Nearside front spring broke ...

smr

smr

smr

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
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8,801
Location
Leicestershire
Yesterday or the day before...

Probably due to the cold. I've been driving around at 80mph on some roads :o

I didn't know what had happened to the car, it didn't really feel much different aside from turning the steering wheel all the way to the left i could hear it.

Anyway I got it fixed today and after reading up on the Internet about it I've read that when one goes the other side should be done at the same time.

I had to pay £106 to get the job done and don't really want to fork out much more on my car, she's cost me a lot of money recently!

Would it really be that detrimental if I don't have the otherside done. The garage where I got it fixed never mentioned it...
 
I was told that when I had my Fiesta and the spring broke. 'Next one won't be far behind mate' etc. Four more years and the other one was fine. Surely the nearside is typically under more stress anyway (presuming that's the one that went).
 
Ever looked at the difference in ride height alone between a new and sagged old spring? The car wont handle properly and tyre/component wear will be uneven with a mismatched pair and tbh the other usually isn't far behind. Whether it would make enough of a difference to the way the car handles well I guess you'd never really know even if you had a bump
 
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mickey mouse ones I'd imagine. He tried ripping me off by saying it would be £120+ vat.

I got home and rang another place and was quoted 106 all in so I rang him back up and he agreed to it "this time"... lol

I'm ultra paranoid when it comes to mechanics. Don't trust them one bit!

Yeah it was the spring next to me, driver's side front.
 
This is a 2001 mk3 mondeo , 115k, recently just had a new clutch fitted before Christmas and a new coil pack as well. She's showing her age :/
 
Near side is passenger side (rhd), offside is drivers, assume 106 is supply and fit as a new spring alone is likely to be about 30 quid for a Mondeo?
 
rodenal said:
Near side is passenger side (rhd), offside is drivers, assume 106 is supply and fit as a new spring alone is likely to be about 30 quid for a Mondeo?
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oops my bad I'd always assumed it was the other way round with thinking the word near meant in relation to the driver... shows how much I know!

Yeah the guy from the other place said 106 inc. vat and spring/fitting
 
Still sounds a bit steep but not outrageous

30 quid from gsf for a Mondeo front spring, that's not even trade so he should be able to buy them for less. Assuming a random garage you'd expect to pay 40-50 an hour labour. It's an hours work for them.at most.
 
May be I put my foot it in when I asked how much it would cost... should have done the research first. I just happened to be driving past the garage on my travels earlier. Ah well.

So what should I do, ring around for quotes and get the other side done too?
 
Up to you but if keeping the car and you can get both done for 150-160 I would. Ask the guy who gave the 106 quote - he might be more interested in doing 2 springs and give you a better price
 
Sorry, think we're misunderstanding eachother, I'm probably not being very clear. I've got the spring which broke fixed - for £106.

I suppose at least he did drop the car off to my house after so it saved me having to walk up the village in the freezing cold lol.
 
I plan on keeping the car for a few months maybe even a year, need to save up for a new (second hand) car. Got a bit of a road trip to Amsterdam in April as well across in the Ferry.
 
If its done now just see how you go I guess. You would want the same spring out on the other side if you did get it done. Even if the other spring snapped on your trip it would be unlikely to stop you being able to drive it,just a bit unwise to continually do so for months after
 
smr said:
This is a 2001 mk3 mondeo , 115k, recently just had a new clutch fitted before Christmas and a new coil pack as well. She's showing her age :/
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Ah - wifes Mk3 Mondeo Ghia X killed a coil spring wheh we had it. And surely enough the other side had gone by the time the next mot was due. And the coil pack went at xmas but unfortunately took the ecu with it, so we just scrapped the car. It also needed a new clutch - 99k miles on it.

rodenal said:
Still sounds a bit steep but not outrageous

30 quid from gsf for a Mondeo front spring, that's not even trade so he should be able to buy them for less. Assuming a random garage you'd expect to pay 40-50 an hour labour. It's an hours work for them.at most.
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Mondeos are a pain to swap springs on - the sub-frame has to be lowered to get the bottom ball joint out.
 
One went on my 406 last year, didn't have the other side done.

It failed about a month later and took the tyre with it.
 
GeForce said:
One went on my 406 last year, didn't have the other side done.

It failed about a month later and took the tyre with it.
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Thats the main reason on advising on changing both, changing one would not only put extra stress on the newer spring and possibly damage it, but generally if one goes due to metal fatigue then engineering commonsense would say other wouldnt be far behind. a blow out at high speed is no joke in a car, hgv's can cope much better, but in a car if the front blows u become a passenger
 
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