Okay, so a couple things have been going on lately. First it started out with some very slight and subtle creaking and squeaking when I go over small bumps and when the chassis "twists". Then it started to look like my rear wheels started to sag, and they keep getting lower. I can get two fingers between the tire and the fender on the right, and not even two on the left. And now it feels very floaty above like 30 mph, and makes me very queasy at high speeds. And I'm not even sure if these are related symptoms, but my brakes have become more stiff. I dropped it off at my mechanic's two days ago and he said he checked all the basics and didn't find any red flags, but he was already overly busy as it is and didn't take very much time to look at it. I have an appointment with another mechanic this thursday, but I'd still like to get an idea of what I'm looking at and if it's hazardous to drive at all between now and then, seen as it's my daily and I have a 40 minutes drive to work.

 

Hard brakes can be two things. Bad vacuum booster (which is not typical on these cars) or seized caliper pistons (which the rear brakes are prone too). The reason the pedal gets hard is because when the pistons seize in the bore, your pedal effort is transferred to the pistons that do move, which requires more effort.

So you'll need to inspect the brakes, and possibly disassemble the calipers and inspect the caliper pins and pistons for movement.

Also, check the booster and make sure it looks ok. Look under the MC for bubbling paint which would suggest the MC is leaking into the booster and ate the rubber diapghram away. This would cause a hard pedal too.

If you turn your car off, you should have 1-2 pumps of th brake pedal before it becomes rock hard. If it feels the same on the first pump and 5th pump, you may have a vacuum leak at the booster.


As for suspension issues, sounds like bushings are failing in the rear. Will need to visually inspect this to confirm