i've had the Racing Beat springs in my 2001 ES for about a month now and i've noticed that the driver's side is sagging about a 1/4 of an inch lower than the passenger's side. i do most of my driving solo, so i'm assuming it's from my weight alone [195 lbs.] that this has happened.

is this a quality control issue? i've not had this happen with other springs i've used in past cars. should i take measures to counter this... say putting 200 lbs. of sand bags in the passenger's side floorboards till things level out? does this small of a difference really matter? the car seems to handle just fine left or right, turn-in and stability being pretty much symmetrical.

anyone else experiencing this? any advice would be much appreciated....

 

It's probably not springs, but rubber strut mounts are compressing. I have RB on since october and it sits about 1/4 " lower all around. I'll keep eye on mine, but I am sure that your weight is a factor here as well
My weight is only 125 lb .
Alex

 

the ride height was consistently .7-.8" lower all around after mine were installed, in line with what RB specs for them. they were symmetrical, left to right, at the time of the install. this .2-.3" more of lowering on the driver's side has occured just over the past month or so.

could super-*******-cold minnesota winters be at all a culprit? again, this is a CHANGE that has occured since they were installed.

 

No probs at all with my Racing Beat springs on my p5, no sagging or anything...

 

must be all those hard right turns....

 

Hello all,

Just to give you another avenue...

Many cars if you install lowering springs you should also do work with the struts. A friend of mine went through 2 sets of stock struts before doing an upgrade on his lowered Sunfire GT. He hasen't had a problem since.

The reason being is many new cars are not designed for the stiffness of aftermarket springs and the extra recoil action can wear out your struts.

Now, as a counterpart to my statement...all Pro drivers can atest to the stiff ride a Protege has leading me to contradict myself...I am looking at upgrades for the suspension and this was something I found out and wonder.

 

Actually you are correct about the Protege also. The stock struts may have stiffer dampening rates for the stiffer stock springs compared with other cars, but they won't properly damp most aftermarket lowering springs because these springs have stiffer rates than the stock springs. This won't effect ride height though. This may be a silly question, but are your tire air pressures all equal? You mentioned cold Minnesota winters, and the cold is a common culprit in reduced air pressures in all tires, and sometimes in one more than others. Also, make sure you are measuring the ride height on a level surface.

 

RebelRacing:
i talked through the point thoroughly with the RB guys. the spring rate is only increased by approx. 27%. i was told that the stock dampers would be more than sufficient for the time being. [the ride is very taunt and well damped.]

Eric F:
i'm not measuring from the ground here. i had initially measured a before/after when they were installed to know how much it was lowered... but to notice the descrepancy, no way to guarantee a flat surface in most conditions. i'm doing the "number of fingers between the tires and the fender" method. it shows a little over two on the passenger side and a little less than two on the drivers side. the .2-.3 figure was a guesstimate [whereas the .7-.8 was measured at the shop]. it may actually be a bit more.

as for the tires... i will check. i have been a bit slack about checking. bad consider they are aftermarket... i do doubt that it is the culprit as that should be very noticable.

thanks for the feedback though....