Independent Renault Forums banner

Laguna mk1 Rear Suspension

9K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  satandave 
#1 ·
I have a issue with the Rear Offside (Drivers side) suspension.

The problem is that all of a sudden this side at the rear has dropped and is now lower than the NearSide.

I have just changed the shocks thinking that it could have been this, an after changing them it seemed as though it was higher again. I then moved the car forward and now it has gone lower again.

What could be causing this to happen? I have looked about underneath and cant see anything that looks a miss or broken.

I have not driven it since changing the shocks today, but previously it was pulling to one side when braking. I have bounced the suspension up an down and it seems ok.

Could the rear suspension bush cause this drop in ride height on one side.
 
#2 ·
Hi, how's it going?
Whats the set up on the laguna? Does it have coil springs?
If so it could be broken. I am not familiar with this car but i think ride height is usualy governed by springs. Also the bouncing test would prove the shock to be ok.
Was the height ok after being lowered off the jack? And went down after the hand brake was taken off? Thats normal even in a healthy car.
Check the springs, specialy in the lower seating as they can rust there and sometimes break, one or two coils would mean a noticable drop in height.
If you have a link to a diagram of the setup please send it to me.
Best of luck.
 
#6 ·
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the posts, it is indeed a torsion bar setup.

I had a look when I had it up on axle stands changing the shocks and couldn't see any noticeable breaks in the torsion bar. I was hoping it would be something like axle bush or the like and not the torsion bar as apparently they are a real bugger to work on.

Anyway booked it into me local garage tomorrow morning to see what they say.
 
#7 ·
Rather than messing about it would be just as easy and cheap to replace the complete axle,good ones are easy to find and an enthusiastic amateur with a half sensible toolkit would be able to change one in a morning on their driveway.:)
 
#8 ·
Hi Lagdti,

Well I took it to my local garage and they had it up on the ramps and could not see anything a miss with the torsion bar or bushes. Also while up on the ramps it leveled out so the clearance on both sides seemed the same. However when moving the car off the ramps it seemed to drop slightly again at the rear drivers side.

I was speaking to a mate and he suggested maybe the front shock had gone on the passenger side forcing the the drivers rear side down slightly. I suppose if one of the front shocks had gone this would explain the pulling when breaking and sometimes when accelerating away.

What do you guys think on that? I don't want to change the whole rear axle if it is possibly something else. I would be tempted to give it a go, although I am not sure where to start with that. Is it just a few bolts holding the whole rear axle assembly to the car.
 
#9 ·
Shock absorbers don't effect the ride height,you may have a broken spring on the front which will make one side lower than the other but it wouldn't cause the rear of the car to drop noticeably.

Exactly how much lower is one side to the other?.
 
#10 ·
Its not a great deal lower, maybe a cm or so but it is enough that it is causing the wheel arch to scrpae the tyre when going over bumps or speed humps. I have 17" Alloys on the car.

The only thing is that at the same time this has happened the car has started pulling to the left especially when breaking hard. I have had the breaks tested and it deffinately isnt that thats causing the pull.

I took it to the garage again today and he had it on the ramps and looked at the front suspension, but he couldnt see anything wrong there either. He is going to have a look at the tracking on Friday. The car has always had a slight drift to the left since I got the car, it is alot worse now though since the back right seems to have dropped slightly.

Thankfully I know the guy who owns the garage so I don't get charged for these little visits, but they can't seeanything wrong on the suspension so I am a little stumped now.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top