Rear Wheel Well Gap

[Sherlock]

HELP!!!!!

i have a 96 olds cutlass supreme 2 door. I have huge rear wheel well gap like 6 inches or so... I have looked to see what leaf spring i have and its the second from the lowest load rating. Most all other w-body seem to sit more normal like 2 or so inches of gap whats up with mine. i have to put over 200 lbs of sand in my trunk to get it to sit normal. I have heard of aux springs and if you dont have them it can make your car higher. i am i missing those. Could it also be the struts? Usually the car would sag if they were going bad. i think they are the origonals like 86,000 miles. i wanna fix it, it looks horrible. i want coilovers but im afraid of ruin the strut walls.

Thanks any imput would be great

Justin

[J]

the new coilovers from FFP come with a Billit strut mounting plate, it won't ruin the strut walls. Mine will be here in 2-3 days. Hey if you order em tell Michael (FFP) who told u all this maybe i can get a discount on the fronts when they come out! Later Jay

[Brian P]

your car is definetly supposed to have those auxiliary springs. ANyone do a strut change on it lately? Make sure you get them back on

[Sherlock]

Thanks for the input.

I dont wanna sound dumb but where are the aux springs and what do they do and how do they work. i can't find then in my service manuals. Plus i thought for some reason that they were only on older w-bodys like pre 95

but i dunno

Thanks

Justin

[Brian P]

Go to the back of the car and look underneath at the inside of the rear wheels. Next to the brakes will be a rubber cylinder looking thing that's being "squashed" by 2 plates. Those are the aux springs. Most Cutlass Supremes and Luminas should have them, Regal and Grand Prix coupes won't have them, not sure on the sedans. GM used somewhat different springs in the Regal and GP so the aux's werent needed to keep the rear down. Having the aux springs also promotes a smoother ride by sort of counter-acting the action of the leaf spring. Hope this helps.

[GnatGoSplat]

Your 96 would not have the aux springs, I think they were only used 88-91 on Cutty's with FE3 suspension.

Did yours originally have a 3100? Only thing I can think of is to get a rear spring out of a 3.4 DOHC W-body, those seem to sit lower in the rear.

 

BTW, it doesn't matter how beefy the mounting plate is on coilovers, that doesn't mean it won't ruin or weaken the strut tower walls!

[gpse3200]

Yeah I'll say those Aux springs need to be in there. The stongest ones are the full rubber sylinder, not the Figure 8's. So you should look for the rubber cylinders. .....I'm with you on the wall thing Shawn.

[Brian P]

Your 96 would not have the aux springs, I think they were only used 88-91 on Cutty's with FE3 suspension.

 

I gotta disagree on this one:

my FE1 suspension'd car had the aux springs

my mom's '95 has the aux springs, though they're the ones shaped like a cylinder, while mine were a figure 8

My sister's 93 Sedan has the figure 8's

 

Unless they did something different with 92+coupes, which I doubt

[weisinator]

Your 96 would not have the aux springs, I think they were only used 88-91 on Cutty's with FE3 suspension.

Did yours originally have a 3100? Only thing I can think of is to get a rear spring out of a 3.4 DOHC W-body, those seem to sit lower in the rear.

 

I got aux springs on my 1990 FE1 Lumina (The Figure 8 type). I hate them. Made what should have been a 2-hour job into an 8 hour job. I have an aversion to rear suspension work thanks to them.

[J]

I have a 1992 lumina and i know i have the "figure 8" ones, but they look to me like a squished piece of black rubber. Any ways what do i have to do to them to put my coilovers in? Do they also come out or do i put along bolt through them with washers and nuts? I have no clue about the rear end of a lumi, please help. Later fellas and thanks JAy

[GnatGoSplat]

For coilovers, you just take 'em out.

[GnatGoSplat]

BTW, the aux springs can be compressed with a simple bolt of the right size. It shouldn't add but 5-minutes to any rear suspension work, and that's if you're pretty slow at twisting bolts.

[J]

thanks!

[weisinator]

BTW, the aux springs can be compressed with a simple bolt of the right size. It shouldn't add but 5-minutes to any rear suspension work, and that's if you're pretty slow at twisting bolts.

 

Not when you forget to clamp them down in the first place. (I thought they were just funky bushings, not "helper springs". This is what I get when I don't turn the chilton's manual two more pages!)