O/T (non-Mini) spring failure
Turbo Mini Forums

Wifey went to go out this morning ('54 Ford Focus) and came in complaining of a strange noise as she set off down the drive from the front right wheel... could I look....

It hadn't been used for a couple of days so I assumed it was just rust on the brake disc but as I reversed down the drive, the noise got louder and the front right of the car lower.





1 1/2hrs later - I'm getting old, I should have done it in half that time - this,



The roads around here are absolutely full of potholes after two bad winters and cowboy repairs by the cheapest contractor the council can find but the fracture surfaces aren't classic fatigue initiated. There are actually corrosion spots on the final failed surface suggesting the steel was full of crap from the day the wire was drawn.

The frightening thing is although it happened when setting off, if it had failed at speed, being the front right, that would have been a trip into the oncoming traffic.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

One of the rear springs went on my 51 Focus last year.

The garage that fixed it (too many other things to do myself) said that it was very common.

According to the garage, one local guy turned his wheel while stationary on a frosty morning and both front springs failed simultaneously. One of them pierced a tyre.

I must say that this is one of a very few things to go wrong with the Focus in 10 years of ownership.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

springs seem to be going on everything these days,

Crap springs, lots of pot holes or both?

I have never had one break but know plenty that have. The very nature of wht it's doing lend it to failure I guess.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

Ive heard this is becoming quite common on older focus's Good job the car want moving fast when it happened.

The problem is that you now know that the other one is going to fail at some point.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Same thing happened on my old man's Focus a few years back.

had the font go on my 330d, right in the middle lucky it was on the drive over night, not on the m62! I changed all four.

Had both rears go one after on the wifes Z4. I was in the car started it on the drive and it went BANG! I thought I had thrown a rod.

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

Common problem on Fords.

I changed a full set of springs on a 57 plate golf r32 the other day as the rear o/s one had snapped and the driver wanted the whole lot changing

I changed the rear spring on a mates mrs's ka a couple of weeks ago, the spring had snapped on that aswell.

one day boost will be mine!

I killed the rear springs on an escort rs turbo years and again on a sapphire cosworth last year,bloody fords!

Edited by rosco454 on 20th Mar, 2011.

When I was working in a garage we had a 3 year old vauxhall signum come in on a dolly.... o/s/f spring snapped and caught the tyre, it went all the way around made a new job, the guy said he was going down the parkway at 70mph

Jack Jones

I had this happen:



However, the car is 26 old with 286000kms on the clock.

can't complain then

seen that once before vegard - the platform had collapsed onto the tyre. I stopped the guy driving the car as he was completely unaware of the smoke coming out of his wheel arch. He took one look at it and asked me if he could drive it home - 3 kids in the car as well!

i am constantly picking up cars for broken springs, renualts are the worst

Perhaps its the recent bouts of snow weve being having ie salt on the roads?

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

My mum's 2000 Focus front drivers spring snapped last week, it had done just over 100k miles.

I'm just waiting for mine to go now

Have a friend with a TDI Jetta...both front springs broke on the first coil wrap within 30 days of each other.....

Eric
my pics.... http://www.fototime.com/inv/7AAF37CF3EFA956

I blame all the speed humps, they just pop up more and more, a few years ago there were few or none.

common on fords and vauxhalls, what disgusts me though is on older cars it was pretty uncommon, and they had large spring platforms so shoudl the worst happen the spring is contained, nowadays (particularly ford) the spring platform is narrowed, so when it snaps it drops down past the platform, usually just piercing the tyre(just!) but have seen them wipe out the brake hose to the caliper and ABS wire.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

I'venot seen one break before, sorry for you, cheers for showing use, hope you sort it soon.

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on Injection?

http://www.mattwoodsphotography.com