F355 suspension and alignment experts please help

I am horrible at suspension geometry. But some thoughts...

1. I would set the rear perches equal on each side. Measure up from the bottom of the shock and set them exactly the same. If the wheels are different side to side once that is done, I would begin to research why...

2. Did you bend the rim on that pothole? I would have that rim checked for true.

 

I fear that the rear subframe has been tweeked. This means you may need to shim the subframe up where it attaches to the chassis in order to get both rear tires inside the fenders.

Then, after that, you need a full ride height and corner weighting prior to suspension alignment.

 

with the H&R springs, I set my fronts to maximum ride height and then the rears to match (f&r ride heights the same), which ended up at around half way up. I had it aligned to factory specs and it handles very well. That said, I do have adjustable upper rear control arms, which may make a difference in (the ease of) aligning it. It was close so the shop just shimmed to get it spot on, but I have a feeling the uppers were already adjusted out some as the car was severely lowered before I got it, hence the need for the adjustables to dial out some of the camber.

 

If you hit a pot hole and it went out of alignment something bent or broke. Check ball joint, lower control arm mounting point, lower control arms, etc.

 

Like they said you may have tweeked the engine cradle / subframe


Take a look at the body panels. Look for a bow in the quarter panels or sheetmetal that dont look symmetrical side to side. look for fresh cracks in paint on the top of the frame where it meets the quarter panels, remove those engine side covers to get a good look.




The way you can sudo check this at home is

Put car on level a ground as possible
Put car on 4 jackstands on the uniframe not the engine cradle equally
Now get behind the car and measure the height to ground on each side of the engine subframe to see it one side is higher then the other


I know you measured 40 + spots but if the cradle is tweeked in a way it will read all good but height will be off causing this.

The absolute best way is a 3D measuring system from a body shop. May be worth a couple hundred dollars to get it checked


Hope this helps and good luck

 

Forgot to ask

Pre accident were the coilovers set at same?

 

Something is not right at all here. dont panic.

You going to need to go to square 1 and start all over. Springs should not be that far off thats a good inch

Verify correct shocks and springs at each corner before going anywhere.


Like I stated earlier
If the shocks springs are correct you have a height issue in the engine cradle, best bet would ask the shop to do a 3d measuring of the cradle
They may not be able to get the frame sheets for a 355 but they sure as hell can square centerline the unibody then take measurements on the cradle to see if it's sagging or swayed to one side. My guess it has a bit of sag on one side before you got the car. Not uncommon with this design car to happen.
If it does while its on the machine they can easily correct it.

This is extremely hard if not impossible to diagnose by looking at pictures, dimensions need to be taken dynamically.

 

Maybe the new wheel was a different size? possible miss labeled? try switching sides L to R

 

I thought that, but then realized that the tyres would say the size and a 19 tyre would not fit an 18 or 20 rim.
Strange problem never the less.

 

Offset different perhaps?

 

I'm just wondering if something else was going on before the pothole. That was a pretty large spring adjustment which gives the impression.....something might have been damaged before you hit the pothole and it has gotten worse as a result.

As others have said, you just need to go back to square one. I know it is frustrating given the number of times you have had the suspension checked. BTW what did they say the problem was? Or did they just say: "everything is fine.....355s always list to one side".

 

Valid point. And that could well be it fingers crossed.

 

You cant blame them for trying not to open a can of worms here going back to square one.
With shocks set at different height something is not correct. If you told them go for it and they are a quality shop they would mount the car and measure away leaving NOTHING up to guessing whats wrong.

Once a car is mounted and measured as expensive as that is, $300-500 expect another $300 or so for correction if needed and additional for removing parts for access and not to break anything in the way.


Just because you can get the car to align in some specks does not mean it is correct. Road manors will suffer.

If this repair was in my shop I would have you sign a waiver that the car is not in a safe state and not recommended to drive before I released it like that.

I personally have 4 355 engine cradles 2 of them are bent, not by much but bent. They are very fragile to impact to absorb energy.