26-06-2018, 10:32 AM
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.
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.
