Lopsided

[Steve george]

Hi there
I'm new to this so you'll have to bare with me not even sure what I'm writing will be posted? Just picked up my new car absolutely delighted with it having owned an E 46 M3 and never really knew what all the hype was about the CSL until I drove one but now I do all I can say is I regretted selling my M3 and I cannot see me parting with this one for a while if ever!! The problem is it seems to be a little bit low on the off side rear approximately 10 mm on level ground is this normal? The car is in excellent order subframe all checked in fact it has had a resin injected to reinforce it which was not a repair just a preventative measure, don't want to keep on driving the car if it's going to scrub off the rear tyres as they appear to be reasonably new, i'm sure everything is as it should be I'm just perhaps a little bit of a nervous new owner.

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Steve george

Hi there
I'm new to this so you'll have to bare with me not even sure what I'm writing will be posted? Just picked up my new car absolutely delighted with it having owned an E 46 M3 and never really knew what all the hype was about the CSL until I drove one but now I do all I can say is I regretted selling my M3 and I cannot see me parting with this one for a while if ever!! The problem is it seems to be a little bit low on the off side rear approximately 10 mm on level ground is this normal? The car is in excellent order subframe all checked in fact it has had a resin injected to reinforce it which was not a repair just a preventative measure, don't want to keep on driving the car if it's going to scrub off the rear tyres as they appear to be reasonably new, i'm sure everything is as it should be I'm just perhaps a little bit of a nervous new owner.

. Hi Steve , am sure you’re going to love the car, worth checking the rear springs. As they can snap. tend to just break about 100 mm off , done a few on mine, no big deal.. worth checking

[Steve george]

Originally Posted by Chad

. Hi Steve , am sure you’re going to love the car, worth checking the rear springs. As they can snap. tend to just break about 100 mm off , done a few on mine, no big deal.. worth checking

Cheers for the reply, yer will check the springs, that said also been looking at other forums and seems to be a common fault as originally intended to be a left-hand drive so sits down on offside in order to compensate the left-hand driver?? Lots of talk about 10mm and 12mm 15mm pads to sit on OSR spring which will bring car level, anyway it's a small glitch in what's a fantastic car, still got the heavy foot syndrome just love that engine sound I'm like a kid in a sweet shop

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Steve george

Cheers for the reply, yer will check the springs, that said also been looking at other forums and seems to be a common fault as originally intended to be a left-hand drive so sits down on offside in order to compensate the left-hand driver?? Lots of talk about 10mm and 12mm 15mm pads to sit on OSR spring which will bring car level, anyway it's a small glitch in what's a fantastic car, still got the heavy foot syndrome just love that engine sound I'm like a kid in a sweet shop

The different part numbers on front springs. Heavier springs on cars with air conditioning

[Monkey]

I would also make absolutely sure you're on a flat ground as well, it only takes the smallest descrepancy to make a big difference to the ride height.

As Chad says, rear springs are very common so certainly worth checking there as well.

Congrats on buying a CSL

[GregorFuk]

These cars are designed to have as close to 50/50 - 50/50 weight distribution as possible. With the driver installed. That's why the battery is on the offside, to counter the driver weight. This means with the driver installed the car sits nice and level. The problem? This only applies to left hand drive cars (The majority of CSLs and all 3 Series for that matter). BMW never reengineered this balancing act for right hand drive cars. So when a RHD car is viewed on the flat it will always sit lower on the drivers side. This is exacerbated because over time the springs will sag a little on the drivers side due to all weight being on that side.

I tried to level mine up a little when I fitted my Bilstein Coilovers but as the spring rates are the same all round you can never correct the lean completely. The other option would be to carry a sack of potatoes in the passenger footwell.

[Steve george]

Originally Posted by GregorFuk

These cars are designed to have as close to 50/50 - 50/50 weight distribution as possible. With the driver installed. That's why the battery is on the offside, to counter the driver weight. This means with the driver installed the car sits nice and level. The problem? This only applies to left hand drive cars (The majority of CSLs and all 3 Series for that matter). BMW never reengineered this balancing act for right hand drive cars. So when a RHD car is viewed on the flat it will always sit lower on the drivers side. This is exacerbated because over time the springs will sag a little on the drivers side due to all weight being on that side.

I tried to level mine up a little when I fitted my Bilstein Coilovers but as the spring rates are the same all round you can never correct the lean completely. The other option would be to carry a sack of potatoes in the passenger footwell.

Cheers for all the info and advice think I will do what monkey suggested and make sure it is on absolute level ground before I start taking the rear wheels off to check the springs, was not aware that they are so sensitive to uneven ground which could make it look far worse than it probably is, there is a carpark that has just been re-surfaced with fresh tarmac near me probably won't get any more level than that, if it still looks like it's on the piss I will do what Chad suggests and check the springs 🙂

[Pip1968]

I had a similar issue. After a bit of a fuss BMW changed both the rear springs under warranty but from memory it was still a little skew.

Niether spring was broken but mileage was only 35,000 ish.

Pip

[GregorFuk]

Like I said, the car is balanced that way. Unless you put stiffer springs on the drivers it's always going to sag.

[Chad]

Rear ride height