Inspect very carfully before purchasing!

To determine if the car is leaning, you really need to remove the tire itself from the equation (I don't mean physically removing tires). The best way to measure lean is to measure from the center of the wheel well arch down to the top lip of the wheel. This distance will tell you how much your suspension is leaning or not when comparing one side of the car to the other. Measuring all the way to the ground can cause some additional variables to come in to play that might appear to affect lean, such as tire pressure, tire diameter (different brand tires or just different wear levels), uneven concrete/blacktop, etc...

I'm not saying your car is not leaning, I'm just saying try taking this other measurement. The distance between the wheel well arch and top of the wheel will tell you how much of a difference there is in the suspension itself.

I bring this up because this is a common measurement to be taken on trucks/SUV's that have lift kits installed, and people use this kind of measurement to make a direct comparison between lift heights. You will still want to take your measurements on level ground because the car will definitely lean if you try to take a measurement on a slope due to the center of gravity "vector" shifting towards the wheels on the downhill side.

 

find yourself an undercar specialist. they're certified in suspension and steering, brakes, and exhaust. usually, if they've taken the time and money to get the extra cert for the undercar designation, they have enough experience under their belt to know what they're talking about. it's an ASE certification.

 

Re: Inspect very carefully before purchasing!

I like this method for the reasons that Optimus expressed. Further, since the distance measured is relatively short (~6" or so), this reduces the opportunity for measurement error. Using that method, I find that on my 2004 with 58K miles, the LR measurement is 1/8" less than RR; while LF is 1/4" less than RF.

I live in south OC, which is a reliable Republican stronghold. This must be why my Prius leans to the left less than other CA members have reported.

The rear springs are the same. The front springs differ. However, it is not a trivial task to swap the rear shock/coil spring assemblies around - probably at least 2 hours of labor...and who knows, the swap might make matters worse.

 

Interesting thread. I was surfing eBay and found this auction, which seems in some way related to people's suspension complaints (tho not the "leaning issue").

Is there any merit to stuffing such doohickeys in your coils? I am going to be installing a hitch rack on my '08 (when it comes in Sept.) and worry a little about dragging... but somehow this seems too easy a solution.

Not to hijack the thread, but anyone have thoughts on such a mod?

 

I finally figured out why your Prius is leaning......it doesn't have a V8

 

Well, I just want to avoid this issue:

 

Wow! what a weird photoshop.

 

Arrgh! Mine's exactly 2.13 feet (25 9/16 inches) to the rear top fender well on both sides, with tp 40/38. Should I take it in to the dealer because it's not leaning?

 

Yes, stock Integreties, non-touring, probably half a tank of gas. Might be lower due to tire wear, or maybe you have higher TP than I do. Also I'm at 5,200 feet altitude, not sure if that has any bearing on TP, probably negligible. Are you sure you are using a quality tire gage that gives repeatable readings? Also, I ALWAYS have a copilot, do you usually have a passenger? Maybe without a copilot the right hand springs or torsion bar don't settle the same as the left.

 

Regarding your 1/2" versus the dealer's 1/4" finding: maybe the dealer is saying +1/4" on the right and -1/4" on the left? Would be a typical dealer way of making it sound better than it is.

 

Don't you have camber on your roads? It is a non issue.

 

Just out of curiosity, I measured the distance from the garage floor to the apex of the wheel wells on both of our 2008 Priuses (non-touring Package 2 with standard tires). Both cars measured identically. The rear wells were exactly the same height on both sides. On the front, the drivers side was 1/4" lower than the passenger side.

In order for one corner to be lower, but the rear to be level, there is either flex in the frame, or the car is designed with one wheel well higher, or (most likely) the other wheel wells are not exactly level, but their individual distances are so small that my crude measurement did not pick it up.

Regardless, I am not losing sleep over this, since I would have never noticed it unless I looked closely for it.

 

With no camber on any or all of the lanes of a highway, how does the water drain?