Replaced car suspension…sitting higher.

Just had shocks and springs replaced on car and the front is now sat higher than the rear, noticeably so. Garage said that is to be expected as they are new and the rear 10years old…truth or bullshine?

Looks silly and is noticeable from the inside when driving, is it likely to settle?

What is the car ?

Likely the old ones had sagged.

When i changed the springs on my 4×4 the rear springs had sagged so much it was touching bump stops- when replaced it looked a bit silly but it was how it was designed to be

Otoh – it may be that you have the small petrol engine and they have used the springs from the big hevy diesel.

1.8 Vectra.

Reckon its 2+ cm higher. Maybe its just me and I’m so used to how it was, annoying though, don’t fancy replacing rear springs just to make it match again.

Wasnt one of the sportier models was it ? Or just a boggo ? 2cm higher on new unsagged springs isnt unreasonable . Mines was 1.5inches higher after replacement with like for like. But it was the height it was designed to be,

It sagged again about 0.25inch again over a few weeks though. In another 15 years it might be back on the stops 🙂

Yeah its an SRi but they supposedly ordered the right ones as they had to wait for them to be delivered and again allegedly measured springs up to confirm.

Watch this space I guess 😐

Took a while for mine to settle on my old Fiesta, I guess they dropped by about 1-2 cm over the course of a week or two. Still sat higher than the ones that came out.

Ok so 2cm may have been generous. Centre of wheel to bottom of arch is 41cm on the front 35cm on the rear so 6cm.

Can’t see it settling in that much so I’ll just have to get over it I guess.

Can’t see it settling in that much so I’ll just have to get over it I guess.

I can’t comment on your car, and I’m no expert, but I did have new springs fitted to an MX5 I owned. It was well known that incompetent mechanics ie main dealers had a tendancy to fit them incorrectly, which resulted in the car sitting too high.

6 cm is a huge difference, I would be accepting that. Ask for a copy of the part order. So you can check yourself if they have ordered the right one.

It should take you much googling to find out what the correct ride height should be for your car.

RDL-82 – Member

Ok so 2cm may have been generous. Centre of wheel to bottom of arch is 41cm on the front 35cm on the rear so 6cm.

Can’t see it settling in that much so I’ll just have to get over it I guess.
Posted 14 minutes ago # Report-Post

Can you find another car to compare with, rather than front against back on yours?

Although usually similar, arch shape/design may vary front to back so cannot be a guarantee of a difference. Left to right defiantly.

As well as above, check the spring is aligned on the strut properly. There is a notch the end of the coil should but up against to stop rotation on the base plate. If it’s on top of that it’ll be raised. Also the upper mount.

6cm is too much on a car.

At least on my 4×4 the spring was 2ft long.

Is it possible it was lowered and now has a mix of lowerin spring and standard spring

Garage said two spring lengths available and that they matched them to my old ones. Shock shouldn’t be an issue, as I understand it as its the spring that determines height.

Defo fitted right on the shock base plate. They are a good genuine place with a good rep, just seems high.

Could the base plate be higher on the new shocks than on standard Vauxhall parts as these are just oem spec as Vauxhall wanted just shy of £400 just for parts.

Dunno about regular car springs but Land Rover springs are painted with coloured stripes to denote the strength and intended place on the car. Worth checking?

Rather than measuring a spurious axle centre to wheel arch, what is the measurement from the bottom of the sill’s, front and rear to the ground?

I could imagine that on something like an SRi, it may have had its springs/shocks changed previously, so the suggestion above of a lowered set on the back may be the case.

They do sag, but not THAT much (my spanking new coilovers sagged ~10mm in the first 2 months and haven’t moved since, but the ones they replaced were about 20mm sagged over stock (but 24 years old!) You’re gonna have to either change the rears to match or prove that they have the wrong springs. Should be pretty easy to prove, the ride height details are usually available for most cars.

Looks like you’re not alone:
http://www.vectra-sport.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80436