Change springs in pairs?

Kingy

Kingy

Kingy

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Morning all,

My car has been in for new front springs as the offside front had broken. The broken spring has been replaced, but apparently it was a cow of a job as the connection to the damper had corroded badly, although not in an area that would impact the performance of the damper apparently.

The mechanic is concerned that in replacing the unbroken nearside spring, the damper may be damaged, & I'd need two new dampers.

I'm concerned that from a history POV, replacing only the broken spring might look like cutting corners, but I'm being assured that the springs don't degrade, so there'd be no benefit to making the change, only the risk of damaging the dampers.

So, would you leave the unbroken spring alone (despite having paid for the part & labour), or replace it & hope that the damper isn't damaged in the process?
 
Depends on the vehicle really and how old it is.

Springs "Can" degrade over time and springs on modern cars seem to be more highly stressed (and therefore more vulnerable to damage) than on older designs.

Personally I would be inclined to replace both, and replace the dampers at the same time. If they have been on the car long enough to have become badly corroded they are probably due a change anyway!
 
Springs sag over time and become less....springy so what you've been told is nonsense.

If they aren't that old you could do one side but you will have one corner slightly higher than the other - for a while at least. I'd do both personally
 
I only replaced my front n/s spring on the Octavia at my mechanics recommendation. He said shocks must be done in pairs.

I didn't notice any ride height difference and I even went as far as parking it up on the flat and measuring tyre to arch after a few days had past and found both sides to be the same.
 
Honestly, they absolutely do sag over time. Did you check the car was level at both sides before it was done? Never put lower springs on a car and found they were the same height as the old ones for a few months?
 
I had a front spring go and was told seeing as the price it double for getting two done the garage would do just the one and see how the car sits/drives. They did one in the end and a month later the other side spring failed anyway. In the time I did have two differently aged springs however the car drove perfectly fine and sat evenly (it had done 88k at the time and is 11 years old).
 
Mine just snapped so looking to replace. From what i gathered it's best to be done in pairs but won't hurt singly.

Moneysaving V Proper job is the point i guess.
 
Of course there is, springs that have been used for x number of years will have traded a degree of their effectiveness. It is unlikely to be a safety issue but its naive to think they will respond the same as a new spring.

As I've already said they drop as they get older p,us the other side will not realistically be far behind unless they're fairly new.

Would you change one drop link, one arb bush, one track rod or track rod end because only one had failed? Of course not, even though you could do it- its no different here.

Will the car chuck you off the road, no. Will you be able to just change one, yes - but the sensible thing to do is change both
 
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rodenal said:
Of course there is, springs that have been used for x number of years will have traded a degree of their effectiveness. It is unlikely to be a safety issue but its naive to think they will respond the same as a new spring.

As I've already said they drop as they get older p,us the other side will not realistically be far behind unless they're fairly new.

Would you change one drop link, one arb bush, one track rod or track rod end because only one had failed? Of course not, even though you could do it- its no different here.

Will the car chuck you off the road, no. Will you be able to just change one, yes - but the sensible thing to do is change both
Click to expand...

Exactly, so, to summarise, there is absolutely no issue in replacing a spring singularly. It might not be ultimately sensible to do so, but there is no issue in doing so ;)

Also, with wound springs we need to factor in unsprung weight, before the mass of the vehicle is added, so I'm not sure you're giving springs enough credit. ie, if I took a spring off of a 100k mile car, do you think it would be short or longer, unsprung, than a brand new spring for that car?
 
I think uncompressed it would be exactly the same, under load it would be different - not massively so. As I've mentioned numerous times I've seen it before where someone has put only one new spring on. Unsprung there is no reason why it would be any different but having supported the load for however many miles and however long (which I suspect is the more important bit) its ability will be different to that of a new spring when on the vehicle

Have never suggested its going to cause any serious issues but people saying there is no need or reason to replace both are being silly. I'm not one for going over the score with maintenance issues but a basic thing like sorting springs a pair at a time is...well...basic
 
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