Suspension Springs

[magoo]

I haven't used the car since the snow hit last wednesday and a nightmare drive home in the early hours of the morning, Icicles under the car.

Anyway started to drive away and a horrible twangy bang, first thought is handbrake stuck but will release. Oh no it didn't, every turn of the wheel resulted in a loud twangy bang.

Got home and found it only happened when turning the steering wheel either way and if the engine was turned off I couldn't turn the wheel (not the steering lock), eventually bingo with a nice bright torch at first it looked like a large cable running though the passenger side spring then realised it was the spring. So at least i knew what the problem was but stiill worried something had happened to the steering as well.

My local garage in derby (F.D.Elms who are a brilliant indy garage) took it in at about 12-30 and I wasn't expecting ut till tomorrow at the earliest, I got a phone call this evening and job done and both springs had gone in exactly the same place at the top, bearings checked ok £192 so well pleased.

What a frightening sound and if that happened on the motorway it would be clean pants time.

[polar]

Winter and springs = snap

i chuckle when i see people driving over speed bumps like they were not there - when you are next going down a road with speed bumps in, freezing weather, keep a look out for the broken pieces of coil springs on the road.

Glad you got it sorted magoo

[Gravity]

I have a nine year old Merc with almost 200k miles on it. So-called sports suspension.
Broken front coils are a Merc regular, and they are a pain to replace.

That comment about speed bumps is one I haven't thought of before, but it makes sense. Being a 'belt and braces' driver, I have always crawled over these - sometimes to the annoyance of White Van Man behind.

Gravity

[Tomcat3]

On my leisurely drive about I am amazed by the amount of spring coils and parts you see littering the road way. It always makes me chuckle when you see someone braking hard as they go over a speed hump as the coil will be compressed hard to start with then put a shock load through it as they hit it.

[geoff]

^^ yes brake and release the pedal before the hump is best policy or better still brake a bit sooner.

[polar]

^^ yes brake and release the pedal before the hump is best policy or better still brake a bit sooner.

spot on geoff

[Matt Haigh]

When mine went the RAC man said that spring breakage is quite common these days across almost all brands of car. We are fortunate that unlike some other vehicles, the Berlingo spring shape means that the broken spring is most unlikely to contact the tyre. If that happens it increases the repair cost significantly.

[Lighty]

We change about 5 or 6 coil springs a week on average, I think manufacturers have managed to make them such poor quality that they only just last out of warranty.
It's the paint on them that is the issue, once the paint chips & they start to rust, there days are numbered. Can't say going over speed bumps makes the slightest difference in my view.

[Gravity]

A weakened spring on a car driven at a steady speed on a smooth straight road is very unlikely to suddenly fail.

It would normally need a jarring impact, such as a speed bump, hitting a raised manhole, a pothole, a kerb, etc. It's true that very cold temperatures will make tempered steel more brittle, but whether this has any real bearing on a spring snapping I have no idea.

Maybe, like many other things nowdays, the quality is not as good as it used to be.

Gravity

[Lighty]

We seem to find that they break 1st thing in the morning, when the owner sits in the car, guess it's the frozen cold steel overnight being asked to bend .