StickShifty

if you adjusted the pan hard bar to the length of the stock one you should be fine. the Steeda springs only drop the car a little over an inch. if you could take some pics, so we can see everything.

hey, maybe you got two different springs shipped to you by mistake. cant rule that out.

gmoran1469

Mostly because I have had very little time since I installed everything to work on the car.

Could be two different springs but I would be surprised. I got them from Sam and he seems pretty on the ball when it comes to his customers. Gonna try to make some time tonight to take a look at her... Have to close on a house today though.\

EDIT: Ok, just got back inside after staring at it for a few minutes... I am almost positive it's the panhard.... Not only is it leaning, but now that I know what to look for, the rear end is kicked out to the right (when looking at it from the rear). That along with it leaning to the left has got to mean it's the panhard (I am probably wrong though).

So, how does one center up the rear axle? Pull string lines?

Also, I just got some new rear tires so for all I know it evened out and it's the gravel parking lot I am sitting on that makes it still look like it leans... I am gonna just need to rack her and take pictures... This crap is driving me mad though. I hate when you work hard to do all this and you have that one little thing that bugs you.

Another Edit: Just got back home and parked her under the carport which I KNOW is level. It still has a slight lean to the left but with the new tires it's much less noticeable. I think having some blown tires on the back was part of the problem.

Norm Peterson

About 'clocking' the springs - the turns of wire in a coil spring are more or less in a spiral, and frequently the spring seats are also contoured in a spiral where the end coil sits. Note that this could be either the lower (axle side) seat or the upper one at the chassis, so you'll want to look at both. If you're not positioned correctly along that spiral seat, or if something is keeping the spring from correctly seating in it, that end of the spring is essentially starting out at the wrong height. Usually this will be on the "high" side.

It is all but impossible for a PHB to affect ride height in any way. Unless you've managed to push the axle so far to one side that the LCA bushings have bound up in bending or the tire has been pushed into the sheetmetal, adding vertical load to one end of the PHB is kind of like pushing on a clothesline rope. It's just going to give way and let the vertical movement happen.


Norm

gmoran1469

It's not nearly as noticeable with new rear tires, the ones I was riding on were pretty blown (bald) because I had to use them at the track. I am gonna put her on the rack after work and take pics and try to fix it.

Is there any way you guys would be able to tell me how I should have the rears clocked before I even put her on the rack so I can get it fixed in one swoop or will I really need to post pics. I am pretty mechanically inclined (especially if given the right information, and despite me being wrong about the panhard causing the ride height issue, I think it was a combo of the tires and whatever else is wrong that led me to think a lean so severe couldn't be caused by a spring being clocked wrong, it was leaning pretty heavily.). I read through that guys install for the ultralites... The ultralites look different though and all he said was he clocked them to the stock springs clock. I don't remember what they were clocked to when I removed them so that doesn't do me much good.

WeinerDog

I was under the impression that everything else being the same, lowering it would move the axle to the left?? i.e. the driver's side rear wheel sticks out more than the passenger side. That's what happened with mine by 1/4".

gmoran1469

Must have made a typo there. It's definately kicked out to the left.

When lowering, you are bringing the right joint for the panhard straight DOWN. Which means the distance between that point and the left joint get's smaller. So if I kept my panhard at the stock length then it should kick out to the left.

157dB

Way off.
Either loose some weight
or redistribute the weight in the trunk equally.
Also full tank or half a tank of fuel?
Yes it matters. Fuel is heavy. Bout 8 lbs a gal.
The tank is saddle bag style and draws
out of the pass side first then drains
the drivers side until its empty.

Panhard is 2 degrees from axle at rest OEM stock.
Lowering will only kick it some 40 to 50 thousands of an inch.
Do da math.
Panhard 46" long at a 2 degree angle.
Change that to 0 degrees and see how much
it is actually kicking it out to the left.....
Math rules.....

And Norm, if the panhard is tightened down on both ends with the weight off of the
axle at full shock extention, and not at ride height, it can falsely jack the rear up with
the torsional rotation resistance of the rubber panhard bushings...
See where I am coming from??

Sam Strano

Holy thread explosion....

A number of points here:

First the car does not weigh identical amounts on both sides. No car sits 100% level. Springs have variance. It's minor but there. Eibach only guarantees their full race springs to be within 5% of the nominal rate. Your springs are made by Hypercoil for Steeda Garrett. Important to know because Hypercoil is @ a 2% variance. I'm sure it's not a spring "problem".

Further, if you measured the car before you'd have seen a difference too. But it's much less noticeable on a stock height car because the gap is bigger so a 1/8" difference (or whatever number) is a much smaller percentage of the opening.

Then there is the tire thing... The tires don't change the suspension, so if it's somehow different now it's just from driving the car. The tires are unsprung weight (not held up by the springs) and if they are same height effectively they do not matter.

PHB. Had a customer the other day who's car had a 14mm delta between sides. That's 7mm per side, or just about 1/4" per side. He had to shift the car 1/8" to square it up. Not miles, but a microscopic amount either. AND no two cars are the same. Some are off stock, some aren't. Some get "right" when lowering, some become more crooked.

Norm Peterson

Yup. I should have been more specific.

gmoran1469

After getting it on the rack and playing with it I understand how it works now.

The tires weren't equally worn, left side was worn more. That was part of the problem I guess, if not the only problem.

I put her on the rack, then put jack stands up under the front suspension, then up under the rear axle. Dropped the car down on them. Strung up the rear tire wells, then measured the gaps and adjusted the panhard accordingly. Barely had to adjust it. Everything looks good now (side to side). I also checked the clock of the springs, they were within about 10 degrees of each other so I turned one to match the other, eyeing it, not really measuring it but it's within 1/16-1/8 of the other.