NC Eibach springs and uneven ride height

BobR · Post by **BobR** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:18 am

I just had the Eibach Prokit springs installed on my 2006 NC and found that the ride height is uneven side to side.

The front driver side measures close to .5" lower than the passenger side. In the rear it is not as bad but again the driver side is lower (maybe no more than .25").

Only about 30 miles driven since the installation. Total mileage on the car is around 1,200 miles.

I have read on Miata.net that some other's have reported their NC's also lean to the left but not as much as mine.

Will this even out over time or is it "normal" or typical for the ride height to be this uneven? If not, any suggestions as to what may be the cause?

Thanks in advance for any advice or recommendations.

Post by **Brian** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 7:57 am

Could simply be the order in which the bolts were torqued...particularly if one side was jacked up for install while the other side was on the ground. Should even out a bit on its own if given some more time....otherwise the bolts on the side of the car that is sitting higher can be loosened, the car bounced up and down and allowed to settle, and then torqued again.

BobR · Post by **BobR** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:10 am

Brian,

Thanks for the advice!!

I did what you suggested and now there is less than .125" difference between the right and left sides. This may be as good as it gets but I will get some time and miles on the springs, try this again and see if there is any further change.

Just for reference, I measured my stock Mazda 3 (30K miles) and it also has about the same difference (<.125") in ride height side to side.

Lyndon · Post by **Lyndon** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:49 pm

I too had the same problem with Eibach pro kit springs. I put them on myself and drove the car about a hundred miles or so and the passanger side was about 5/8 higher than the drivers side.. I had to replace the passanger side end link to the sway bar, because of something stupid I done durring spring installation (about $40) and let the car off the jack stand and it was even higher. I opened the passanger side door and laid a towel on the door sill, stood on the door sill and rocked the car back and fourth for about a minute and checked the center of the wheel ended up at about 14.5 rear and 14.25 front. Right rear is still about an 1/8th inch higher than the Left rear with a full tank of gas. Maybe I need to ask that slightly overweight woman at the gas station out for a dinner ride sometime.

v67gsr · Post by **v67gsr** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:53 pm

Lyndon wrote:I too had the same problem with Eibach pro kit springs. I put them on myself and drove the car about a hundred miles or so and the passanger side was about 5/8 higher than the drivers side.. I had to replace the passanger side end link to the sway bar, because of something stupid I done durring spring installation (about $40) and let the car off the jack stand and it was even higher. I opened the passanger side door and laid a towel on the door sill, stood on the door sill and rocked the car back and fourth for about a minute and checked the center of the wheel ended up at about 14.5 rear and 14.25 front. Right rear is still about an 1/8th inch higher than the Left rear with a full tank of gas. Maybe I need to ask that slightly overweight woman at the gas station out for a dinner ride sometime.

Loose all suspension bushing and tight them up again.

Bushing preload can account as much as 1/2 ride height.

Lyndon · Post by **Lyndon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:23 pm

Thanks V67. I'll try that, I did get the alignment done since the spring installation but I have 6 months of free alignments. since alignment I'm sitting 14 1/8 on both front the rear is 14 1/2 (left rear) 14 3/4 (RR) stock bilstiens. How low should she go? stock 17" 205/45.