Mk7 Fiesta ST leaning/tilting towards passenger side

[Zico]

I've only just noticed yesterday that my ST is leaning/tilting slighting towards the left / passenger side of the car. I hadn't noticed it before but believe that it's probably been an issue for a while as I can recall water pooling to one side on the rear boot wing.

While I'm driving the car, I don't seem to have any issues with it steering off to one side or the other, but I'm guessing that something isn't quite right with suspension or related items.

I've no idea where to start on suspension etc. but I'm going to see if I can get the local garage next to where I work give it a once over (wasn't that long ago that they did a service for me and worked on the brake pads and might have noticed anything obviously wrong in the area).

Nothing came up on the MOT that a different garage did in March.

[TomsFocus]

Snapped spring is the usual culprit. 

MOT testers aren't always that observant if it's only missing a small piece.

[Zico]

Evening @TomsFocus hope you are doing well.

I'll try and see if I can squeeze under the car in the daytime and take a look.

@MarksST do you have third party springs on your ST? If I have to replace mine, I'm not sure what to replace them with other than OEM (I'm not too fussed on lowering, just want the best quality replacement).

[Zico]

So, I can't see any damage to the rear springs and can't get a clear view of the fronts (but the lean is at the rear).

[agraham]

If there is no other damage to the suspension then if it's down one side it's 99% certain to be the spring as that is what sets the ride height of the car. Broken coil springs are a common fault and as noted above it's not always immediately obvious on cursory inspection. Carefully compare both rear sides.

[unofix]

54 minutes ago, agraham said:

if it's down one side it's 99% certain to be the spring

OR...... a very fat passenger 🤣

[Zico]

2 hours ago, agraham said:

If there is no other damage to the suspension then if it's down one side it's 99% certain to be the spring as that is what sets the ride height of the car. Broken coil springs are a common fault and as noted above it's not always immediately obvious on cursory inspection. Carefully compare both rear sides.

I've no ramps on anything to get the car up on to take a proper look so will need to take it to a garage to check and will arrange something soon.

[Zico]

1 hour ago, unofix said:

OR...... a very fat passenger 🤣

I don't carry that many passengers, so you must be calling me fat 

[TomsFocus]

Springs can sag over time.  Or maybe one was replaced with a non-OEM part before your ownership.  (Can't remember if you bought new?)

Have you measured the difference between the centre cap and arch or wheel rim and arch on both sides to make sure it's not just an optical illusion caused by road camber?

[Zico]

Owned from new so it's either been like this since 2015, or something is broken/worn now.

The only thing I am now thinking of is when I got the car serviced beginning of March 2020 (before lockdown etc.) and got them to replace the rear spring upper isolators with some PowerFlex bushes.

I'll get a photo of the rear as it's definitely not my eyes playing tricks with me. If I can get it up on some wooden beams tomorrow, I will see if I can get a better look at the springs and photos of the underside.

[Zico]

Managed to find a handy railway sleeper to use to drive up onto.

Photos and a few dodgy videos while stuck under the rear of the car: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8KcMdMuwAgbCvouJ9

The photos with the tape measure at the rear wheel arches show at least 1cm difference between the driver's side and passenger side.

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, Zico said:

Managed to find a handy railway sleeper to use to drive up onto.

Photos and a few dodgy videos while stuck under the rear of the car: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8KcMdMuwAgbCvouJ9

The photos with the tape measure at the rear wheel arches show at least 1cm difference between the driver's side and passenger side.

There's a coil snapped on the left hand spring right at the bottom...it's really obvious in your pic when you see it!

 

**EDIT**

That's the hole in the beam looking onto dirt, not a rough snapped spring end.  Will leave it up for people to have a giggle.

I'm still fairly sure that spring is missing the bottom coil though.  It looks too big at the bottom.  Have another look tomorrow and try to get a pic of the end of the spring bottom on that side.

[Zico]

With the driver's side of the car up on the sleeper, shouldn't the right rear spring be more compressed? It looks from the photos that you can see the spring more spaced out on the right side than the left side.

I saw your un-edited post earlier @TomsFocus and started half shopping for Ebiach springs and can get the E10-35-020-02-22 performance pro kit for £123.05 at the moment from amazon.

[Ecosport2019]

The only other thing possibly worth looking at is the axle bushes, i have replaced loads of these for falling apart, you have to get your head right around both sides of the bush, unsure if it would cause a slight drop but worth a look

[Ecosport2019]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

There's a coil snapped on the left hand spring right at the bottom...it's really obvious in your pic when you see it!

 

**EDIT**

That's the hole in the beam looking onto dirt, not a rough snapped spring end.  Will leave it up for people to have a giggle.

I'm still fairly sure that spring is missing the bottom coil though.  It looks too big at the bottom.  Have another look tomorrow and try to get a pic of the end of the spring bottom on that side.

Haha wow definitely looked like a broken spring

[Zico]

15 minutes ago, Ecosport2019 said:

The only other thing possibly worth looking at is the axle bushes, i have replaced loads of these for falling apart, you have to get your head right around both sides of the bush, unsure if it would cause a slight drop but worth a look

Evening @Ecosport2019 from my previous photo link, can you see anything from those photos? As I'm not really familiar with the locations of the suspension parts, where will I need to look?

[Ecosport2019]

Oh ok, in the photo you can see the coil springs sitting on the beam axle, the beam axle is attached to the floor under the back seat area, you will see 1 long bolt each side going through a bush

Something like this but with a bolt in the hole

[Ecosport2019]

As i say, unsure if it could change the height,  possible i suppose

[Zico]

8 minutes ago, Ecosport2019 said:

Oh ok, in the photo you can see the coil springs sitting on the beam axle, the beam axle is attached to the floor under the back seat area, you will see 1 long bolt each side going through a bush

Something like this but with a bolt in the hole

I think I know what you mean. If it's the front side of the beam, then I will try and grab some more photos tomorrow.

If I am looking at the correct part on Powerflex, would this be their replacement part? https://www.powerflex.co.uk/product-details/Rear+Beam+To+Chassis+Bush/1756.html

[Ecosport2019]

Correct

[TomsFocus]

10 hours ago, Zico said:

With the driver's side of the car up on the sleeper, shouldn't the right rear spring be more compressed? It looks from the photos that you can see the spring more spaced out on the right side than the left side.

I saw your un-edited post earlier @TomsFocus and started half shopping for Ebiach springs and can get the E10-35-020-02-22 performance pro kit for £123.05 at the moment from Amazon.

I didn't notice the sleeper in the pics.  (Note to self...don't attempt to study pics on a phone screen at 8pm!  )

The Fiesta uses fixed beam suspension, so whatever happens to one side, also happens to the other side.  This is why the Focus suspension is 'better' because each wheel can move up & down independently.  (Pre-Mk4 anyway!)  So on the Focus you would expect more compression on the sleeper side, but not on the Fiesta.

 

If you're after lowering springs, Eibach Pro has always been my preference, although admittedly no experience on a mk7!  I've bought a few kits new for under £100.  Just checked eBay and can see this one which says collection only...but might be worth an ask if they'd courier from home.  I'd offer £75 and expect another ~£10 for postage.

Eibach Pro-Kit Performance Spring Kit E10-35-020-02-22 4050278003049 | eBay

If not, £125 seems perfectly reasonable.  You can change the rears yourself if you like, it's literally as simple as removing the bottom bolt on both shocks and then lowering the whole beam down on a trolley jack to relieve the spring pressure...then jack up the beam with the new ones in place and re-bolt the shocks.

[Zico]

Hi @TomsFocus thanks for info. I'm going to get back under the car shortly to try and get some different photos to hopefully show into the bottom beam from the springs and also the bushes from the other side of the beam.

I had seen the eBay listing (but didn't notice it as collection only, and Dumfries is only a ~7+ hours' drive / ~400miles each way  ). I had already ordered the springs from amazon, but the estimated delivery isn't until the ~24th October so I've likely got time to cancel if I hear back from the eBay seller (and they are genuinely new springs, but I would guess without any warranty).

[Zico]

A second crawl under the car and I've grabbed additional photos of the springs and the rear bushes (as per @Ecosport2019 post).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3qBSDvLYXr2wS5wr5

Both passenger side and driver's side (can't remember exactly which are which) bushes look similar with some fraying in the centre but I've no idea if that is to be expected for a 7 1/2-year-old car (with just under 51,000 miles).

**Edit** The video clip of the bush is the passenger side one as I didn't video the driver side.

[agraham]

I think the bushes are a red herring, at least as far as the ride height is concerned, though they may or may not be shot. The car is effectively sitting directly on the springs. I don't think a couple of centimeters movement at a collapsed bush would make any significant difference to the ride height and neither bush looks that bad.

[Zico]

33 minutes ago, agraham said:

I think the bushes are a red herring, at least as far as the ride height is concerned, though they may or may not be shot. The car is effectively sitting directly on the springs. I don't think a couple of centimeters movement at a collapsed bush would make any significant difference to the ride height and neither bush looks that bad.

To be fair to @Ecosport2019 he did say that he was unsure that the bushes would change the ride height. As I was already under the car, grabbing a photo of them wasn't any issue.

I'm going to drop the car round to a local garage next week when I'm in the office. The weather has turned crappy outside now, so I won't be going back under the car again for now.