Hey there, I replaced the rear shocks today and noticed the drivers side looks a bit higher than the passenger side. I pulled out a ruler to check and the drivers side is about 1" higher than the passenger side. 2004 Mini Cooper S.

Passenger side ... ~ 26.5" from floor to bottom of plastic trim


Driver Side... ~27.5" from floor to plastic trim


Does anyone know what causes this? I replaced the rear shocks and the new ones line right up (top mount all the way to bottom nut). I installed Bilstein B4 replacement shocks

 

Did you measure before replacing the shocks? Did you get the springs seated correctly? Are they stock or replacement springs?

Shocks will not affect ride height, they only control the "bounce"

Bryan

 

I did not measure beforehand. I only did after noticing the driver side looks pretty high.

im pretty sure I seated both the springs correctly, I’m pretty careful that way, but I did them separately and never put them side by side. It’s weird though because like you said, the shocks don’t affect the height, that’s the springs. I guess I have to take them back out and try again next weekend.

has anyone else encountered this and know what I should check?

 

Drive it for a while and see what happens.sometimes springs need to settle after a car is jacked up.

 

I had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago when replacing mine. Did you set the park brake before jacking the car? If so, release the brake now that it is on the ground. I couldn't believe that the brake would do that, but it did. Hope it is that simple for you.

 

Yep springs raise the height, not the shock unless something is wrong. My guess is that something is not installed right or the suspension is up due to the brake being on?