Suspension looks to be Tilted to the Left!

This is true on my Pri. I was measuring when installing my wheels and then my new springs. In all three instances (stock, new rims, new springs)...the left side of the car is anywhere from one quarter to one half inch lower. Keep in mind I am measuring from the top of the fender to the ground. Not noticeable...so just information I suppose. I did see one post on here where the tilt was quite noticeable however...you would have to do a search to find it.

 

thanks man...same to you. I like your wheels...the two cars definitely look very similar. The only reason why I found out is because of the measurements which were intended to understand height difference with the changes. I honestly have not stood in front of or behind the car to check. And now I will not...cause I will likely see it and it will bug the crap out of me...lol.

on a side note...what mpg you pushing with your setup? I just bought mine...so I have to assume I will see some slight improvement in mileage when it warms up.

 

I noticed this on mine as well. The left rear is 1/2" lower than the right rear (measured from ground to fender lip and from hub to fender lip). I was contemplating lowering springs when I noticed this.

Looked under the rear at the springs and measured the compression of the coils. Lo and behold, the left spring was compressed more at each coil than the right. Being the curious type - really just wanted to see how difficult it would be to change springs, I swapped the left and right springs. The difference was still there.

At first, I was thinking one of the springs was sagging but swapping them ruled this out. Only thing I can think of is that the left side is heavier. I've seen quite a few other Prii (sp?) with the same listing appearance. There is a thread somewhere here about an irate '10 owner with the lean.

Maybe coilovers will level it out.

Found link but won't let me post it: priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/52014-inspect-very-carfully-before-purchasing.html

 

Hello, I personally had not noticed that the left side is lower than the right, but that makes me think about my experience after installing coilovers.

I rub every now and then left front tire only, even though both sides "should" be equally as low. Just reading this thread makes me wonder and want to go back measure gaps on all 4s.

Since I do have coilovers, maybe I can adjust the left side to go a bit higher than right to compensate the extra weight. I mean, the issue is so much more weight on the left that it seems off compared to the right, right?

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned this, but it is a commonly known fact that most Prius owners lean to the left; some are way out to the left. Most likely this has caused a bias in the suspension system.



Tom

 

I measured my Prius' heights and the left side is about 5mm (1/4") higher than the right side. Since all the previous posts were from people who drive on the right (wrong ) side of the road I think that the height difference may have something to do with the camber of the road. The passenger side being higher than the driver side may compensate for the road being lower on the passenger side? Perhaps members from other countries who drive on the left side of the road could check also?

 

Hi I am new to this forum. I bought my new Prius two weeks ago. I have the same issue with the rear driver side being noticeably lower. I began to notice at 300 mi and I thought perhaps it's the not-so-leveled pavement. I already logged to date 700 miles but prior to driving it this morning, I finally took a meter stick and here's photos of the rear left and right wheels.

The photos are all in centimeters as pictured and measured up to bottom of fender. The left rear is about 26.3 inches equivalent (sorry can't use html link as of now). Second thumbnail for right rear is about 27.25 inches equivalent.

I took it to the dealership today but because it's 90s in San Diego right now and dealership was 30 miles away, the tires obviously have expanded. Dealer measured and the left is in fact lower but not so much. It was 26.9375 on the left rear and 27.125 on the right a difference of .1875. Both rear tires have the same pressure at time of measurement

So should I ignore it and digest the fact that it is a common problem?

Thanks for any thoughts

 

Looks to me like your tire diameters are the same. The difference appears to be the suspension ride height.



In both cases the edge of the tread is at 60cm -- constant tire diameter.
Looks to me like one strut is riding with 2.5cm more extension than the other.

 

I noticed this today too, It is definitely tilted at left,..

 

Me too. I know from experience when putting jack stands on the rear: always check if it's raised enough on the driver's side, the other side will have plenty of clearance. FWIW: our previous Civic Hybrid was the same. Maybe due to one person driving the car, putting more weight on the suspension on that side? Road camber doing something?

 

I think it may due to hybrid components heavier on left side, that would be sound right as so many peoples are seeing same thing

 

The Civic battery was more on the drivers side I think. The Prius battery is pretty much balanced, maybe a bit more toward drivers side. The 12 volt, which weighs around 26 lb, is on passenger side, way in the corner.

 

As a large man I can say this, if the booty is big the car will lean while in it and then after a few years on its own.

I've had this issue on all my vehicles I've owned. From cars to trucks to Prii to TCHs...

Hell, one of my old 1984 Honda Civics DX HB I had to put a special lift on the drivers side cause it leaned so much when I got in.

The only car I think that didn't have this issue was my 1976 Ford Thunderbird, 460 cu in V8 dual carborator (8b) gas guzzling polluting behemoth. That thing was a tank and I don't think anything could have messed up that suspension.

 

My 2015 Prius noticeably (1” difference) tilts down on the driver side. I’m a 115 lb female, have driven car 110,000 miles, so I don’t think driver weight is the cause. Dealer said shocks ok, but still a tilt problem. Will try to find an independent trustworthy mechanic (is that a contradiction of terms?!)

 

Just had to measure the height after reading this. Owned for 5 years this September and never noticed the 1/2" difference in height on the drivers side (lower). Less than 50K on the car, we are both average weight folks. Anyone ever figured out why the discrepancy? Most interesting. Will measure when we pull our camper next time, the tongue weight is 150 pounds. I keep the tires at least 35 PSI, then bump them up to 38-40 when I tow. Very strange!!

 

Prius just has its own gansta lean.............to cool except for the cool to notice! Subaru ain't got nothin on this lean........LoL