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This may be a dumb question but while finishing up a tie rod change I notice my drivers side shock sits quiet a bit closer to the control arm than the passenger side. The plastic guard actually touches it but the shock itself barely clears it. The passenger side has a bigger gap. There is no load on the suspension on either side. Anyone know if this is normal? Here is a pic for comparison.
Something to keep in mind too is that it looks like the suspension is at full droop in that picture. With the car sitting on the ground you'll have more clearance between the A-arms and shocks.
Have you checked the mounting bolts at the top and bottom of the shocks to make sure that the shock is seatged/aligned properly?
Has the car ever been in an accident?
Yeah the bolts seem to be seated properly. It's never been in an accident since I've owned it but I did buy it used. It had a clear carfax when I bought it, so I don't know.
Something to keep in mind too is that it looks like the suspension is at full droop in that picture. With the car sitting on the ground you'll have more clearance between the A-arms and shocks.
True, but with the suspension being at full droop on both sides shouldn't the clearances between the shock and control arm be the same on both sides?!
Should be, how's the clearance of the body of the shock, yellow part, look? The blue part is just a shield.
The body of the shock is not touching the control arm but it is definately alot closer to it than the passenger side is. I know it's hard to tell from the pics, I will try to take better ones tomorrow. Looking at it - it is the right side of the shock I'm comparing. I just happened to look at it and see how close it was to touching so I checked the pass side and it was a very obvious difference. If you look at that second set of pics I posted I pulled the shield close to the shock body so you could get an idea of how close the body was.
Last edited by bwill03z; Jun 30, 2018 at 11:06 PM.
Mine is the same way. I actually was just reminded of it today because I was changing shocks. Don't worry about it though, the difference is probably due to different numbers of washers under your control arm mounts on each side. My passenger side has two washers, driver's side has one.
Mine is the same way. I actually was just reminded of it today because I was changing shocks. Don't worry about it though, the difference is probably due to different numbers of washers under your control arm mounts on each side. My passenger side has two washers, driver's side has one.
I will take a look today and see if mine also has two washers on pass side and one on drivers side. Hopefully thats all it is.
Front shocks - supposed to be like this?
