[Soledad]

Has anyone noticed a difference in ride quality after lifting their car 1"? The front end feels "mostly" normal but the rear end is really bouncy and gets extremely upset on dips and bumps in a fast corner on the highway. I have all new KYB struts on it and I know they are good. And I just had it 4-wheel aligned and it's all within spec.

I'm thinking about disconnecting the rear sway bar temporarily to see if maybe that has something to do with it. I did use 90mm AVO extended end links and made them 3 7/8" long but I'm just not sure that would do this.

Essentially it feels like I'm riding on basketballs for suspension. It did not feel like this at all before I lifted it.

 

[jp1203]

How did you lift it? Spacers?

I got my 1" lift by using King Springs, and I noticed a huge improvement in ride quality...but with different springs and new struts there was no question that I would.

 

[Soledad]

Oops, yeah, I should have mentioned that. I lifted using the Subtle Solutions 1" spacers.

Even on dips and bumps in a straight line on the highway the rear end just feels really really taut.

 

[Soledad]

I've been thinking about this over night and I don't think it was this bouncy before I took it in for the alignment. After I added the lift I had to disconnect the rear sway bar because I couldn't get the end links to re-attach with the suspension at full drop. So, I drove the car this way for a few days and even though the rear end was sloppy in the corners the car wasn't upset by any bumps. Then I added the AVO rear sway bar end links and drove the car 40 miles to the dealership to get the alignment done. And even during that drive I never once felt like the car was crazy in the corners.

But now, after the alignment it's bad in the corners with bumps or dips. The front end will go thru the dips just fine but when the rear hits the dips the car gets upset. It's almost like bump-steer when the rear end gets out of shape.

I've felt something vaguely similar to this when I added a lift to an old Jeep Wrangler I used to have. I had torqued down all of the leaf spring bolts too hard and while the suspension was unloaded. It made the ride super taut and not good at all. Once I loosened all of the leaf spring and shackle bolts while the Jeep was on the ground and then re-torqued them properly it rode much, much better. Which makes me think that maybe the bolts on the rear struts and arms need to be loosened and re-torqued correctly with the car on the ground.

None-the-less I'm going to start with disconnecting the sway bar to see if that changes anything. And if not then loosen and re-torque everything with the car on the ground.

 

[Soledad]

I got the problem resolved.

I rode around with the sway bar disconnected and although the rear was sloppy in the corners, the chassis just didn't get crazy during the bumps like it had. So I put the OEM endlinks back on thinking the AVO endlinks were bad but the car went right back to feeling horrible and becoming unstable in the corners.

I then decided to measure the length of the stock end links. Center to center they measure 3.5" long. Because I added a one inch lift I decided to increase the length of my 90mm AVO endlinks to 4.5" (center to center). I got them to about 4 3/8" and decided to go with that. I put them back on and sure enough the car drove perfectly.

 

[hanzo918]

Thanks! Great follow-up!

 

[Junkie]

I was wondering what the problem would be. Seeing as you didn't change spring or damping rates at all I figured it shouldn't be *too* different.

 

[dgrobbi]

Curious...

I lifted mine 1 inch as well, and didn't change out endlinks other than replacing the worn stock ones with stock length moogs. I haven't noticed a huge difference in handling in the rear, although to be honest theres a good 100lbs + of tools etc in my trunk at all times. I suppose this is something I should have done?

Dan

 

[traildogck]

Yes, length of the link will determine the position of the swat bay lever(moment) relative to the transvers portion of the part. It will affect the way the car handles for sure. When lifting or lowering the length of the link needs to position the bar so the lever(moment) is closest to stock as possible to ensure stable handling.