Do modern vehicle suspension springs last?

[pedrobedro]

When I had the Berlingo it was a regular thing so I bought a hydraulic spring compressor just for the job. I never changed both at the same time. I think I had seven break in about 12 years of ownership. I saw a Ford Mondeo where the broken spring had dropped down the leg and ripped the tyre wall completely to shreds. The Berlingo had a guard which was fitted due to a fatal accident where Citroen were sued in France.

 

[dave h 2]

The first car I had this on was an 88 Opel Manta, both rear springs and came as a complete surprise as did the noisy rear end - pile of junk. I had previously put load of miles on an 80 Ascona with no issues at all. Likewise everything from the seventies never broke a spring, neither has any of my Jeep GC's.
As a weird parallel, the replacement household door handle springs also started breaking at the same time.
This kind of points to spring country of origin.

 

[Nomad]

My new daily transport transport (late 90s Ford Puma) is terrible over the moulded rubber speed humps - I slow under 5mph and the whole car still bounces badly. Low profile tyres, low suspension...
The speedhumps issue is such a pain to live with that I'm putting the car up for sale

The other types of speed bumps are ok, I've followed a couple of other cars going over the rubber speed humps and they also slowed to walking pace so it's not just my car that gets hammered by them.

The only car I snapped a spring on was a classic Hillman Hunter, tried to do a burnout and the back wheel hopped then the leaf spring went bang

 

[harveyp6]

The only rear springs I remember snapping regularly back in the day were MK2 Escort single leafs

 

[skotl]

I think it's the roads rather than the springs.

Agree. Wife had a Fiat 500 in the centre of edinburgh for three years - no problems. We moved out here, where there are speedbumps the size of Ben Nevis every 5ft and she went through two sets of springs and shocks in another three years.

(the fact that she approached each obstacle with Evil Knievel levels of enthusiasm didn't help)

 

[Migmac]

Low profile tyres and carp roads are giving modern suspension systems a good workout, made worse because everything travels and corners that much quicker these days.

Bob

This + kids !
Only springs we’ve had break in recent years were on the kids cars, both fiestas on low profile tyres

 

[AVI_8]

My 2018 BMW M2 springs snapped, car has under 19000 miles on the clock and they weren’t even rusty, I changed both one was visibly broken, the other was also broken but the break was not visible as it was hidden by the top mount so I’m glad I did.

I’ve had to change springs on every BMW made after 2006 I’ve owned.
I bought new springs from ECP for a 1 series a few years ago and they both snapped at around 12 months old so now I only buy springs from the main dealer even though I know they are not going to last long.

I sold my 18 year old X5 with 175K miles still on its original springs.

They must be sourcing springs from China made from inferior steel, because this is just too common nowadays
H R springs are good but they’re aftermarket lowering springs.

 

[Erie Fred]

Agree. Wife had a Fiat 500 in the centre of edinburgh for three years - no problems. We moved out here, where there are speedbumps the size of Ben Nevis every 5ft and she went through two sets of springs and shocks in another three years.

(the fact that she approached each obstacle with Evil Knievel levels of enthusiasm didn't help)

Well, she was trying to make the ride smoother, by hitting the first one, and flying airborne over the rest.....

 

[daleyd]

Had a spring snap on a Golf I had back in 2004 ish, was only 2-3 years old (Company car). The missus also had a Tiguan that had a top mount bearing go a few years back, I seem to recall the spring had snapped near the top and took out the bearing but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[JOEPRO]

It can be a known defect in the car model - but rare.

Example, most of my 80s mercs inc the cossie have their original 40 year old springs with no breaks or damage.

I had a 2003 year w211 Merc which broke its rear springs every couple of years. Indeed I heard one snap just parked in my drive way. It is a known problem in the w211 chassis. My 2018 Merc also had 2x broken rear springs which I replaced last year.

These w140 springs are beasts



(About 2.5 feet tall uncompressed and 6 - 7 inch diameter)

 

[Kayos]

Callee at the garage yesterday and he had a Passat, a Mercedes and an Audi A3 in, all for snapped springs

 

[mr haynes]

Lower quality springs + everything on low profile tyres + everything heavier + deeper potholes + little to no avoidance of road hazards in modern driving.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Do modern ________________ last?

Short answer: No.

(Fill in blank as applicable).

 

[Blobber]

I think it's probably because more springs are progressive now once the tighter wound coils are compressed the remaining coils have a lot more work to do?

 

[indykid]

Cars are heavier and I'd wager allowable spring stress limits in the design calculations have been relaxed to sail closer to failure. The spring still needs to fit in roughly the same space it ever did, meaning they can't magic more wire into the equation so it has to work a lot harder, eating into the fatigue life.

A mk1 golf was ~850kg kerb weight, a mk8 is more like 1500kg. A mk2 cavalier was 1050kg kerb weight and an insignia is 1600kg.

 

[Melvyn Best]

I have seen some stupid stuff done by used car dealers under warranty.

Such as fitting new brake discs and the old worn down pads back in! And also, pads on one side of the axle to cure a pad warning light. Idiodic stuff!

Warranty companies really are a waste of time, had a customer years ago that had an Escort with a Zetec engine that had a lumpy idle, several garages had done a compression test which in fairness showed OK but a cylinder leakage test showed a leaking valve. Warranty company would only pay for 1 valve and fitting and argued it didn’t need a full gasket kit even though it was cheaper than individual gaskets

 

[Erie Fred]

Seen several of the broken part laying on the road, now that is a road hazard as they break very sharp,
and will destroy a tire if run over.

Leaf springs I find once in awhile, not as big as a problem if you run over them.

 

[Turbo]

I had a spring break on my 2001 306 dturbo hdi when parked.
Car was parked on a slope but immobile. Changing the spring was not easy.

The factory springs fitted are shorter than standard and not cheap, even from the motor factors.
Cheapest option ended up being good quality uprated ones from Eibach.

 

[Jezguz]

I've only had one break and that was on a Chevette estate, overloaded with floor and wall tiles and thrashed everywhere. Never had the money for a proper van.

 

[Morris]

Don't seem to have a problem