what would cause a car to 'lower' itself?

[newaccorddriver]

well, my corolla is taking another shit again, this time its something related to the ride height. the front passenger side is lower then all the other corners of the car. anybody have any idea what it is? it suddenly happen although it happened a few weeks ago, so it wasnt sinking slowly. i talked to elijah, and he says it might be the lower ball joint. sounds about right?

[MessyHonda]

sturts....my dx had a blown one and it looked lower on one side than the other.

[Cheeseburger]

lol.....

[hotdoghogie]

ya struts buddy... notice how it bounces like heail whenu run over those speedy bumpers

[2oodoor]

lol.....
does that even count as a POST???? yep Im on my soapbox again bitching about the ridiculousness of the whoring. there was not even a joke or anything remotely funny there to 'lol' about.

anyway , some cars have torsion bar suspension in the front, so it is adjustable with a large bolt (like a turnbuckle). ,most likely a balljoint or control arm bushing on that car though---if it passes the strut test

[thegreatdane]

A blown strut will not make the car lower. UNLESS the piston in the strut is seized in a compressed position. That could happen if the strut has become leaky and water has seeped into the oil so that when it freezes the water will freeze to ice and jam the piston.
Likely common things could be: Spring perch has rusted loose from the strut and has fallen down , the spring has snapped over in 2 pieces or the spring is simply just worn out becoming shorter.

Uncommon things are bent suspension parts, rusted through strut towers. But those are things you are likely to notice very fast.

Failed balljoints or bushings will not make the car lower except perhaps for some few select suspension types.

[shepherd79]

actually, if your gas has gas filled struts. they can leak down and spring will sag a little.

[MessyHonda]

hehe.....like i said it happen to my dx....they were blown....when we took them out...put new ones in...with the 15 inch fat fives...man wut a diff...

[forrest89sei]

I'd Also say struts.

Because on my 1986 LX, whenever I'd hit a speed bump, my car would rub, also when you push down on the rear of the car, it gave no feedback.

But once I instaled my KYB GR-2's that went away and I noticed my car sat about 40% Higher then before.

[MessyHonda]

lol look at my car...this is like 2 days after i changed the sturts...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/Messybone/car/DSCF1606Small.jpg

[2oodoor]

lol look at my car...this is like 2 days after i changed the sturts...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/Messybone/car/DSCF1606Small.jpg
/WOW, that did raise it up .. A lot. Did it ever settle back down and if so how much. Was that picture taken right after having the car jacked up? It is normal to have them retain some expansion right after being lifted, then they settle out in a few minutes of driving.
I was wondering that because I finally put the 15 inch wheels on my LX this weekend and they scrap every once in a while, I think the struts are worn a little because they do not appear to be sticking out further than inside of the pinch flange of the wheel well. I will add too that with the car seems to run better as far as acceleration, (automatic) and drives much different, I like it.
Tires are worn out 195/60/15, I was thinking of new 205/60 but not sure now what size would be better, I know that your supposed to be able to use 205's with no problems.
Something else weird too is the RR wheel bearing used to make a little noise now it don't. scary.

[MessyHonda]

/WOW, that did raise it up .. A lot. Did it ever settle back down and if so how much. Was that picture taken right after having the car jacked up? It is normal to have them retain some expansion right after being lifted, then they settle out in a few minutes of driving.
I was wondering that because I finally put the 15 inch wheels on my LX this weekend and they scrap every once in a while, I think the struts are worn a little because they do not appear to be sticking out further than inside of the pinch flange of the wheel well. I will add too that with the car seems to run better as far as acceleration, (automatic) and drives much different, I like it.
Tires are worn out 195/60/15, I was thinking of new 205/60 but not sure now what size would be better, I know that your supposed to be able to use 205's with no problems.
Something else weird too is the RR wheel bearing used to make a little noise now it don't. scary.



nope the car was not lifted.....i just parked it on the street and when in to get my cam. my 15 inch rims did not rub at all....i have 195/60/15 tires on my lx-i and it does not rub..even with the old sturts...but they were not blown they only had 142k on them. i would not get 205/60/15 thats is way too big.... you might rub alot....i went with the 60 series since they had 60k of thread wear and the 55 series had 30k..... it has not settled down...but it looks better now since i have put my lx-i rims on my dx and the fat fives on my lx-i here is a resent pic of my car..


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/Messybone/Block%20cars/DSCF1989Small.jpg

[Ichiban]

Umm, considering that every gas charged strut I've run across, I could compress by hand. If the gas strut is exerting less force than my hand, why would it raise the height of the car? (can't do that with my hand)

[newaccorddriver]

i thought struts just control the ride quality and not the height itself? about the whole piston and frozen water thing, my grampas corolla uses a strut, is it prone to this kinda wear? im considering replacing the spring/strut altogether with a new one, or possibly a used one from the junkers and go from there

[2oodoor]

nope the car was not lifted.....i just parked it on the street and when in to get my cam. my 15 inch rims did not rub at all....i have 195/60/15 tires on my lx-i and it does not rub..even with the old sturts...but they were not blown they only had 142k on them. i would not get 205/60/15 thats is way too big.... you might rub alot....i went with the 60 series since they had 60k of thread wear and the 55 series had 30k..... it has not settled down...but it looks better now since i have put my lx-i rims on my dx and the fat fives on my lx-i here is a resent pic of my car..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/Messybone/Block%20cars/DSCF1989Small.jpg
well I reckon it dont scrub look at the clearance,, are you sure they are the right struts,, lol
that is awefully high.
anyway, thanks for the input.

[cygnus x-1]

I had a strange problem like this on my old Maxima during a particularly cold few days. I got in the car and drove to the mall. When I got out I noticed that one rear corner of the car was really low. I couldn't do anything at the moment so I just did my shopping, came back out (still low), and drove home. It was still low when I got home. Next day I go look at the car and it's not low anymore. I bounce that corner a few times and it seems fine. Get in and drive somewhere else, when I get there it's low again! WTF? Drive home and park. Look at it the next day, not low anymore. After that it never happened again. Only thing I can figure is that the strut was binding up because of the cold or something.

About shocks/struts; the shock/strut is there only to provide damping of the tendency for the springs to oscillate when you hit a bump. The springs are what support the weight of the car. Many shocks/struts do have some internal force that they exert that may have a small effect on ride height, but it's not meant to augment the springs in any way.

C|

[thegreatdane]

Yep gas charged struts might make a small hight difference when blown but it should be minimal unless your springs are worn out.

[Blkblurr]

Could be a broken coil spring on your strut. This is usually what causes this type of thing.