Front Springs

Tickertyboo · 12th December 2011, 20:19

Just rolled 6" off the car park at work tonight and the front offside spring snapped about half way up and went through the tread of a new tyre. So that's two new front springs and a new tyre to fork out for. Lucky part of the business is a garage and that's where the car's stayed for the night, I took one of the work's vans home.

All the best from a well miffed Les.

Canonite · 12th December 2011, 20:43

Thats terrible. Even more so through a new tyre. It's the one thing that I dread happening, i've read these tyre protectors are pretty useless.
You say rolled 6"....were you parked on a slope? It seems to be totally random when it occurs but always seems to be when setting off from being stationary position.

Where did it snap?

cabbers · 12th December 2011, 21:06

thats all you need at this time of the year, hope you can get it fixed soon mate

norfie · 13th December 2011, 06:28

[QUOTE=Canonite;873621] i've read these tyre protectors are pretty useless.
I spent a lot of time driving over kerbs and pot holes with cut springs developing those tyre protectors. I agree they do not catch everything but they do stop most. We changed the spring manufacturer in the end to cure this problem.

pab · 13th December 2011, 07:37

Spring protectors were fitted as a recall at some stage.They will catch the spring if it breaks at the bottom..Any further up the spring and it misses the cup.

Canonite · 13th December 2011, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by norfie

I spent a lot of time driving over kerbs and pot holes with cut springs developing those tyre protectors. I agree they do not catch everything but they do stop most. We changed the spring manufacturer in the end to cure this problem.

Please, don't take offence. I'm sure your work has helped save many tyres. I was merely saying that when I'd asked about them after raising concerns I was told they do not cure the problem, and springs can and still do pierce the tyre, as you explained.

What did you find to be the main factors in causing springs to break? As we know it's not just our cars that suffer with this, many other marques also have springs that snap randomly and seemingly unprovoked.
As I mentioned before, from what i've read on here they seem to break when setting off at slow speed.
Is it the springs that are weak or is there something else that puts strain on them that causes the failure?

As the ZT springs are different to the 75 springs, is it limited to just 75 ones or do ZT springs fail too?
I was thinking of getting lowering springs when mine need doing, as a way of not only avoiding OEM ones, but to make my car a bit more bespoke.

Mikejr · 13th December 2011, 14:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tickertyboo

Just rolled 6" off the car park at work tonight and the front offside spring snapped about half way up and went through the tread of a new tyre. So that's two new front springs and a new tyre to fork out for. Lucky part of the business is a garage and that's where the car's stayed for the night, I took one of the work's vans home.

All the best from a well miffed Les.

Definitely not Tickertyboo then Les,

norfie · 13th December 2011, 16:09

No offence taken, it's nearly impossible to design and test a product that would catch everything with the package constraints that we had.
I can not remember excatly when but the spring supplier changed mid/late 2002 so later cars should not suffer from the spring break problem as much. You can never eliminate spring breakage completely as it is a high stress component and a small stone chip will cause a stress point which will fail eventually.
As a quick visual look see, if your front springs are a matt black (powder coat) they are early supply and if the are a satin type finish and slightly smoother looking then they are the 2nd supplier.

Tickertyboo · 15th December 2011, 18:44

The spring snapped about half way up. The car was re-called some years ago and had new front springs fitted but when it came back I swear it was lower on the front than before, now that I've got it back it stands about 1" higher than it did. I wonder what springs they fitted on the re-call, would the ones off a petrol car fit and would they be as strong as the diesel springs?
Les.

mamasboy · 15th December 2011, 20:11

Bad new and possibly a blessing in disguise if that had happened whilst driving at speed it could have been nasty.

12th December 2011, 20:19	#1
Tickertyboo Regular poster Rover 75 CDT Saloon Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bishop Auckland. Posts: 78 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Front Springs Just rolled 6" off the car park at work tonight and the front offside spring snapped about half way up and went through the tread of a new tyre. So that's two new front springs and a new tyre to fork out for. Lucky part of the business is a garage and that's where the car's stayed for the night, I took one of the work's vans home. All the best from a well miffed Les.

15th December 2011, 20:11	#10
mamasboy RS South East Ford fester... blah.... Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Hastings Posts: 2,900 Thanks: 29 Thanked 78 Times in 42 Posts	Bad new and possibly a blessing in disguise if that had happened whilst driving at speed it could have been nasty. __________________ the name's Bernard but you can call me nursie......

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12th December 2011, 20:43	#2
Canonite This is my second home BMW 330d Tourer, MG ZT 180 SE XPG, VW Polo 6R 1.2 TDI Bluemotion Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: York Posts: 6,022 Thanks: 363 Thanked 574 Times in 319 Posts	Thats terrible. Even more so through a new tyre. It's the one thing that I dread happening, i've read these tyre protectors are pretty useless. You say rolled 6"....were you parked on a slope? It seems to be totally random when it occurs but always seems to be when setting off from being stationary position. Where did it snap?

12th December 2011, 21:06	#3
cabbers Retired 62-reg Suzuki SX4 SZ5 1.6i AWD / 07-reg Audi S3 2.0 T FSI Quattro Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Darlaston Posts: 1,706 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	thats all you need at this time of the year, hope you can get it fixed soon mate

13th December 2011, 06:28	#4
norfie Avid contributor Rover 75 1.8T saloon Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Dunstable Posts: 206 Thanks: 0 Thanked 8 Times in 6 Posts	[QUOTE=Canonite;873621] i've read these tyre protectors are pretty useless. I spent a lot of time driving over kerbs and pot holes with cut springs developing those tyre protectors. I agree they do not catch everything but they do stop most. We changed the spring manufacturer in the end to cure this problem.

13th December 2011, 07:37	#5
pab Banned MG ZT V6 190+ Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Leeds Posts: 33,223 Thanks: 41 Thanked 1,614 Times in 1,416 Posts	Spring protectors were fitted as a recall at some stage.They will catch the spring if it breaks at the bottom..Any further up the spring and it misses the cup.

13th December 2011, 16:09	#8
norfie Avid contributor Rover 75 1.8T saloon Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Dunstable Posts: 206 Thanks: 0 Thanked 8 Times in 6 Posts	No offence taken, it's nearly impossible to design and test a product that would catch everything with the package constraints that we had. I can not remember excatly when but the spring supplier changed mid/late 2002 so later cars should not suffer from the spring break problem as much. You can never eliminate spring breakage completely as it is a high stress component and a small stone chip will cause a stress point which will fail eventually. As a quick visual look see, if your front springs are a matt black (powder coat) they are early supply and if the are a satin type finish and slightly smoother looking then they are the 2nd supplier.

15th December 2011, 18:44	#9
Tickertyboo Regular poster Rover 75 CDT Saloon Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bishop Auckland. Posts: 78 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	The spring snapped about half way up. The car was re-called some years ago and had new front springs fitted but when it came back I swear it was lower on the front than before, now that I've got it back it stands about 1" higher than it did. I wonder what springs they fitted on the re-call, would the ones off a petrol car fit and would they be as strong as the diesel springs? Les.