einzel

Hello! Today I went to drive my 3.2 Targa Turbo Look and I saw that the rear left side was on the floor, totally droped only in that side, the rest of the car is perfect.. This thing just happend at night while it was parked.. very weird!!

My question is.. The torsion bar got loose? or maybe that Bilstein gas shock is in the end of his life?
They told me that when the Bilsteins dies (totally..) the car just drops and the wheel gets inside the wheel arch.. Is it that true?

I checked the torsion bars and they look pretty good.. there isnt anything loose!

Thanks for your answers, cheers!

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Hi:

Generally speaking, torsion bars cannot get "loose";.......they will only break and leave a tire resting against the inside of the fender.

If a shock totally fails, the car will only sag about an inch or two so its worth lifting the rea of your car off the ground and checking the shocks. If you support the rear of the car on jackstands with the suspension at full droop, you can use your floor jack to raise each trailing arm a bit to see if a torsion bar has failed or perhaps a bad shock.

einzel

With all the things you are telling.. I think that the torsion bar just failed, because the wheel is totally inside the wheelarch.. (even more than a competition car!!) but the weird thing is that all happend when the car was still (parked) it was not moving..
Another thing I saw is that when I lifted the car up to check everything, the wheel was pretty near to the wheelarch, like 3 fingers or so.. normaly you can get a hole hand inside of it..

The green Bilstein looks normal, with all the tipical dirt of many years..

Is the torsion bar very costly to replace?

Thanks

2002M3Drew

Torsion bars are cheap! Highly recommend the Saunders ones (hollow)...such a small price difference between them and solids, it's worth it. I believe the bars are less than $150 per bar. Steve at Rennsport sells them.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Torsion bars should always be replaced in pairs; front or rear.

Unless you are interested in a suspension upgrade for improved handling, you should be able to source a good used pair of 26mm Turbo torsion bars and have those installed. The car will need to be cornerweighted and realigned.

The whole job should not be more than 8 hours of labor plus the cost of the bars.

theiceman

just an FYI

I noticed this guy has a torsion bar ..

http://www.stuttswap.com/stuttswap/b.../bbarbin2.html

einzel

Thanks theiceman but mines 26mm original from turbos.. they are selling the 24mm, thanks for caring anyway!

Ill check to assure that is the torsion bar and not the susp..