Rear drivers side corner of car is lower...

[gregk24]

My wifes 2014 VW Jetta, completely stock. I noticed the wheel gap looked a little bit smaller. I got out the tape measure and sure enough the drivers side rear is about 3/8" lower than the opposite side. I moved the car to different positions with the same results. I jacked it up and nothing looks out of the ordinary, the car also drives just fine. It has 3/4 full tank of gas.

What gives? Is this normal? Totally different car, but I measured the wheel gap on my Accord just to see if I would get the same results but they were dead on.

 

[spackard]

When it happened to my car the damper was stuck. Didn't show up with a driveway jack but did with a full body jack.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted by spackard
When it happened to my car the damper was stuck. Didn't show up with a driveway jack but did with a full body jack.


How significant was the difference in hight?

 

[spackard]

Enough that something looked wierd but I couldn't put my finger on it.
It was on the front, on mine, and probably with 250,000 miles on the struts.
It just looked wierd. About 6 months or more later, the other side stuck down on my morning commute, so drove it to the mechanic.
When he lifted the car the wheels stayed compressed.

 

[JHZR2]

Springs have pads. Does vw have different spring pads for different models/levels? Could a wrong pad be in there? Could a coil have broken?

 

[Snagglefoot]

Although the car is only 5 years old, it's possible the spring in the driver's side rear strut is fatigued a bit and sagging.

I was going to make a joke of this and ask if there is something heavy on the driver's side of the car that would cause this, but I'm not going to.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted by JHZR2
Springs have pads. Does vw have different spring pads for different models/levels? Could a wrong pad be in there? Could a coil have broken?


+1 Broken rear coils are pretty common on these. Lesjöfors makes the best replacement springs for these, you only need the color code off the originals.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by Trav
Originally Posted by JHZR2
Springs have pads. Does vw have different spring pads for different models/levels? Could a wrong pad be in there? Could a coil have broken?


+1 Broken rear coils are pretty common on these. Lesjöfors makes the best replacement springs for these, you only need the color code off the originals.


Yeah, and they like to break on the ends... there's either more metal fatigue (variable rate?) or it's a pocket where salt and corrosion go extra nuts. Sometimes the paint holds a busted coil so it still looks good.