Broken Spring

[Jed Clampit]

We probably replace 3 or 4 a week, especially with the cold weather, which seems to cause more breakages than ever.

I don't remember changing springs years ago like we do nowdays. I wonder if it's got anything to do with all the speed bumps there are all over the place, or all the huge potholes every 100 yds.

Nail on the head me thinks .

[Lighty]

I think the problem is poor quality steel and manufacturing laziness, coupled with poor quality paint finish on the coils.
Once the corrosion begins on the Spring, partly due to,the rubbish paint, failure is not far away.
The springs consist of a round bar, that is just twisted, so it tends to have 1 specific pressure point on the Spring platform , this takes a lot of stress, and the paint wears off in no time.
In a top quality set up, the Spring is chamfered off, so,that it fits nicely on the platform, so,the load is spread more evenly, and older cars, I.e 80's & 90's tend to sit on a well made rubber shaped cushion on the platform, so the paint is not damaged .
We have had new coil springs fitted by ourselves , that have broken within 9 months of fitting.
I usually now use Sachs units from ECP, as they appear a fair bit better than the other supposedly O.E suppliers.