Help with suspension please.

[Kakodaemon]

No, not really...
You could remove the springs, measure their free length, then measure them under an equal load, and check for differences.
But if you were to remove the springs, you might want to replace them with new ones.
How many kms on the GTS?

I'm a fairly well mechanically minded person but taking the springs off to mess around especially with an expensive car that is my only car is a tad out of my comfort zone she's done 85,5xx would have thought the springs would last longer than that but I'm not the first owner

 

[Kakodaemon]

Ok so the big question is..... is it something serious? Can it be left alone for a little while?
Reason being is that i procrastinated about getting some mods for the last 9-12 months while saving money and have finally decided, literally Monday this week, to do something and get some quotes which i received a firm quote this morning which was pretty good. I planned on either booking it in tomorrow or waiting until Monday but now if i have spend x amount to fix this i might have to reconsider some if not all of the mods
I'm also working on a small time frame of being able to get the car to the shop and get a lift home again then get to work for a few days then get someone to take me to get my car again.
This timing just sucks if this is serious and expensive and stops my other plans then I'm proof there is a god and he hates me... feelings mutual though.

 

[lmoengnr]

Ok so the big question is..... is it something serious? Can it be left alone for a little while?
Reason being is that i procrastinated about getting some mods for the last 9-12 months while saving money and have finally decided, literally Monday this week, to do something and get some quotes which i received a firm quote this morning which was pretty good. I planned on either booking it in tomorrow or waiting until Monday but now if i have spend x amount to fix this i might have to reconsider some if not all of the mods
I'm also working on a small time frame of being able to get the car to the shop and get a lift home again then get to work for a few days then get someone to take me to get my car again.
This timing just sucks if this is serious and expensive and stops my other plans then I'm proof there is a god and he hates me... feelings mutual though.

I don't think its too serious, as it sounds like you still have close to normal suspension travel.
Springs do sag, more so on the right hand side as the driver is the most common load in the car...

Have you compared the front springs as well?

 

[Kakodaemon]

I don't think its too serious, as it sounds like you still have close to normal suspension travel.
Springs do sag, more so on the right hand side as the driver is the most common load in the car...

Have you compared the front springs as well?

I'm the only one that drives my car so what you trying to say there ... only kidding I'm no skinny underwear model but the springs should be able to handle my bourbon belly

Only visually compared font springs not done the ever accurate 2 finger gap test but they seem to be ok, just the rear divers side is different.

 

[lmoengnr]

Measure vertically from the wheel center to the mudguard lip on both rear wheels and see what the difference is.
And I wasn't alluding to anything about the drivers weight...

 

[MattSAU2XR8]

I've seen a few VE commodores sitting low on the right.

Till recently I had a 2007 VE SS with only 50 kkms on it. RHS sat about 1 cm lower than left both front and back, which looked quite odd.

Changed the springs out for brand new Pedders (lowered) and Koni shocks and still had the same list.

Seems pretty unlikely that Pedders or Koni managed to sell me some parts that continued exactly the same problem?

And can't really blame it on bushes etc, particularly at the front where the weight is transmitted directly from inner guard -> strut top -> spring -> strut body -> front axle

My theory is the body had deformed very slightly from being run over speed humps with the left side wheels in the gutter so only the rights hit the speed hump, possibly with a heavy load on board. The guard (front) or rail (rear) would only need to move about 6.5 mm for the wheel to move 10 mm. And given if they were within about 3 mm side to side this would be great, we're only really looking at about 4 mm of deflection.

In the end I just made up some spacers to sit on top of the rear strut mounts and front springs (front were quite complicated...)

Other thing to mention when checking heights is to do it on a surface you know is flat (quite hard to find) or park it pointing in a number of different directions and record and average the results. Also, if evaluating rear springs for example, use a jack to set the front dead level before measuring the back, and vice versa. May help to work out which is worse if both front and rear are a bit low....

 

[Kakodaemon]

Measure vertically from the wheel center to the mudguard lip on both rear wheels and see what the difference is.
And I wasn't alluding to anything about the drivers weight...

I'll give that a go after work tonight

 

[Kakodaemon]

I've seen a few VE commodores sitting low on the right.

Till recently I had a 2007 VE SS with only 50 kkms on it. RHS sat about 1 cm lower than left both front and back, which looked quite odd.

Changed the springs out for brand new Pedders (lowered) and Koni shocks and still had the same list.

Seems pretty unlikely that Pedders or Koni managed to sell me some parts that continued exactly the same problem?

And can't really blame it on bushes etc, particularly at the front where the weight is transmitted directly from inner guard -> strut top -> spring -> strut body -> front axle

My theory is the body had deformed very slightly from being run over speed humps with the left side wheels in the gutter so only the rights hit the speed hump, possibly with a heavy load on board. The guard (front) or rail (rear) would only need to move about 6.5 mm for the wheel to move 10 mm. And given if they were within about 3 mm side to side this would be great, we're only really looking at about 4 mm of deflection.

In the end I just made up some spacers to sit on top of the rear strut mounts and front springs (front were quite complicated...)

Other thing to mention when checking heights is to do it on a surface you know is flat (quite hard to find) or park it pointing in a number of different directions and record and average the results. Also, if evaluating rear springs for example, use a jack to set the front dead level before measuring the back, and vice versa. May help to work out which is worse if both front and rear are a bit low....

All that sounds interesting.. so new springs didn't even fix it?
There are a few speed humps on roads i frequently travel but I learned fairly soon after buying the car if i go to fast over them it bottoms out. I won't say i creep over speed humps at 2kms an hour but i also don't hit them going too fast either. I also never bother hitting the low side of a speed hump.
Interesting and scary you mentioning the car body being deformed. Do you mean the chassis is twisted or maybe where the suspension attaches to the car body has deformed?

 

[EYY]

The body of the car will flex a fair bit. They’re not very rigid. I wouldn’t worry about it personally.

Is it like that every time you park it? Did you have the front wheels pointing straight ahead when you checked?

 

[Kakodaemon]

The body of the car will flex a fair bit. They’re not very rigid. I wouldn’t worry about it personally.

Is it like that every time you park it? Did you have the front wheels pointing straight ahead when you checked?

Only noticed it yesterday around 2pm checked it again when i got home on a (as far as i know) flat garage surface, front wheels were straight then and there was definitely a difference. Not sure how long its been like this but there no signs while driving the car there is something wrong.
The more people that say not to worry the better i'm feeling. Thanks everyone