Hey all, I need your help. I bought a new suspension (AGX shocks and Progress Springs), and had it installed at a professinal suspension shop. Now, 2 months later I walk outside to my car and find the front right side is raised up about .75 inches! (I measured the wheel gap with a ruler). And when I press down on the right side it's reluctant to give, and makes a loud creaking sound. My freakin car is lopsided!
What could be happening? This was professionally installed just two months ago! My car has 140,000 miles, and I didn't have the strut mounts replaced. Could bad strut mounts have something to do with this?

Thanks for your help.

 

There are a few causes for this problem

1) the spring was not inserted correctly. Jack up the car and see if the bottom of the spring is resting in the spring stop on the strut. If not, just turn the strut until it falls into place

2) most likely. You have a frozen strut. Need to replace it. I think AGX is KYB if i'm not mistaken. They should have a lifetime warranty

3) Springs are defective. I have never heard of Progress. You might have a defective spring. One that doesnt 'give' as much as the others.

4) The front strut mount is turned. There is an arrow on top of the strut mount. This arrow must point a certain way (I think its out). If you have one pointing out and another pointing in, the height will be different.

Make sure you park on level ground. .75 inches is not really that bad. What you should be concerned about is having to pay for 2 new struts if theyre not covered because of your springs. I'd go back to the shop. This is one reason why I always use Eibach or H&R. You really get what you pay for

 

The strut being frozen sounds like the most plausible problem. The car was fine for about 2 months after the install, then one night it just looked like this. I never knew KYB to have poor reliability, can the struts really freeze up after just two months?

 

Another n00b learns why he should do all his own work instead of letting "the professionals" do it.

 

That's not really helpful..

 

I've done 3 suspension installs and it seems I'm more of a professional than your mechanic.

 

Is this just on one corner of the car, or both F&R on one side?

 

The whole side is elevated, F&R, but the front is noticeably higher than the rear.

 

I'd go back to the shop. Have them fix your ****.

 

Okay, now is the side-to-side difference for the front GREATER than the side-to-side difference in the rear, or are you saying that the front is worse because the gap is simply bigger?

What is the difference between one side and the other, in inches or cenitmeters?

 

The side to side difference in the front is greater. If you look at the car from the front it is very noticeable. From the rear, not so noticeable but still there. The difference in the gap between the front right and left side is .75". I haven't measured the rear.

 

Sounds like the springs are not clocked or seated properly. Was it always like this, or did it just happen?

The strut failure theory sounds the most plausable.

 

It just happened, after two months. The only other trouble I had was the car would pull to the left or right. I had the alignment done twice and it was perfect, so we guessed the strut mounts were deteriorated and the car would mash them down and lean to one side or the other.
But yeah.. car was perfectly level for two months, then bam its lopsided.

 

 

questions, is the wheel properly inflated? did you break in the springs properly. it usually takes 2 weeks for springs to settle. hope you didnt park on a slant for 2 weeks.

 

This was 2 months after getting the srpings put on that they started having problems. I bet it's a frozen strut, and I'm hoping KYB will have it under warranty. The springs were a 1.7" drop, do you think that would void the warranty?

Yeah the tires are inflated the same.

 

Progress should not void the warranty. They have no way of knowing what springs you are on, anyway...

 

OK................You need to bring out that shop...They do some ****ty work

 

Unless I just have a defective shock.. I'll take the car in tomorrow to them and have them look at it. See if they did something wrong..

 

i had the same problem. i installed the myself though. to correct the trouble you must take off the shock and spring. their is the word "out" stamped on the top of the metal collar.(it looks like a mushroom). it must in line with the part of the shock where you put the two bolts through. you will have to compress the spring to do this. the mushroom will come off of the rubber grommet. spin the mushroom around keeping the rubber grommet in place. sorry so primative and no pictures. i actually did the front right last night. i will do the back right later.

 

Bluman was your problem apparent the day after the struts were put on, or did it take a couple months to occur?

 

a couple of days. i just thought that it was the settling in period.