Mine sits lower on the drivers side too. I've seen some sit lower on the passenger side. Not 3/8" but over an inch. 1-3/4" in a few instances. GM's workmanship was so-so in the 80's....... I have changed body bushings to poly, all of them, and even changed suspension springs. I still had the lean. Some cars are Tweaked from the start......
car sits lower on driver side
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Gary Wells
White turbo Buick trailer park trash
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------------------------------------Ed Valvo said:
Ed:
ever had the frame inspected by a food frame shop?
How much does your lean, and front or rear?
Mine is far from perfect and the history unknown so mine is not a good example however I have local guys in our TR club that have leaning issues with cars that I consider perfect and unmolested. One guy is 5/8" lower on the drivers side. It's exactly 5/8" lower on the front and rear. you can see if you pay attention. I'll take a measuring tape to the other car this weekend. It's at least an inch lean toward the passenger side.
turbofish38
Le Pétomane
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Even I have owned cars that the coil springs have just plain sacked out after a couple of years. And its always just one of the springs. I cant explain it. Its just like somebody took a torch and heated it up. If the right front spring was marginal than the left rear would sit high and so forth. To bad we have no real way of determining that the set of springs we are purchasing are a matched set.
Red Regal T
Senior Member
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Many TRs have this problem. One way to correct it is simply to install an airbag in the low side and put some air into it and level out the car. Another way is to get install 83 thru 92 Camaro/firebird springs you can get at a boneyard for about $20. The spring isolators on these cars are about an inch thick. Put an extra one in the low side. This is how I corrected my lean. 
\cork said:
I have a kirban body bushing kit waiting to go in. I tried swapping rear springs left to right as ApullinV6 suggested and no change; and filling the low side airbag doesn't help either as that actually raises the whole rear of the car. If bushings don't help I'm going to either trim the passenger side rear spring or put rear adjustable coilovers on it. I'll probably resort to coil overs as I'd like to drop the rear a little more and could kill two birds with one stone.
Red Regal T said:Another way is to get install 83 thru 92 Camaro/firebird springs you can get at a boneyard for about $20. The spring isolators on these cars are about an inch thick. Put an extra one in the low side. This is how I corrected my lean.
Hey I just installed brand new cc627s in the rear, great ride but the driver's rear is almost 1 inch lower. So do I replace the driver's side insulator with the ( 83 thru 92 Camaro/firebird ) 1 inch one or use both??
You guys are focusing on the wrong end of the car. 
The front springs are where you need to start. Mismatched front coils will affect the ride height at all 4 corners of the car.
Mismatched rear coils won't have nearly the same affect.
Mine leaned real bad in the same way and was a good 1-2" higher on the RF corner. This made the LR corner low.
My front end was too high since removing a bunch of nose weight... So I started by chopping 1 full coil off both front springs.
The front end dropped a good inch or so, but still leaned noticably.
I cut another 1/4 coil off the high side (RF) and it now sits dead-nuts level.
I also discarded all the rubber insulators on all 4 springs.
I'll see if I can dig up some before n after pics...
Here ya go...
Only change made to ride height was cutting 1 coil off the factory LF front spring and 1.25 coils off the RF. Rears are untouched.
The front springs are where you need to start. Mismatched front coils will affect the ride height at all 4 corners of the car.
Mismatched rear coils won't have nearly the same affect.
Mine leaned real bad in the same way and was a good 1-2" higher on the RF corner. This made the LR corner low.
My front end was too high since removing a bunch of nose weight... So I started by chopping 1 full coil off both front springs.
The front end dropped a good inch or so, but still leaned noticably.
I cut another 1/4 coil off the high side (RF) and it now sits dead-nuts level.
I also discarded all the rubber insulators on all 4 springs.
I'll see if I can dig up some before n after pics...
Here ya go...
Only change made to ride height was cutting 1 coil off the factory LF front spring and 1.25 coils off the RF. Rears are untouched.
Gary Wells
White turbo Buick trailer park trash
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- Mar 2, 2002
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- 9,778
The thread that refuses to die
Update:
Sat I got out and looked under the car good and I did notice that the driver side rear spring progressed somewhat different than the passenger side. On the driver side I noticed that the lowest 3 spring coils touched one another, then seperated after that, but on the passenger side, the 4 lowest coils touched one another, then seperated after that. This would lead me to believe that the driver side is a little higher than the passenger side. I also looked at the front end of the car good, and much to my suprise, I noticed that the front bumper had a noticable passenger side lean to it, maybe more than the car itself. The bumper had a total lean of about 1", with about 1/2" of that being the basic car lean, so I readjusted the bumper to agree with the basic 1/2" lean of the car, and now the car lean is no longer apparent. So now the entire car leans about 1/2" to passenger side, both front and rear, but does not show, and I can live with that until I come up with some extra thick front and rear spring isolaters. Maybe I will learn to live with this. I cannot stand anything aesthetically or cosmetically imperfect.
On TB.com someone posted that spring isolaters are really thick from about '88 or so to about "92 or so "F" bodies factory springs. Anybody have any knowledge of this, or any knowledge about extra thick spring isolaters in general. I need some about 3/8" to about 1/2" thick, preferably the 3/8" thick ones, front & rear both.
If i decide to "airbag" the rear springs/spring, what are the benefit or airbagging both springs over the passenger side only, and if I airbag the passenger side only, will pressure there raise the front of the passenger side somewhat?
Update:
Sat I got out and looked under the car good and I did notice that the driver side rear spring progressed somewhat different than the passenger side. On the driver side I noticed that the lowest 3 spring coils touched one another, then seperated after that, but on the passenger side, the 4 lowest coils touched one another, then seperated after that. This would lead me to believe that the driver side is a little higher than the passenger side. I also looked at the front end of the car good, and much to my suprise, I noticed that the front bumper had a noticable passenger side lean to it, maybe more than the car itself. The bumper had a total lean of about 1", with about 1/2" of that being the basic car lean, so I readjusted the bumper to agree with the basic 1/2" lean of the car, and now the car lean is no longer apparent. So now the entire car leans about 1/2" to passenger side, both front and rear, but does not show, and I can live with that until I come up with some extra thick front and rear spring isolaters. Maybe I will learn to live with this. I cannot stand anything aesthetically or cosmetically imperfect.
On TB.com someone posted that spring isolaters are really thick from about '88 or so to about "92 or so "F" bodies factory springs. Anybody have any knowledge of this, or any knowledge about extra thick spring isolaters in general. I need some about 3/8" to about 1/2" thick, preferably the 3/8" thick ones, front & rear both.
If i decide to "airbag" the rear springs/spring, what are the benefit or airbagging both springs over the passenger side only, and if I airbag the passenger side only, will pressure there raise the front of the passenger side somewhat?
Gary Wells
White turbo Buick trailer park trash
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2002
- Messages
- 9,778
-----------------------------
I have no personal experience removing suspension springs, so I cannot say, but from what I have heard and read on the forums, yes, it does require a spring compressor, and could be risky/dangerous if not done properly. If you have someone with experience removing front springs, and they are willing to help you, and have access to or willing to rent a spring compressor, that would be the way to go.
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