{Sort of OT} Saggy domestic butts...

...now that I have your attention, why is it that old domestic mid-size and larger vehicles drag in the ass so often after about 10 years? I've seen so many of them so low in the back, that they spark from hitting the pavement, if the driver doesn't merge or otherwise maneuver correctly (too quickly). Does it have something to do with design? (it's usually something like a Monte Carlo). Even those Ford/Mercury (peach-pit resembling) cars from the

90s seem to have a much lower rear suspension than foreign cars (not just Japanese) from the same era. Today I saw a droopy-assed Dodge Ram(?) van, and what looked like a 90s-era mid-sized Lincoln dragging like a baby with a *very* poopy diaper.

Always wondered about that.

Thoughts?

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll
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Funny you should mention that; I noticed several Ford Tauruses (Taurii?) in the last week or so with just that problem.

In no case was there anybody in the back seat. Does the Mob get a discount deal on the Taurus? How much would a trunkful of dead stool pigeons weigh? Three stoolies - that could be 600 pounds (maybe more if you've just knocked off "Fat Freddy," "Dominic 'Doughnut' D'Angelo" and "Three-Chins Jaworsky." Would they fit? Would that account for the sag?

Our late-60's/early-70's Fords would actually deposit small piles of rust in the driveway when you slammed the doors (which was not recommended because the windows might fall down in their tracks and/or the latches might break).

Back then, it seemed like everything rusted but our Fords from that era were completely eaten away within 6 years but a '60's Camaro lasted into the early eighties (sold it - might still be alive today). One Ford was so bad that the frame rusted through and broke.

Reply to
DH

Or early-mid 60's Chevys built on the Impala/Biscayne/ETC platform. The rear tires would kick sand and salt right up onto the frame, and after

8 or so years your trunk would wave at the people behind you! I had a friend that used to buy every one he could get his hands on, and the first thing he would do would be to weld the frame behind the rear wheels!

(Sure wish I had the last one he had...dark blue Impala 2-door hardtop with a mint interior. He couldn't get his license for some odd reason, so I was always the Wheel Man. I liked that Impala better than the '63 Buick Wildcat, even!)

Back in the days when gas was $0.35/gal...

Reply to
Hachiroku

Weird, ain't it?

LOL dunno.

*will answer the rest with Hachi's post*

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

Ford Tough! :-P

Actually, Toys used to rust pretty badly as well. We'll see in another 13 years or so with my Echo....

AH! Knew you'd know.

Those were the days. I remember my parents raising hell when gas went up to a dollar a gallon. Compared to most of the rest of the world, we are soooo spoiled.

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

Look at the people who drive those cars. It's a perfect match. :-)

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

"JoeSpareBedroom" ...

Troo dat...

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

It's the way the rear suspension is built. Plus some people have a tendancy to overload their vehicle (walking away very fast whistling) and it takes its toll on the rear shocks and springs, especially if they were right on the edge of spec to begin with.

Charles of Schaumburg

Reply to
n5hsr

It's not just old domestic vehicles. My '86 Toyota truck and a friends '97 Toyota truck suffer the same, though it's not as noticable because they are further off the ground to begin with. All Springs tend to sag over time; even my '78 IH Scout sags a little. Maybe it has something to do with the "ride" the manufacturer was looking for.

Reply to
Ed H.

But they seem to sag a lot more in domestic vehicles - and that 86 is older than ten years. That was my real question - why do domestic vehicles do that so much sooner?

Natalie \

Reply to
Wickeddoll

"n5hsr" ...

Then they must be on the edge of spec

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

Generation 4 Camrys had weak springs and sag also. How about the low hanging exhaust pipe of Gen 3,4,5 Camrys?

Reply to
badgolferman

Haven't seen them sagging. Must not be as noticeable as the domestic ones. When I say sag, I mean nearly dragging the pavement.

*shrug*

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

Catskill Cadillacs! :-) Used to see them on route 17 all the time when places like Grossingers and the Concorde were still big.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

True, the '86 is much older (almost 21 years). Also, My friends '97 sags a lot more than mine, but he also carries a lot more weight on a regular basis. My Scout carries very little cargo weight and it's even older than the Toyota and sags less. Perhaps you only notice the domestic vehicles which sag a lot, or the people who buy imports travel lighter, and those with domestic vehicles just over load them.

You have raised an interesing point and I will now pay more attention to all the vehicles on the road as a result of your question.

Reply to
Ed H.

"Ed H." ...

Dunno. I've only seen it in domestic vehicles. I think I would have noticed it in foreign ones, if it were present, no? A sagging car is quite striking to see. The Rolls Royce is actually built to emphasize the front of it, which is only one of the reasons I think it's one of the ugliest cars ever. Jaguars are fugly to me too.

Let us know what you see, okay?

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

"Wickeddoll" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.evilcabal.org...

I hardly ever see a ten year old Toyota but just yesterday I saw a relatively new Prius with the rear end hugging the ground. I have no idea what they had in the car - the back seat appeared to be empty. I figure the trunk most have been full of depleted uranium.

It is relatively common to see old Lincolns with sagging rear ends. Many came with rear air suspension and the people that buy 10+ year old Lincolns are the same sort of people who don't want to spend hundreds, or even thousands of dollars to fix broken air suspension.

As for other vehicles, springs do get tired, particularly in vehicles that carry heavy loads. As for the Dodge Van, who knows what might be inside. Of course this applies to most vehicles. My Sister's Honda is low in the rear because the trunk is full of library books and bottled water. I am not sure what a "peach pit" Ford was, I don't see many Fords that appear to be dragging the rear end. The only exception would be cars with air suspension. My Mother had a Grand Marquis with air suspension. It worked fine for as long as we owned the car. However, since the car could adjust the rear suspension for load, there was no reason to jack-up the rear end when the car was empty. This made it appear that the rear end was low compared to other cars with coil springs in the rear. If you don't have some means of adjustment, the rear has to be high enough when empty, so when it is fully loaded it doesn't bottom out. This means that must cars with coil or leaf springs in the rear tend to have a jacked up appearance when lightly loaded. Since this is the way most cars are made, it starts to look normal, and cars with adjustable rear suspension (even properly working air suspension) suddenly look low in the rear. I have also noticed a lot of vehicles with front torsion bar suspension and rear leaf spring suspensions look low in the rear. I think this is a result of the ease of adjusting the front height of a car with torsion bars. You only have to adjust the anchor point of the torsion bars to raise the front of the car. But raising the rear requires different springs, or spacers (shackles for leaf springs). I think people who want a high vehicle sometimes go cheap and just jack up the front end. And of course there is the whole class of people who purposely lower their vehicles. I can understand lowering a race car, but I've never understood lowering a Town Car or a pick-up truck to the point the load carrying capacity is reduced to near zero.

Reply to
C. E. White

Good one! LOL

OK

OK that makes a lot of sense. Thanks

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

Update: I took a little road trip this weekend (Mother's. Day) to visit mom. I was specifically looking for vehicles with sagging rear suspensions. Upon close examination I found that about half of the the vehicles with a lower rear end were domestic and half were imports. I also noticed that almost all of the domestic brands had people in the rear seat, while only about half of the import vehicles that where noticably low in the rear had passengers in the rear seats. Obviously, I don't know what any of these vehicles were carrying in the trunk.

Reply to
Ed H.

Maybe it's regional. I still see way more domestics with sagging asses around here. Of note, is that there are proportionately more foreign cars in my area (military town), damned Beemers are everywhere, like cockroaches. In New England, they were largely domestic.

Hmmm

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll

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