330CDT Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Hi guys, Just had a quick look at my car in the car park and noticed it's looking a bit 'low' on the offside rear. Can only fit my hand in and the opposite side is normal height. Is this a typical case of 'spring gone'? It had 2 new ones about a year before I bought it. Am I safe to drive it? Haven't noticed anything different when driving. Wondering what springs to replace with and whether to bother with any lowering springs... Here's some pics of the low side rear.. Normal side: ... Any help appreciated ! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennno2005 Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Could well be springs gone again - you'll have to check. They always break at the base. I've read about E46s being uneven from factory which some people live with, others buy different thickness rear spring pads to compensate for it. If its just something you've only just noticed I'd have thought it would be a snapped spring. In terms of replacing them I can recommend Eibach Pros - they don't give much of a drop at all but stiffen things up nicely without making the ride crashy and can be had for less than the price of two new rears. 330CDT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rasa Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 nearly always lokk a little lower on offside,battery sits on the rear arch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 BMW spec, as denoted on tis, says ride height should be within a couple of mm left to right. (I did have a print screen, but it was years ago, and am not trawling through photo bucket right now). Its not meant to lean by design, or because of the battery, or because of fuel loads. Its broken/worn somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mugs Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) i went through this with the z3 and i have found the same with my e46 vert. the common answer is: BMW made the offside lower than the nearside as the cars were made to be LHD and this was done purposely so the ride height would even itself out with the driver sat in the car. i find it is not as noticeable in the vert as it has a large overhang on the rear bumper whereas the Z3 had a shallow bumper and showed it up even more. the zed had a 15mm difference between the 2 sides. what i did was buy a 15mm lower spring pad (standard thickness was 5mm) and this did the trick. for every 5mm of pad thickness it raises the car 7.5mm (1.5 x the thickness) so what you need to do is measure the gap difference to get the desired thickness of pad. remember to add the thickness of the original pad. for example, if the nearside is 15mm higher than the offside, add 10mm to the thickness of the original pad and that's the thickness of the pad you need. hope it helps? Edited February 15, 2016 by Mugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerFish Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Edit - got it working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
330CDT Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Thanks alot guys. It turns out I'm literally homer simpson as when I pulled away I noticed a sort of clunk and bounced back up. I was in a rush this morning and may have pulled the handbrake slightly too early at 1mph and it's sucked it down... Such an idiot. Interesting to hear it wasn't designed to be exactly the same ride height at the rear - can't believe that! Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
