Man of Honour
Why not change them regularly before they fail then? Just to be extra safe.
Coil Spring Snapped
- Thread starter steveo
- Start date
Why not change them regularly before they fail then? Just to be extra safe.
Following that logic the OP should probably replace all 4 !
You worry too much.
Soldato
It's advised to replace in pairs, especially if fitting a non-genuine part which will most likely have different spring rates.
I work in the trade, and always advise this. 95% of customers only want the one replaced.
I work in the trade, and always advise this. 95% of customers only want the one replaced.
To be honest, if there was an easy way to indicate life expiry like a tyre has a wear marker, I probably would
Man of Honour
A bloke I know had a broken spring on the back of his Mk3 Cavalier SRi for 3 years. His MOT tester was obviously not the most observant.
Would be a different story if a rear spring though Superman.
Not really, the front and rear springs will wear more in pairs, there's a lot more weight at the front of a car and the front springs will generally do a lot more work from constantly braking and accelerating. Also you don't want a nice stiff new spring on one side and a tired old floppy one on the other.. Common sense when you think about it.
Soldato
Good to see cars are built down to a price, not up to a quality these days. Snapped springs used to be rare, now it's normal 
Associate
i have driven a car with just one spring replaced couldn't tell the difference.
front one as well.
front one as well.
As stated, not really the point, in an extreme situation, like emergency braking at high speed, the car could become more unbalanced.. It's not like springs are expensive in terms oo car maintenance.
Good to see cars are built down to a price, not up to a quality these days. Snapped springs used to be rare, now it's normal
It isnt so much about cost, it is about "Emissions"
The springs are made lighter and are therefore more highly stressed and more vulnerable to failure.
This of course blows any concept of "Diminishing returns" out of the window, for the sake of saving a couple of g/Km or a fraction of an MPG cars today are fitted with expensive and potentially lethal time bombs that can go off with no warning and will likely cost the average owner far more over the vehicles lifetime than any possible saving in fuel (or even emissions when the other factors are taken into consideration).
More green nonsense!
Snapped springs used to be rare, now it's normal
Speed bumps used to be rare too...
It's got absolutely nothing to do with being able to "tell the difference"
If it makes no difference to the handling or stability of the car, then why are you insisting it's so important?
The springs share an even load (except when cornering ofc) and will wear out at roughly the same rate, if one has worn out and snapped then the other one that has shared an even load will be heading the same way. Is it not better to get them both done at the same time instead of just waiting for the other to go (which it may do in a dangerous situation).
Always replace both sides if possible. Also rear springs are literally a 5mins job. No need to compress springs for rear. For the Astra its wheel off and one bolt. Garage will charge one hour for both. Should be less than £100 for both inc parts.