock or strut rod in housing?

Changing the spring perch height will defiantly lower or raise the car

Does the threaded strut not spin in the housing? My coilovers you adjust the height of the strut housing in relation to the threaded strut body so you don't lose travel, then set the spring to no preload at full decompression. I measure the threaded strut bottom to bottom of housing as there is a little gap. Measuring from this point ensure that both sides get equal amount of travel.

@zeneffect

Yes I am spinning the strut into the housing. That is how I am changing the distance between the housing and the spring.

The preload on the springs is where the Manufacture recommended it to be to ensure proper travel.