[SeanC]

Hi,

I'm having some issues with regards to the rear ride height of my 2008 335D SE following an accident that damaged the rear suspension. According to the BMW specs I've seen the ride height is wrong and out of spec (when I measure it) at the back to such an extent the car seems to lean to the drivers side.

According to the BMW specs, the ride heights for my car with standard 17" alloy wheels (and run flats) should be

Front 591mm
Rear 567mm

With a tolerance of +- 10mm and +- 10mm side to side

My car heights are around the following (note they change slightly depending on if the car is cold or hot (i.e. after a run)

N/S/F 596
O/S/F 589
N/S/R 593
O/S/R 578

The fronts are in tolerance, but the rears are both out of tolerance individually and when looking side to side they are also out of tolerance (15mm).

This is measured using a tape measure from the bottom of the middle of the wheel rim to the bottom of the wheel arch lip. No preconditions are given and I have tried with both a full tank and nearly empty tank without too much change. The bodyshop are now saying that the car has to be fully loaded for these measurements now....and the've measured other cars with a similar variation.

When they put the car on the KDS they are always in spec because the limits are -20 to +40mm.......a 60mm variation! Anyone else had there's KDS'd...do you have the printout?

What I would like to ask is if any owners of this car could take a couple of minutes to measure their car's ride height and let me know the results.

My car is also prone to drift to the left when you let go of the steering.....not violently but gently over a distance at speed. But then sometimes will do it to the right. I drove another 335D and this was the same but perhaps not as bad.....is this a common trait as well, or just variation in the suspension geometry setups.

Sorry for the long post.....its just I'm getting pissed off now with BMW....

Cheers

Sean

[mikem]

Sean if its the same as the E46 the drivers side always sits lower due the battery being on this side and the car being primarily designed for LHD. I can`t remember if my E90 was the same `tho.

[red-max]

Sean, I've got the 18" wheels, but I'm happy to help if I can, after all it seems that it's the difference from one side to the other that you're concerned with.

Where exactly are you measuring from? Any chance of a picture?

[SeanC]

RedMax,

The ride heights for 18" wheels are fronts 603mm and rear 580mm.

If you look at the wheel, find the lowest part of the rim (closest to the groun) and hook the end of your tape measure to that and pull the tape up vertically so it passes through the centre of the wheel and take the measurement at the bottom of the wheelarch lip. I'm going off the outer curved edge of the lip and not the inner part of the lip (though BMW info doesn't provide any more detail than this).

Does that make sense?

Many thanks.

[SeanC]

Originally Posted by mikem

Sean if its the same as the E46 the drivers side always sits lower due the battery being on this side and the car being primarily designed for LHD. I can`t remember if my E90 was the same `tho.

Surely they would design this into the ride heights and keep it level, especially when you then put a driver in and potentially make it worse!

I can visually see the difference between the gap on the NSR wheel arch and the OSR wheel arch and even the Service manager didn't think this was right....though he never seemed to offer his expertise to the bodyshop as he suggested he would....

[mikem]

LOL, its a well doccumented fact on the E46 both my saloon and `vert had it (`tho only aroun 10mm) the only way to dial it out is to fit height adjustable susp. I can`t remember if my E90 was the same `tho, I`d be surprised if its not.

[red-max]

Originally Posted by SeanC

RedMax,

The ride heights for 18" wheels are fronts 603mm and rear 580mm.

If you look at the wheel, find the lowest part of the rim (closest to the groun) and hook the end of your tape measure to that and pull the tape up vertically so it passes through the centre of the wheel and take the measurement at the bottom of the wheelarch lip. I'm going off the outer curved edge of the lip and not the inner part of the lip (though BMW info doesn't provide any more detail than this).

I just measured mine on the driveway:

N/S/F 612
O/S/F 606
N/S/R 588
O/S/R 582

So a little lower on the driver's side, not quite as much as yours. Mine's done 28K miles (mostly with me in it alone), if that makes any difference.

[SeanC]

Hi Redmax,

Thanks for taking the time to measure your ride heights.

It looks like all yours are in tolerance......

:-(

Cheers

Sean

[AlanQS]

I posted a while ago about mine which had an obvious height difference on the rear wheels, one side being 17 to 25mm higher than the other side. The dealer measured it and claimed the difference was 9.5mm - within tolerance. Over the months since, it seems to have settled down a bit and isn't so obvious. The only thing that had been done to it was a change from 17" to 19" wheels.

[coodem]

You need to make sure your car has been parked on an absalute level surface, or you won't get accurate/meaningful readings

[SeanC]

Originally Posted by coodem

You need to make sure your car has been parked on an absalute level surface, or you won't get accurate/meaningful readings

Even when I place my car on our MOT ramp (which has to be level) I get the same readings......

[mikem]

As I said I doubt the Left and Right will ever be the same but yours does seem a little too much out, have they replaced a damper or spring at the rear only on one side ? If so it`ll need a little time to settle.

[SeanC]

Originally Posted by mikem

As I said I doubt the Left and Right will ever be the same but yours does seem a little too much out, have they replaced a damper or spring at the rear only on one side ? If so it`ll need a little time to settle.

They've replace all 4 arms, hub, bearing, wheel & tyre.....the damper and spring are probably the only two items they haven't replaced...... Its done about 1000 miles now, but has been back in 3 times...

[jwbmw]

On standard 17" wheels (flat but compacted gravel surface), my readings were


OSF - 595
NSF - 600
OSR - 575
NSR - 575

For the record left fuel tank had 20 litres in it and the right fuel tank was 31 litres and the car has covered 25,000 miles

[dxb335d]

where are you measruing to and from? i want to check mine.

[jwbmw]

Explained in the opening post carlos