Corrosion on rear coil springs. How soon should I replace?

kissenger · 12 Oct 2020 at 11:43

My car (2011 Hyundai ix35) went in for its MOT today. It passed but the technician noted corrosion on one of the rear coil springs. Is this something I should worry about immediately? I'd rather wait 6 months if I can and then replace them both.

bremen1874 · 12 Oct 2020 at 11:56

Most likely just cosmetic. If there was an imminent problem (< 12 months) they wouldn't have just noted it (that's what advisories are for).

Asking the garage that did the test for additional information at the time is always a good idea.

iamdjdz · 12 Oct 2020 at 12:10

I've had cosmetic corrosion noted on my MOT for around 3/4 years, will probably replace it at some point but it doesn't affect the ride etc and isn't likely to go anytime soon from recent checks. You'll be sweet just save up and do them when it suits.

kissenger · 12 Oct 2020 at 12:19

It was an advisory. I'm picking up the car after work, so I'll ask for more detail at Hyundai. From what I've read though unless it's an outright fail it's usually not urgent.

bainbridge · 12 Oct 2020 at 14:40

I think it's only broken springs which fail, though I'm not certain.

Scania · 12 Oct 2020 at 15:26

A broken spring will fail, corrosion won’t unless it’s serious (and would most likely have broken anyway).

My Volvo has advisories for its rear springs on its last 4 MOT’s, they look pretty rough tbh but very plainly haven’t been changed in years, probably still the factory ones.

I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it OP.

Howard · 12 Oct 2020 at 15:30

As above, no need to worry. They'll probably last another 5 years in that state. In any case, if you take it to an independent garage it won't be an expensive job. Probably an hour's labour and £50-100 for some pattern parts.

Nasher · 12 Oct 2020 at 17:12

If bits of it are crumbling away then it's bad rust. A set of springs from a top brand is only about £150. You'd need to get a full alignment done a few weeks after though once they settle.

Rroff · 12 Oct 2020 at 17:18

Corrosion is an odd one - the steel, etc. used in cars (well if properly treated shouldn't corrode to any extent any time soon but that is another matter) can look quite bad corrosion wise but structurally hold up for like 20 odd years (unless you are talking an early 2000s Nissan Navara :s ).

It probably isn't something to lose sleep over unless it is actually rusting away.

kissenger · 12 Oct 2020 at 20:22

They said it was just 'surface rust' when I collected the car, so I'll leave it, but makes me wonder why they even bother putting it on the MOT.

Nasher · 12 Oct 2020 at 20:40

Keep some ACF50 or similar on it and it won't get any worse.

ALD · 12 Oct 2020 at 22:43

kissenger said:
They said it was just 'surface rust' when I collected the car, so I'll leave it, but makes me wonder why they even bother putting it on the MOT.

It looks bad on the Mot testers record if everything passes with no advisory’s.

Lopéz · 14 Oct 2020 at 07:51

Nasher said:
If bits of it are crumbling away then it's bad rust. A set of springs from a top brand is only about £150. You'd need to get a full alignment done a few weeks after though once they settle.

I've never seen a "crumbling" spring!