GDawgC220

How come the rear is nice and low, probably about an inch clearance from the tire and the front is like 3 inches? Is there an explanation to this or just the design? I always figured that since the engine and long hood is mounted up front, the front should be lower, or atleast even out front and back clearance...kinda looks like my car is lowered in the rear but not the front :p

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ricerokets4life

most cars have the front set higher than the rear. i dont know why.

pks485

I am not too sure about this, but after cars get old, it seems like the back ends seems to further sag, possible with rear passengers. There is this one car I see everyday (old Mercedes wagon), where it seems as if the back bumper is a few inches off the ground.

However, now you only have to lower the front end!

GDawgC220

LOL...well, now it rides about an inch lower than it was before I put in my subs...so technically, it's about 2 inches, which I guess is normal, lol.

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vas2vas

oh yeah that's b/c the 123 wagons used self leveling suspension (air bags I believe) that eventually collapses, there's one near my place that has totally collapsed, the guy has had a 4 sale sign for the past year but no takers....

vas2vas

explanation is quite simple... think at what happens to the car when you brake hard....all the weight shifts to the front b/c of physics... if the front end was lower then it would touch ground and flip.... I saw an old pontiac do that... it lifted so high during hard breaking that the taurus in the back went under it's rear axle... was a very messed up crash... also front of car carries the weight of the engine so needs stronger suspension, and realistically the only necessary person in the car is the driver, how often do you have a heavy load or a full rear seat? (in wagons and other higher up models you have self leveling rear suspension)... this is also the reason why front wheel drive cars handle so poorly in turns and understeer a lot... all that said m/b and bmw are primarily rear wheel cars and have a near 50-50 weight distribution on each axle.... that's why they handle so good...

ricerokets4life

werd. you can look at any stock car's side profile and you will notice the front is higher than the rear.

narci

Also, notice the arches are also lower on the rear of cars, not many cars have even arches when looking at a side view of a car.

fast mayte

i've noticed this on the 4cyl 202's. i compared a few 280's to my 220 and the front seems to be lower on the 280. maybe the lighter engine. but wouldn't MB use smaller pads to flatten it out like the 280's? i got #3 in the front.

krazie604

It's quite simple yo... Its not that the front suspension is higher.. What makes it look higher is that the fender in the front is always higher than the fenders in the back.


Trust me.. your car is level in height. It's all about the fenders..

merclover

this is weird....it just happens to be that i see my car exactly the opposite! i always see this when i look at it... and the bac is higher than the front in my ride... thats why it looks kinda sporty.... i dunno...must be optical illusions and stuff like that..

GDawgC220

haha. see what's really strange is when i'm in traffic, on a flat road and look to my left, there's a big office type building with the reflective glass and my car looks higher in the rear and the front is lower, so it's like a sleek look

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