Pot hole damage

[Refugee]

I have been driven out of my electronics workshop into the heat only to be driven back in again by the heat.
A road spring on my car has snapped and the two halves stuck one inside the other.
I was lucky it did not slash the tire or brake pipes. It is shot in short order.
The sun has got so strong that it has become painful and that is rare for me as normally I just go brown and get mistaken for someone from a hot country.
At least I have got the strut rebuilt but the car needs to be in a shadow to get it back on again.
What a sweaty job on a day with tar bubble sun shine to boot.
The tools were getting painful to pick up as were the new parts.
Phew I need an early start before it gets too hot.

[Terry]

Have you reported the pothole?

This is a convenient way to do it: https://www.fixmystreet.com/

[alanworland]

Sorry to hear that but it's so common nowadays. My mate had a broken spring replaced then the following week the other side broke!
Springs these days don't seem to have enough coils in them to me.

Alan

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
Nasty if at speed!!!
Do both as they do settle with age and one new one on one side will effect the handling.
The big problem with modern car coil springs is the powder coating, its inflexible, cracks and moisture penetrates so they rust as it penetrates into the spring. A good coat of waxoyl twice a year helps.
The pothole would have shocked the spring at the weak point where its rusted, quite clear on the photo.

[peter scott]

The worst thing is puddles that have hidden depths. In older cars I think coil springs are usually weakened by rust pitting. They are fine until a crater develops at some point.

Peter

[Refugee]

It had been making the odd funny noise for a week or so as the spring began to fail and then it got worse suddenly with a pull on the steering. The damage had been building up for some time so there was no single pot hole that could have the blame laid on it.
There are also an awful lot of sleeping policemen too. I actually had to wait for rough bits on both sides to work out where the noise was coming from as it had not obviously sagged to start with.
I know about Fix My Street. We made lemon everything.
https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/1295636
I added a couple of photos.

[Terry]

I'd forgotten that!

[Refugee]

I forgot to say that I am replacing both springs and both dampers in a determined attempt to avoid stripping it all down again.

[Slidertogrid - Rich.]

Some makes of cars seem more prone to broken springs than others Whilst age, mileage and rust certainly have an effect on springs it's not always the case.
 My neighbour has a Vauxhall Vectra which he has owned from almost new. At three years old and 18000 miles it was found to have two broken front springs on it's first MOT. One spring had dug into the flexi hose for the front brake and had stretched it tight like a bow string. the other had a jagged end sticking out which was missing the inside sidewall of the tyre by about 1cm.
The car is now 12 years old and is still on it's replacement springs with no further breakages.
On the other hand I have never heard of a spring breaking on a Micra K11 ever. I had an ex driving school car that lasted 16 years and 280K never had a spring, alternator, starter motor...
My current Micra is an 02 reg with 70 odd thousand and has also needed virtually no repairs in the last 4 years admittedly this is a second car and only does 5K a year.
My main car an 08 Ford fusion (horrible thing but is cheap to run and was purchased cheaply) has done 47k and now it is 10 years old I am seriously thinking of changing the front springs before they fail. On the fusion if a spring breaks the remainder usually slips down the suspension leg and allows the inner sidewall to catch the leg jamming the wheel and wrecking the tyre. So until I replace the springs I have as a precaution removed the full size spare wheel and installed a Ford space saver wheel as in the event of a spring failing the skinny tyre of the space saver will miss the leg and may allow me to 'limp' Home...
They don't make cars like they used to!
 
Rich.

[jjl]

I had a 2000 (W reg.) Ford Mondeo a few years ago that broke both front springs. One failed with a thump as I was travelling to the MOT station in 2007. On arrival I told the mechanic that there was something amiss with the front suspension, he had a look and said, "yes sir, all Mondeos do that apart from the diesels" and pointed to a pile of broken Ford springs in the corner of the yard. Only the broken spring was replaced on this occasion.
About a year later, the spring on the other side failed with a thump and a "boing". I took it to the same garage and dealt with the same mechanic who said "back again sir?".
There was no damage to either tyres or brake hoses in either case, although the broken ends of the spring were quite close to the tyre on the first occasion.

John