Quote:
Originally Posted by rab60bit
Springs are hardened and tempered during manufacture when the steel bar undergoes a great deal of stress whilst being formed. They then live a funny life constantly 'stretching' and 'compressing' and also being cyclicly twisted (or torqued) at a wide range of frequencies. The steel has macro cracks at the surface and of course in service they are horribly exposed to the British elements.
The fact that they tend to fail during the winter ie cold weather leads me to believe small droplets of water under certain conditions freeze in the cracks and not only promote corrosion (as contaminated water) but as ice act like mini wedges which tend to slightly/progressively extend the existing cracks; eventually as we know they [always] fail as typical 45deg shear fractures.
Mine, which could well be original, are coming off in the summer and getting a good dose of shot peening and a fresh coat of paint (any suggestion as to what is the best sort of paint for this?).
I have a 3 year old set of DMGRS replacement struts fitted but for some vague reason the spring protectors will not fit/seat over the spring collars so I'm stuck with a nasty risk should the old springs decide to break.
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Yeah, all very nice but the manufacturing difference between late 1980's onwards "open" type and the previous closed and chamfered one's is shown to be just a cost cutting process. I'd rather pay £5 or £10 extra for the previous manufactured type. Very rare to have a spring failure but all "european" makes seem to be regularly prone to a breakage (and all that entails) but the far eastern do not seem to suffer as much (according to those in the trade).
Kev
8th January 2024, 15:48
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