BMW 7-Series E38 (1994 - 2001) - 00 2.8 What would cause a car to lean to one side

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Mon 25 Jan 2010 17:44
00 2.8 What would cause a car to lean to one side - CraigP
What could cause a car to lean down on the offside?

Broken spring? but all 4 springs are new - previously both springs on drivers / offside had broken necessitating replacement of all 4. No broken springs now, all visibly seated ok.

Then i thought worn out shock absorbers, rear 2 are new, front 2 are old. The front offside could be sagging down i guess, but i'd expect the car to list down on that corner rather than the whole side, esp given rear shock is new.

Other points maybe worth noting: had the car 3d laser aligned but the dealer couldn't get the camber in spec, as a result the car pulls to the left. Sent me off to replace a couple of ball joints (which i've done).

I'm going to replace the front shocks anyway, but just wondering if there's anything else i should consider ordering up while im at GSF.

Many thanks for reading!
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Mon 25 Jan 2010 17:52
00 2.8 What would cause a car to lean to one side - Roly93
Doesn't sound too good. The shock absorbers would have no effect on the lean, as after all you can compress a shocker with your hands whether it is new or knackered.

Sounds as thogh the car has been either damaged and repaired incorrectly, or that the new springs that were fitted were not checked for being all of the correct rating. In fact on some cars the front n/s and o/s springs have a slightly different spec.

The only other thing I could think of would be some sort of collapse due to corrosion in the subframe(s) although these days this is unlikely.
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Mon 25 Jan 2010 18:29
00 2.8 What would cause a car to lean to one side - gordonbennet
Do BM's have various thickness rubber pads like MB's that fit 'tween the spring and suspension arm for fine tuning of ride height...could one side's pad have been misplaced and/or replaced with one the wrong thickness.

Another thought, did the eccentric bolts get disturbed and not relocated correctly upon reassembly assuming that wishbones had to come out for spring removal.

Not being silly here, but are the tyres the same size, brand and tread depth both sides on the same axle.

Could be none of his and the driver or regular passenger partook of too much Christmas pud and the car doth protest..;)
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Mon 25 Jan 2010 20:34
00 2.8 What would cause a car to lean to one side - CraigP
Many thanks for the replies guys. I shall have a twiddle with it all this weekend see if i can't figure it out with these ideas.
Could be none of his and the driver or regular passenger partook of too much Christmas pud and the car doth protest..;)


Although not so much thanks for that bit!! :-P
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