My car's left rear ride height is 1/2" lower than right rear
 

My RX8 is 5 months old and I've noticed since the first day of taking it home that the left rear seems to sag a little compared to the right rear. It's very obvious and you don't need a tape measure really (although the tape measure says the left rear is 1/2 inch lower than the right rear). I had assumed that it was engineered that way since roads are lower on the right side.

Recently, I became alarmed while parked in a friend's carport. The carport has a horizontal line running at about roof level. With that line as a visual guide, it is clear that the left side is lower. I checked out about five other cars parked in their own carports and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was perfectly even on both sides, even total POS cars.

I then went to a dealership and measured three RX8's and found that they were ALL even.

Can any of you more knowledgeable people tell me if a 1/2 inch difference is acceptable? I mean, what is acceptable? Is 1/4 inch even acceptable? Shouldn't the two sides be the same height when no one is sitting in the car?

The left-right difference has always existed on my car from day one, regardless of if there is a full tank or almost empty tank. I drive like a granny and it has nothing to do with hitting bumps BECAUSE it has existed since day one. Besides, the FRONT left and right are even. It has nothing to do with items in the trunk. It does not have to do with tire diameter because I had one tire rotation (front-back exchange) and the difference is still there.

Could it be an out-of-spec spring? Can this happen with a brand new car? Someone in a chatroom mentioned the possibility of shims or spacers, but I have no idea what those are. My car is completely stock.

I would really appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

Take it to the dealer and have them look at it.

Is this thread for real?

Aye carumba..........

Measure the car while you are not sitting in it! ;) j/k

Seriously, I'd mention it to the dealer and see what they have to say. There is a possibility there is a suspension problem.

Your ride height does not have to be exactly the same on both sides, but any difference should definitely not be visible. Take it to the dealer.

how much do you weigh again??

Did the dead body in the trunk shift to one side?

MAKE SURE THE SPRING SPACERS ARE OUT!! I know it sounds weird, but there have been so many incidents with the S2000 and other cars where the dealers forgot to remove all the spring spacers. Your car will handle like shit and could actually spin out easier. I don't know whether the DSC or traction control or whatever will notice something is not right with the spacer in place, but check it anyways.

How does it drive? Is there any clunking or noise from the rear end while cornering? It could be that there is a loose or disconnected suspensiuon piece in the rear end. You also might have gotten a substandard spring, but boy would that be wierd. Definitely have it checked though because that isn't correct.

Mine is the same. I mentioned this to the dealer who measured the 3 other 8's in the shop. All had the same list.

mine leans slightly. the only reason i noticed it was that this woman at work has a lancer oz rally. hers leans to the right and when pointing it out to her and comparing we noticed the slight lean in mine. since that time i have seen several other lancers that have the same lean, but haven't really looked for it in other 8's

Thanks for the responses.

I'll ask about spacers. The car drives fine, as far as I can tell. I don't think there's any noise, I'm not sure. I'm bringing the car in tomorrow morning and I want to be ready for their BS.

So what did you do? Did they simply replace a spring? Was yours a full 1/2 inch difference like mine or not as bad?

did you ever get this fixed? im having a similar problem

god, this is a 6 yo thread.you sure you parked on a level surface when you measuring it?

This is still a relevant question.

My 07 GT measured just like this, and it seemed that the rear side that was higher would change from right to left.

I had it aligned with a guy that let me help, and sit in the car.

The rear cambers were about -2.3 on one and -1.9 on the other, so we changed the camber on the right rear to -1.65 which was the least camber we could get, and matched the left to that with zero to slight toe in.

Not only did the height even out, but the rear height raised about 1 cm, and now all wheel height's are close to 14" (measured the proper way: center hub to body).

The rear springs and shocks actually seem to work now, and no noise on bumps.

very nice il have to mention that when i take mine to get looked at