Uneven wheel gaps

I was wondering if Subarus come factory with uneven left to right wheel gaps.

 

It's obvious that Subarus have larger gaps up front, but what about left and right? I have at least an inch difference in the right and left rears with my coilovers set up the same. And to boot, the right front and left rear are lower than the other two. How can opposite corners be lower? Seems like that goes against the laws of physics.

Maybe I should rephrase my question. Did anyone's car come from the factory with one wheel gap that was significantly smaller than the other three? Maybe the back left?

You better get your alignment checked. If one wheel is "set back" furthur than the other side you could have a problem. Measure your wheelbase left vs right and you will get an idea if you have a set back problem.

 

Does it pull?

are you parked on an even surace when checking it? and do you have so extra weight in your car?

Check all the tires and see if they are the same size. When OP said "the right front and left rear are lower than the other two" makes me think that there were different size tires on the front and rear at some point and then someone rotated the tires and didn't size match them when they put them back on. Just a SAG/WAG.

Also, measure from the ground to the center of the tire well arch all the way around and see exactly how far off you are and which corner has the issue. You might also want to check and see if all the springs are seated correctly and the top spring mount bolts are tight.

^ No, the OP is right...I think this has been addressed in the past.

On my car, the driver side has less of a gap than the passenger side. I didn't notice this on the stock springs...maybe because the gaps were much larger. When I dropped the car on iONs, I noticed it because the driver side looks hot as hell, and the passenger side...not so much. I am also picky. There is an old thread around here that discusses this, and I think it is just generally accepted to be an engineering defect. No real fix for this. Coilovers can address this situation, but I don't think the fix is correct because then one side of your car has different amounts of travel than the other.... More heavy weights need to weigh in on this.

Springs aren't that accurate.

New tires all around, same size. Car was just aligned. Same coilover settings, measured from the bottom of the hat down to the fixed housing. Preload, while it shouldn't matter, is also the same. There is a one INCH difference from the flat pavement to fender.

^That's about the difference I experience in my situation.

Again, it isn't the springs...like I said, there is a thread here, I wish I could find it...where people have posted that have springs...all different kinds as well as coilovers and the difference is still there.

Found the link:

 

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48855

i didn't notice anything with the stock springs, but a day or two after i swapped them with sti pinks (supposedly new)

i saw that my driver's side rear gap was smaller then the other side. I had an alignment done two weeks later and

the problem remained. Since then (about 8 months) i have noticed that the drivers side rear gap fluctuates with

a difference between lowest and highest of about an inch, and only after like 3-4 miles of driving. Maybe, if i can swap

the shocks+springs in the rear i can see if the problem swaps sides also...

any advice? tia.

I have the same issue on my car, lowered with pinks. For some reason the driver side rear has less wheel gap than the passenger side. I measured from the body to the ground on both sides, and the measurements were approximately the same. So it seems the car is actually level, the wheel gaps are just different.

 

I've just decided to not care that the gaps are different, since the handling is much improved now.

At least I am not going crazy.

its not uncommon for the left side to sag slighly more....

 

remember the steering rack (which is heavy) is on the left side and for the most part many of us drive alone so the left side will wear faster than the right side.

 

i had this happen on a honda i had and the only solution was coilovers...

I was thinking about that too. The battery is there also. Get it corner balanced and see how it sits.

I'm fed up of seeing my car listing to port, so I need to figure out a way to rectify the situation.

 

Has anyone tried using a spacer between the top hat and the body ?

 

This would be pretty easy to do on the rears, and I can't see it affecting anything. I'm going to measure up tonight, and see if I can get a 3/8" spacer made up for the weekend.

Search on "saggy butt shims". Someone was supposed to be making some spacers.

 

EDIT: Oh and Phil WFT is that yak snatch thing you got in your avatar?.

^ No, the OP is right...I think this has been addressed in the past.

On my car, the driver side has less of a gap than the passenger side. I didn't notice this on the stock springs...maybe because the gaps were much larger. When I dropped the car on iONs, I noticed it because the driver side looks hot as hell, and the passenger side...not so much. I am also picky. There is an old thread around here that discusses this, and I think it is just generally accepted to be an engineering defect. No real fix for this. Coilovers can address this situation, but I don't think the fix is correct because then one side of your car has different amounts of travel than the other.... More heavy weights need to weigh in on this.

 

Exactly what happened to me when I put Ions on.

Is there any way to adjust the tilt via the sway bars?

Is there any way to adjust the tilt via the sway bars?

 

Nope. Sway bars add zero spring rate when the car is level.