Suspension Failure

[Padredante]

Hi all,

 

Has anyone here had a similar incident?... Today, whilst approaching a roundabout, I heard a bang which came from the rear of the vehicle which was then followed by an alarming and very loud grating / clanging noise so I stopped immediately! I noticed the rear of the car felt low and at first thought I'd had a blow out and that the grating noise was the ally wheel on the tarmac. I daren't move the car so I stuck the hazards on and got out to have a look. Both rear wheels where fully inflated but it was evident that their was something seriously wrong on the nearside rear. The car was lop sided and I couldn't fit my hand between the top of the tyre and the wheel arch. BLOODY HELL!

 

I slowly crawled the car out of the way of traffic and the clanging noise started again. I stopped and called RAC. Called police as i was still causing an obstruction and waited for recovery. Car was towed to local garage and will be inspected tomorrow. The car was that low at the rear that the exhaust was scraping on the tarmac as they loaded it on to the transporter. Same again when they unloaded it. The recovery team reckon the spring has broken or somehow become detached and is resting on the wheel which was making the clanging sound. I'll find out tomorrow no doubt.

 

Very worrying to think this type of failure can happen under such normal use..

 

 

[williamshatnerspants]

Yikes! Good luck!

 

Keen to hear how you get on. What sort of mileage has your car done?

 

Matt

[Padredante]

The car's only just turned 98k so not high. Outcome was a broken spring. The grating noise was caused by the bottom half of the spring getting lodged between the damper and the inside of the rear alloy. Luckily no real damage other than a slight marking to the inside surface of the rear wheel and a very light scuff to the exhaust tailpipes caused whilst unloading the car as it was so low. Very reasonable price to fit new replacement spring. Car was back on the road this morning at 10.00.

 

Since having this car I've replaced a number of components. The air con compressor went at around 70K. Drivers window wouldn't close (broken retaining clip inside door panel) at around the same time. Columbus unit - Complete failure (88K). Front passenger side seatbelt wouldn't retract. Indicator on Drivers sideview mirror failed (about 2 months ago). Various issues with the DIS wrongly displaying failed bulbs. MAF sensor packed up whilst on holiday. Replaced Rear shock absorber (under warranty) shortly after buying the car and this is the second broken spring I've replaced. The first was on the offside front and went whilst reversing out of my drive..

 

I had an old J reg Audi 80, 2 litre 16V for 15 years prior to the Skoda and never replaced anything except for tyres and the odd bulb. Believe it or not it still had the original clutch and exhaust on it when I sold it... Lower tech? yes. Lower build quality / materials? definitely not - Built like a tank and no emissions cheat either!

 

Not sure I'll return to this brand, but then again I don't suppose Audis, BM's or any of the other manufacturers are as good now as they used to be quality wise?

 

Anyhow at least I'm back on the road.... for now.

 

[roaddetective]

 I have had numerous cars over my the decades of driving, yes I am old. I have never had a spring brake in all that time, apart from a few months ago. Went slowly as usual over a speed bump and big bang, a rear spring snapped. Looked underneath and it was obvious. I was lucky though, as it did not scrape on anything. I then had 2 new genuine rear springs fitted. My car at the time had around 64k miles on the clock. So it does happen on fairly low mileage cars. Maybe modern cars as you say, are not engineered as good as they used to be. Mind you, they are more comfortable, faster and safer, so I can live with that.

[drefaldwyn]

Had to replace all 4 springs during the time I had my Octavia. (150k miles)

 

Drefaldwyn

[Padredante]

2 hours ago, drefaldwyn said:

Had to replace all 4 springs during the time I had my Octavia. (150k miles)

 

Drefaldwyn

 

You have to question either the quality of steel used or whatever processes are used to manufacture these springs. Suffice to say that if a spring can / does last the lifetime of the car, there has to be something wrong with those that fail, especially on such relatively low mileage cars... and considering todays roads are normally kept in much better condition.

[kenfowler3966]

Two broken coil springs on front of Superb mk1, not really noticeable until I realised ground clearance had reduced.

Broken coil in front of wifes mk1 Fabia. The broken bit came out noisily at speed so wife stoped and picked it up to show me as she had no idea what it was, again slightly reduced ride height.

Personally i think its all the speed bumps and potholes. I also suspect the springs have to be working near their limit to give an acceptable ride, and hence cant take much of a bang through a pothole without then failing a few miles or days later.

Edited 12 July, 2017 by kenfowler3966

[williamshatnerspants]

We have 96,000 miles on our car, the rear is sagging 15mm lower than the front, and we are planning a big road trip at Xmas time. I'm keen to replace the springs, but can't find anywhere in New Zealand who can sell me replacement springs. We have the factory lowered suspension. Looks like I will have to order from the UK.

[drefaldwyn]

10 hours ago, Padredante said:

 

You have to question either the quality of steel used or whatever processes are used to manufacture these springs. Suffice to say that if a spring can / does last the lifetime of the car, there has to be something wrong with those that fail, especially on such relatively low mileage cars... and considering todays roads are normally kept in much better condition.

Could this be yet another occasion when VAG have cut corners to the detriment of customers? "Spring-gate" hot on the heels of "Dieselgate"?

 

Drefaldwyn

[Breezy_Pete]

Or saved weight for the benefit of customers and the environment?

[CWARD]

Don't think it's cutting corners or reduction in the quality of materials more to do with the crap state of our roads. You previous cars were probably not getting the pounding of what they do now on the pot hole riddled roads. 

[TLV]

The only newish (up to 10 years old) cars I often hear about having their springs snapped are of the VW Group. Most of the time going loaded over rougher roads.

 

Makes me think twice when a fat bloke on the passenger seat tells me we can go faster on this road.

[CWARD]

I wish that was the case but my Mondeo had go on the front. The wife has had one go on each of her last three cars; Ford Ka (rear), Mini Cooper S- R56 (front) and BMW 1 Series (front). I sure she aims for the potholes. Quite a few of our neighbours have had broken springs covering nearly all the manufacturers including quite a few 4x4's. You'd think we lived in some third world country without proper roads but this the Leeds area ( just slightly above third world) 

Both the AA and RAC have reported the increase in suspension failure due to the state of the roads if you have a search.

[Alfashark]

10 hours ago, williamshatnerspants said:

We have 96,000 miles on our car, the rear is sagging 15mm lower than the front, and we are planning a big road trip at Xmas time. I'm keen to replace the springs, but can't find anywhere in New Zealand who can sell me replacement springs. We have the factory lowered suspension. Looks like I will have to order from the UK.

 

You've tried Speed.co.nz? You supply them a part number, they'll do the rest.

[Ootohere]

Anyone that thinks spring failure is a manufacturing fault is maybe not looking at how people drive at speed humps and traffic calming / slowing measures without slowing, or driving at them with any sympathy to the vehicle.

 

Then climb on and off kerbs for a off / on street parking place.

Potholes obviously are an issue, as are low profile tyres, and sometimes buying cars not considering location location location being used and local environments and local authorities roads maintenance or lack of.

[peterposh]

My 08 mondeo  mk4   had a  wishbone replaced at 380 k  when it failed it's 3rd mot

[Padredante]

3 hours ago, Wino said:

Or saved weight for the benefit of customers and the environment?

 

I don't see how lighter weight, cheaper suspension springs breaking, with potentially catastrophic consequences especially if travelling at speed, can benefit anyone. There's cost savings and there's stupid decisions... Grenfell Tower?

[Padredante]

3 hours ago, CWARD said:

Don't think it's cutting corners or reduction in the quality of materials more to do with the crap state of our roads. You previous cars were probably not getting the pounding of what they do now on the pot hole riddled roads. 

 

I don't know about the roads in your area but I can honestly say that the roads here are nothing but good to very good, unless you venture off on to some of the smaller track roads which this car has never been down. And anyway, surely a component such as a suspension spring SHOULD be designed to cope with much more load and stresses than what it would expect to receive on a generally level, smooth surface? In the real world roads are not all like this and so as a 'fail safe' measure it's stands to reason that such a simple but important component should be relied upon to deal with these differing situations - That's the reason it's there for.

 

For example when making hydraulic hoses I have to issue a certificate of conformity. This is document which guaranteed the pressure rating of the hose. In order to meet conformity the hose is pressure tested to 2.5 times the rated pressure.

 

Don't get me wrong, if a normal family car was continuously pounded over third world type roads day in day out, of course you'd expect failures and quite frequently but on our roads in GB? Nah, I don't thinks so. I put it down to a 'buy in as cheap as possible, banging 'em on and get them out quick' attitude.

 

Of course I could be wrong... I have been in the past.

 

[Padredante]

2 hours ago, Awayoffski said:

Anyone that thinks spring failure is a manufacturing fault is maybe not looking at how people drive at speed humps and traffic calming / slowing measures without slowing, or driving at them with any sympathy to the vehicle.

 

Then climb on and off kerbs for a off / on street parking place.

Potholes obviously are an issue, as are low profile tyres, and sometimes buying cars not considering location location location being used and local environments and local authorities roads maintenance or lack of.

 

I've driven cars and motorbikes for over 35 years and I don't drive as you describe above. In my experience over this time no other vehicle i've owned (except the Skoda), has ever had a broken suspension spring, let alone two. Nope, in my opinion such a high rate of spring failure on a car that has been treated very carefully in terms of driving conditions and loads is nothing short of unacceptable but I accept not everyone will agree.

 

I wonder where most car manufacturers source their springs from?

[Padredante]

1 hour ago, peterposh said:

My 08 mondeo  mk4   had a  wishbone replaced at 380 k  when it failed it's 3rd mot

 

380K? Wow!

[CWARD]

You must be lucky in Peterborough as everywhere else has some pretty naff road surfaces to contend with along with speeds humps etc.

 

I've never known suspension springs and bushes to be anything but consumables. They are sited in a high corrosion area and once the coating starts to crack they are open to the elements and then they are prone to failure. They could over engineer them but then no one would buy the cars as they would be a very harsh ride. You say you've never had a broken spring, you've been lucky.

 

Your obviously not happy so get down to the dealer that sold you it, take it to trading standards, take VAG to court. I expect the same result as you are getting on here. Out of interest when did you last inspect the springs for corrosion? 

[Breezy_Pete]

Quite possibly it's not so much to do with the springs as their protective coatings. Laws on what goes into paints have become very strict lately, probably reducing their ability to adhere to the metal surface. 

Once corrosion sets in cracking is just a matter of time.

[Ootohere]

^^^ 

Exactly,

these are not exactly light weight and not cheap and were OK for a few years hard use in the conditions they are design for,

then one cold night i heard a big bang out side as a piece of spring was fired from off the pickup as they were sitting compressed.

Crap coatings.

 

Black replacements are not springs with the same length for articulation but are still like new 3 years on and sit outside and uncared for.

 

My used and abused and corroding 7 year old Fabia never needed rear springs but twice the drivers side front failed and twice a new pair were fitted, first time at 4 years and about 40,000 miles, 2nd time at about 60,000 miles.

(discs replaced 4 times due to corrosion from the type of roads driven in winter and time sitting just going back to where they came from out the ground. Other vehicles twice the age being used less have never needed new discs or springs.)

Edited 13 July, 2017 by Awayoffski

[Gdcobra]

Another thing to bear in mind is these days is the springs have to take care of more of the shock absorbing  (that's what a spring does, the shock absorber does the damping) due to the elastic band tyres which are so popular these days.

[sweetooth]

I remember reading an honest john article where he suggested that european springs dont  end with a pig tail,but japanese  ones  do and this is a contributary factor to the springs breaking