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Old 21st October 2019, 19:36   #5
rab60bit
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Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer

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Quote:
Originally Posted by COLVERT View Post
It doesn't matter very much if you paint them or not. They are very unlikely to rust away.

What makes them break is very cold weather usually.

The steel can get very brittle and just snap.

Some have been reported as breaking whilst parked on a driveway overnight. A sudden sharp drop in temperature seems to make them snap.---
Steel of any reasonable quality (let alone spring steel) will not alter state nor nature under the range of 'low' ambient temperatures we encounter in the British Isles nor usually in places like Siberia in January.
I would suggest that the phenomenum often reported here in relation to "..they snap when it's cold" is likely due to stress fractures that have developed in the steel (sometimes these originate at sites where there is local corrosion i.e. a sharp change of cross-section) and attract moisture that freezes at 3C or lower temperatures which then, as ice, expands and then acts as a high pressure 'wedge/wedges' to migrate the fractures to ultimate material failure.
Torsion of springs under these circumstances i.e. compression with movement induced by the vehicle just exacerbate the stress situation.
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