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Argh! Help! My rear end is sinking

Stevearcade

Stevearcade

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Location
Eastbourne
Car
2003 Accord CM2
Hi Guys,

Having a bit of a panic as my off side rear appears to have dropped really low. I think this is beyond the bedding in of the lowering springs (it's been 3 months now since the lowering). There's barely 2cm between the top of the tyre and wheel arch, whereas on the near side there's double that. The fronts are even and seem ok. There are no odd noises and nothing overly noticeable on the handling front either.

Any ideas what could cause a drop like this?

Is it likely to be urgent or can it wait until next week when I have some time off work to get it seen to?
 
A broken spring perhaps ? I had something similar at the front of my old Fiat Punto, it lost just over one coil breaking off at the bottom of the spring.

Can't see what else would allow it to drop short of something really wacky going on. HTH.

Cheers
Robin
 
Sounds like a damaged or faulty spring. Do a good inspection
 
******! Does that mean my 3 month old Apex Springs have developed a fault? That sucks man!
 
Check the damper, after all its still stock isnt it?
 
Would the damper take the weight of the car though? I mean if the dampers damaged, surely the spring would still sit at the same height, just the damper would clatter and make bad noises right?
 
No, I'm pretty sure that a regular (unsprung) damper wouldn't affect the ride height, but I'm not sure what you've got fitted to your car? My last car (a '96 Vectra) slumped badly on the rear nearside... it wasn't the spring that broke, it was the lower spring retaining cup. So the bottom of the spring went down a few inches onto the lower shock absorber mounting and wedged there. I didn't bother to get it repaired and sold it for spares when the MoT expired a couple of months later!
 
Steave,could you post some pictures,I want to see.
 
Steve just a guess but it might be the damper
The new springs might have put to much pressure on the stock damper causing it to fail
 
Cheers guys. I'll try and get a photo up tomorrow. But I don't understand how the damper could affect it. I thought the damper didn't actually take any of the weight, so when it went, it just made a lot of nasty noise and gave a harsher ride etc?

Can a failed damper actually cause a slump?
 
Depends if its gas charged or hydraulic damper. Gas charged with give an effect of adding to the over spring rate of the corner, and a blown one would then be lower in spring rate on that corner. A hydraulic one wouldnt effect this. Depends which type it is.

However whether it is or not, you need to be checking the spring/damper and other suspension parts on that corner anyway. And as a curve ball, the front left too as thats on the diagonal.

Oh and check the boot for something heavy lol.
 
Curious, I have this on my OSF. Originally, I thought I'd sagging springs, so I replaced them with coilovers (Honda) and fup it a short while later the OSF was down about an inch lower that the other. Ok, so I said, right, not getting more OEM springs, I'm gonna drop this thing on H&R who guarantee not to sag. Well guess what about 2 weeks ago, the OSF is lower than the rest by about 3/4 of an inch.

Now like Steve, I've researched and people have suggested the shocks, however, a shock is basically a low-pass filter (harmonic dampner), it should not support the weight of the car at rest. If it does then I couldn't compress it by hand. What's more is that the shocks I took off the car I tested and the compressed and expanded fine - so it wasn't them. All bushings and suspension components seem fine! There's nothing bent that I can see and I hit no pothole... I'd love to know how you get on Steve.
 
this is what happens when you put new springs on dampers that have 100k+ miles on them...

eventually they will give up., its why i got rid of my eibach ones last year, did not trust them.
 
My mileage was sub 70K when I put the springs on Eric. And I'm with Jason on not thinking it can be the shock, because surely if the shock was gone, I'd know about it due issues with ride comfort or noise. The car seems no more rattly than usual and there's no odd behaviour from the back end. It's an odd one. I'll get it booked in and see what happens.
 
Have you actually had a look at it yet? If it's snapped (or the supports broken) then that should be really obvious... compare it to the other side if you're not sure what the spring/support is meant to look like.

And do you know what sort of shocks you have on your car? Most shocks do not have any effect upon ride height, they are simply there to damp the spring oscillations.
 
let us know how it goes, might not be too bad. if a spring was broken i dont think you could drive it at all?
 
Ok, well get this. Get to work this morning and car's level :unsure: . Yesterday, parked on the flat at the Mrs' work, there was a clear slump to the rear right. A difference of a finger's width when doing the old 'how many fingers can fit between wheel and arch'. This morning, it's the same, 2 fingers on both sides...

Proper odd. So anyway, I maintain there's nothing obviously wrong with the shocks (which are original stock OEM for the car), as they don't affect ride height as far I'm aware. I wonder if something's up with some suspension bushes or something.

Either way, I'm going to keep an eye on it and if the problem comes back, get it booked in to the garage for a good check over.
 
maybe getting it checked now is better than leaving it too late, i always err on the cautious side.

just to be safe like., a once over is only going to take a garage man 20 minutes.
 
Well it was serviced by Honda last month and given a clean bill of health. I even asked them check over all the underneath for loose bushes etc, as I'm always a little paranoid about ARB bushes, drop links and so on, having had to replace them all in recent history. It's all rather odd.
 
hmmm, that is strange so.

take off the rear wheels and give a good look around there?, while its up on axle stands?
 
Steve have you had any weight in the car?
 
Nope! Just got an unused child seat in the boot. It's been in there for a few weeks since he's outgrown it. Really nothing unusual in that respect at all.
 
You know Steven,I am in the same situation.My drivers side looks lower,then left side.And wheel looks deeper,then another.I notice that after couple months after springs was fited.So came back to firm,who fited them.They put car on the ramp,and sayed,that all sides are the same,but for me looks not.So in couple weeks time coming back to them.
 
Sort of, except that yesterday I could barely fit 1 finger's width in the gap under the rim, whereas I could easily fit 2 fingers on the other side.

Today, I can fit two fingers in both sides equally. It's very odd.

And taken out of context the above sentences read like utter filth :lol:
 
what you done?Or it was fine?
 
Yes reading you last sentence out of context is filth but we will let you off :D odd hey mate, cars are a mystery at times, let us know if it reappears.
 
Ok, so to sum up for now:

Yesterday parked at the Mrs' work on what appeared to be a flat bit of car park. Noticed a dip and did the finger test to discover my rear driver side was sagging. Got very worried...

This morning dropped the Mrs off at work and checked again. All seemed normal. Got very confused...

On the way to work, chucked it round roundabouts and when in slow moving traffic, did lots of weaving like F1 cars do when they're warming up their tyres. My intention was to get some good body roll on the go and see how things were when I got to work. See if the problem came back. Got to work, parked on the flat, checked again. Still all was well...

Chucked it around and drove like a thug all the way home. Checked when I got home, all was well...

Didn't do anything to change things or even check under the car. It simply seems as if one moment the car was sagging, the next it wasn't :unsure: . Obviously I'm going to be checking this every time I get out of the car in the near future. But I'm hoping it was just a freak occurrence or my mind playing tricks on me or something.
 
were you pished when you did the original sagging test by any chance? alcohol does this to you lol.
 
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