Uneven drop with H&R springs. Ideas, suggestions welcome.

[Tripod]

I installed h&r springs last Saturday (1 week ago) and I like the drop except the left rear (driver side) is slightly lower than the right rear. I attribute this to settling because the first few days it looked even or at least it wasn't as noticable.

Now it has an obvious lean when looking at it from behind. This is not acceptable of course so I'm looking for a solution. My previous car had coilovers so I could easily adjust height, but I didn't want to go that direction with the brand new car - maybe down the road one day.

My first idea, if the taller side doesn't settle, is to install a rubber shim between the upper isolator and the frame. Somewhere between 5mm and 10mm should do it, I can measure it. These aren't just everywhere but there seems to be one or two readily available options. Might be able to make them from something too.

My second thought was to swap the springs side to side and see if that changes anything, it would also give me a chance to see if those top isolators are rotated "properly". That is, is the divot where the OEM spring sat also where the h&r springs sit. I checked my work and the bottom of the springs are fully seated in their lower isolators.

I'd rather not do anything drastic, but I could also grind the top of the taller spring so it's physically shorter. Before that, I'd swap sides and wait a while to see if it also settles.

What do you think, do you have any other ideas or solutions that work? Please let me know.

Thanks

 

[JKarbon]

First and foremost, you want to ensure that you're on level ground. If things don't look right, check again at another location. If things still don't look right at multiple locations, I would pull the springs off and as you said, swap sides. That will give you a clear indication if the issue is spring or install related. If its springs related, don't grind, or try to introduce spacers to cure the issue at hand. Return and replace the springs. If you notice the issue is not with the springs, then it's most likely something you've missed or performed incorrectly during the install. Common issues with rear springs often stem down to the rubber isolators, and or the spring orientation.

 

[MountainPass]

Assuming your car is on totally level ground (alignment racks and pads are laser leveled) the next thing I would try would be removing the sway bar end links on both sides in the rear. We have found that they are not very straight, which can result in one side of the rear being higher than the front. If it levels out after you disconnect them, at least you know what it was! I would agree that the nice thing about coilovers is that you can adjust them for little things like this.

 

[Tripod]

Assuming your car is on totally level ground (alignment racks and pads are laser leveled) the next thing I would try would be removing the sway bar end links on both sides in the rear. We have found that they are not very straight, which can result in one side of the rear being higher than the front. If it levels out after you disconnect them, at least you know what it was! I would agree that the nice thing about coilovers is that you can adjust them for little things like this.

That's a good idea to test it. I'll make another measurement this weekend to see if anything has changed. If it was the sway bar, there wouldn't be much I could do unless I got adjustable end links.