Car Tilts to the Left...

It seems that when my car sits on even pavement, the car tends to lilt or lean to the left, as if it has a load in it... Tire pressures are not an issue... Anyone have this strange issue? Just curious...

lose some weight!!

 

seriously though....most Legacy's I've seen do this. I think +/- 1 inch side to side is considered within factory spec.

Yup. When it came to my spec. B, tolerances weren't strict. Leans on driver's side, exhaust lower on driver's side, big gap between doors and b-pillar on drive's side, and driver's side rear door simply a different hue than the rest of the car. SOA and dealerships have all but told me to deal with it. As much as the exterior of my car pisses me off aesthetically and SOA sucks, I'll buy another, no other car wets my palette like a Subaru, except maybe an M5, but it's got no AWD. Next time though, I'll conduct a more thorough pre-purchase inspection.

i just walked out of my office to check mine. its even side to side , the panel gaps are all even. my exhaust was hanging lower on one side though when i got it.

i tweaked the mounting tabs on the muffler and voila. all fixed

Well, I'm a massive 185 pounds... So yeah, I'd like to lose some weight.. LOL, but really, it's minor, I know but I'm crazy about the car. I've noticed little issues with the car, I mean, it is just a car... Not perfect... But, I will say, it's about as good as a modern car gets. And I believe the car will last a long time. Leaning or not. I did, however notice uneven panel gaps, even slightly rusting mufflers on a car with 13000 miles. Would I get another? Oh yeah!

just make sure it's not from broken springs, struts, etc...

For sure, double check that there isn't anything wrong with your suspension first. Take off the wheels and inspect it.

 

However, my guess is that it's normal. Spring tolerances aren't that good. I order custom titanium springs from Renton Coil for mucho $$$ (not for cars) and even then their spring tolerances aren't that good. For precision springs, the engineer provides a critical tolerance like I want the spring to measure xxx+-yyy inches when the load is zzz+-aaa lbs and all other tolerances are hell. My guess is that automotive springs are wound with generic wire tolerances plus coil tolerances etc... and all the tolerances just stack up so that the 1G static coil length is off.

 

I set up my coilovers so that the car looks balanced when it's sitting on a flat surface. However, anyone who auto-x will tell me that this is wrong. The coilovers should be set up so that the car is corner balanced with the driver in the car to prevent teeter-tottering in a turn.

 

Take everything out of your car and post some dimensions.

 

BTW, did you notice that one of your muffler tips may be lower than the other. 8^)

I order custom titanium springs from Renton Coil for mucho $$$ (not for cars) and even then their spring tolerances aren't that good.

 

I just looked these up... Ti springs...and :icon_surp:icon_surp:icon_surp:icon_surp:icon_surp:icon_surp

 

What about cost?

 

Titanium alloy suitable for spring manufacture is approximately 40 times more expensive than spring making steel alloys. Since the titanium spring is typically 60% as heavy as steel we can assume the material required costs about 25 times as much. At first glance this would appear prohibitive. In practice the retail price of the spring is rarely this high, though it is often 4 to 5 times as much. It is important to look at the actual cost of the weight savings and improved performance.

Examples

 

Ti valve springs for pro stock drag racing: Titanium springs are run 5-8 times as many times down the track. A set of steel springs cost $400 and a titanium set costs $1750. The per-use cost of Steel is $400. The per use cost of titanium is $1750/5 = $350. In addition time and labor is saved as the springs do not need to be changed in between each race. Titanium springs deliver higher performance (stable at higher RPM) for slightly less cost.

 

http://www.coilspring.com/performance/why_titanium/

 

OMFG, they're expensive!!!

Yeah, its probably a spring issue... You don't think a pot hole would have caused it? I'm going for an alignment in 2,000 miles, I guess they'll check. No matter how careful you are, you need an alignment ever 15K, my theory...

 

I mean, I'm normally the only one in the car, do a ton of highway driving, maybe I wore the left side more that the right? As for the pipes out the back, shockingly, they're pretty even. But You could almost expect them to be off...

If a pothole caused it, it will be a big problem.

 

Potholes don't cause permanent deformation of springs. Potholes bend suspension components. You'll know when you go in for an alignment because they won't be able to align it.

Yeah, I saw pics I took of the car when I first got it... Looks like it leans to the left just a smidge. Strange... Oh well... It's a crooked car, I guess. Maybe it needs it's V8 in the morning. OKay, bad joke...

Park on un-even pavement and Voila!! problem solved! ......... NEXT!!?

get an alignment

Perhaps look underneath to see if your swaybars are binding or preloading somehow. I've heard of this in the past (not with LGTs though).

 

Aside from tilting, does it feel normal while driving around turns, over bumps, etc.?

That's normal, unless the tilting is very noticeable.

Car drives normal, feels normal... But if you look at it from the front or back, you'll notice it leans to the left, as if it has a really fat man driving it. It just occured to me too. Strange.

mine does the same thing too sometimes. some other times it likes to sit flat. i guess it has something to do with the battery. my hondas leaned to the right (the side with the battery)

Measure from wheel hub to top of fender's wheel arch for each wheel and post. I'll try to dig up the specs--your dealer should have done that for you if they claim it's within spec.

 

It really shouldn't look like that. And, no the battery, which is what 30-ish pounds, won't make your car list to the left like that.

Well, I measured from the fender arch-lip to the center of the wheel, the cap. Here are my measurements. Now, keep in mind, the rear acrch has a black lip, about 1/4 inch thick. I measured from the bottom of the black lip in the back, not the metal fender...

 

LF 14.5" RF 15.0"

LR 14.0" RR 14.5"

 

So, in total, the car leans left 1/2 inch. What do you all think?

 

seriously though....most Legacy's I've seen do this. I think +/- 1 inch side to side is considered within factory spec.

The entire country tilted to the left last week.

Before I changed over to coilovers, mine were off by 1/2 inch. Maybe a little more.

get an alignment

 

:lol:

 

seriously though ,my wagon tilts a tad to the left also.

Yeah, I saw pics I took of the car when I first got it... Looks like it leans to the left just a smidge. Strange... Oh well... It's a crooked car, I guess. Maybe it needs it's V8 in the morning. OKay, bad joke...

 

In a second i thought u mean V8 as the engine...

after 10 seconds of holding my head, i think you mean the veg. juice?

lol...put a real fat dude in the passenger seat...problem solved.