E93 Rear Ride Height Uneven out of spec

[cwise]

I have read a lot about uneven ride height between driver and passenger sides on these cars, but no real solutions.

I have a 2012 328i convertible that I recently bought privately, so dont know much history, but there is no evidence of prior body or suspension damage. The right rear is 1 inch lower than the left rear as measured from the bottom of the wheel to the center of the wheel arch. According to the manual it looks like the height should be 22.83 inches, I get about 22.75 on the left (driver) side and 21.75 on the right side. According to the manual there should be no more than 10mm from the spec between all 4 wheels. The front sides are both the same and in spec. I swapped the rear springs, along with the rubber parts on the top and bottom from one side to the other and almost unbelievably, there was no change in the ride height on either side. I used a spring compressor, so didn't have the suspension apart, and when the car was in the air, supported by jack stands on the two rear jack points, the distance between the center of the wheel and the garage floor was the same on both sides. Has anyone else seen this?

[JDStrickland]

If you swapped the springs from side to side and the problem remained the same, then the bad news is you need to be looking for frame damage. You also need to be looking at the suspension where the springs are attached. It seems that a 1 inch difference should be obvious as to where the trouble is, but broken springs are #1, and you isolated this as not the cause, then damage to the suspension and/or frame.

I do not know that 21.75 is the correct number or not (this changes with suspension and tire packages), but 10 mm is correct. You should not see more than 10 mm difference from left to right. Sadly, this is the kind of thing that you might need a body shop to cure, or at least measure on an alignment rack.