The gap between the top of my tire and the body of the wheel well has quite a difference in height between the front and rear. I estimate the rear to be about 1.75" LOWER than the front. This is without any load in the truck and less than half a tank of gas. (Good to note that I have the 7 seater model and a OEM receiver hitch)


Does anyone else notice this on Outlanders in general? (I see a little difference in marketing pictures of the 2012 Outlander on the net, also looked closely at the Outlander's at my dealership and didn't notice as big a difference on them.)

Should really be concerned about this? Could this impact braking distance and handling since there is more travel in the front suspension?

It bothers me because when I hook up my boat, obviously there is a significant drop in the ride height. (So if it starts lower than normal when I add the boat in tow it drops even more.)

I am looking to get air bags in the future but still trying to determine if the Firestone Air Bag Kit would fit the 2012. The etrailer website states it only fits 2007-2010 Outlanders. When I asked etrailer they told me they don't have a kit for the 2012. (But that's another topic)

I have been contemplating talking to my dealership about this but I wanted to get some input first. I am thinking there may be a defect in my rear springs or suspension. Maybe they put the springs for the 5 seater on.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

Mine is the same. All Outlander are saggy on the rear.

Before considering air bag have a look at your rear suspention as there is 2 kinds.
1- Separate spring and shocks
2- Concentric spring and shocks.
The difference is decided by the use of cast Aluminum trailing arm or fabricated sheet metal ones.

If you have the separate spring I bet they are the same as the 2010 thus the bag would fit.

Have look here --> http://faq.out-club.ru/download/outl...2/index_M2.htm

 

I think its a problem with the front struts going bad. Mine is doing the same thing and it's not just a half inch difference like Claude_A is talking about, its like a two inch difference. I read on another forum that there is a certain year range of hondas that the front struts go bad and after they are jacked up they never sit at the normal height again. I think we have a case of that issue going on. I have to replace a busted cv boot next week and then I'm going to replace the front struts. Hopefully this will make it sit back down to normal height.

 

not to get too far off topic, what struts do you plan to go with? I've heard KYBs are what OEMs normally use. RockAuto has Monroes and Boge. Ours still handles pretty well, but going to have to change them out at some point.

 

My 2011 Outlander Sport is doing the same thing. It is also about 2" sag in the rear.

 

I'm going with KYB because they are normally good struts for the price. If there were bilsteins available I would go with those but they are not. I have used bilsteins, kyb, monroe, and gabriel with the quality in the same order. I got a new cv boot in yesterday and just my luck it is the wrong one. I found out after I spent the time to remove the whole cv axle. The only thing keeping me from trading this pos in is the fact that it's almost paid for!

 

Also ccernst, if you cheat and put in a 2010 on rockauto they list the kyb's that fit. Also after almost taking one off I found that the factory struts are kyb.

 

I think it is by design the front has a bigger wheel gap and susp travel
Its not sagging.. and the spring determine the ride height even if the struts are blown, you lose the dampening it would ride bouncy but the height should be the same

If you get the kw coil over they lower the front more than the rear to address the wheel gap issue