A broken spring... or something more sinister ?

[Bing]

I think I have sufferred the inevitable, but I'd like a second opinion (or 20... :wink: ) if you could all be so kind...

Symptoms :

- steering wheel judder under firm braking at (or above... ) A-road / motorway speeds - so above 50mph.
- not violent, just persistent, dies when speed drops, not noticable at low speed. Car still brakes in a straight line
- wheel alignment looks slightly off : the suspect wheel seems to lean in ever so slightly at the top, and seems to be pointing slightly out when the steering wheel & other wheel are straight. You wouldn't notice unless you were looking for it
- the biggest giveaway : the suspect side of the car is approx 10 to 15mm lower than the other.

Thing is, the spring doesn't look broken, it looks like it has slipped off it's mounting slightly if that is possible (though a broken spring would probably slip, right ?). Note that I haven't had the wheel off as I didn't want to provoke anything popping out when the pressure was released.So a couple of Blackberry pics...

Passenger front spring, which appears to be fine :

Driver front spring, which does not appear fine :

The thing that makes me question whether the spring is broken or not is that the photos are not mirror images of one another, in teh sense that the bottom one looks like the mounting has twisted, and you can clearly see that the strut itself is off-centre. I know next to nothing about these things, so perhaps the uneven load distribution of a broken spring is moving things around :?

So, three simple questions :

1. Is it broken, in your various & vast experience ?
2. If it is, can the car still be safely driven until it can be replaced ?
3. If you don't think the spring is broken, any ideas what could be wrong before I get on the phone to my local Indy ?

As ever, thanks in anticipation

 

[wegras]

Never had one break but that looks to me like a chunk of spring has departed

 

[andysat]

Sorry to hear of your problem mate,i know when i had a broken spring i didnt know!- i have read on here its okay to drive.

 

[Bing]

Never had one break but that looks to me like a chunk of spring has departed

Looks broke to me too

Sorry to hear of your problem mate,i know when i had a broken spring i didnt know!- i have read on here its okay to drive.

Yeah, on my first Z both rear springs were broken and I had no idea till it got serviced a couple of months in... What worries me is that the mounting and shock itself look screwed up, and if the spring actually pops out it could get messy. I really need to get somewhere tomorrow though, and SWMBO will need to have some time to get over her angst at me pinching her car as she has her own plans :roll:

 

[shortfuse 2]

looks to that the spring has lost a full turn i would get it done asap

 

[Bing]

looks to that the spring has lost a full turn i would get it done asap

Okay, does that mean something is loose, or does that happen when they break... And can it still be driven ?

 

[Adamski]

Does look like a bit of spring is missing. I would try to get it checked out/replaced asap


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wegras]

Never had one break but that looks to me like a chunk of spring has departed

Looks broke to me too

Sorry to hear of your problem mate,i know when i had a broken spring i didnt know!- i have read on here its okay to drive.

Yeah, on my first Z both rear springs were broken and I had no idea till it got serviced a couple of months in... What worries me is that the mounting and shock itself look screwed up, and if the spring actually pops out it could get messy. I really need to get somewhere tomorrow though, and SWMBO will need to have some time to get over her angst at me pinching her car as she has her own plans :roll:

Just drive carefully now you know what it looks like probably the upper half is "stuck " into the upper mounting and could drop

 

[Bing]

Balls. I shall drive carefully tomorrow methinks. Gentle motorway, no hooning round roundabouts

However every cloud has a silver lining indeed, because Worcester_spoon has sold me a set of Eibachs that I should have by Saturday, so if all goes well I will not only be sorted, but also freshly modded by Monday 8)

 

[andysat]

Keep us posted mate(with pics if modding occurs)

 

[Bing]

Just thought - Friday 13th tomorrow. Perhaps I should take the Honda after all :?

 

[Anonymous]

Will you be fitting them youself ?

 

[imp75]

Balls. I shall drive carefully tomorrow methinks. Gentle motorway, no hooning round roundabouts

However every cloud has a silver lining indeed, because Worcester_spoon has sold me a set of Eibachs that I should have by Saturday, so if all goes well I will not only be sorted, but also freshly modded by Monday 8)

now thats good timing!

 

[Bing]

Will you be fitting them youself ?

I haven't got the tools Nosa, let alone a clue

Got a couple of mates who are handy round cars, but I suspect not handy enough so I'll probably have to get a local Indy to do it. If I do it'll be a good test of their quality of service before I put it in for an actual service in 800 miles time...

I actually cannot wait - I got in from looking at the car, logged on to post and Worcester_spoon had literally just put the For Sale sign out... The Fates smiled, and SWMBO agreed they were a 'necessary well-priced purchase' :rofl:

 

[Anonymous]

Will you be fitting them youself ?

I actually cannot wait - I got in from looking at the car, logged on to post and Worcester_spoon had literally just put the For Sale sign out... The Fates smiled, and SWMBO agreed they were a 'necessary well-priced purchase' :rofl:

Good timing indeed

Clever woman your Mrs, I remember well the same discussion with mine when my springs went about the economical sense of replacing them with Eibachs, Mine didn't go as smoothly as yours :rofl:

Good luck mate

 

[Bing]

Clever woman your Mrs, I remember well the same discussion with mine when my springs went about the economical sense of replacing them with Eibachs, Mine didn't go as smoothly as yours :rofl:

Good luck mate

Thanks Nosa... In fairness she did say "You're sure these ones will fit, unlike the last time you got a bargain set of these spring things ?" :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Clever woman your Mrs, I remember well the same discussion with mine when my springs went about the economical sense of replacing them with Eibachs, Mine didn't go as smoothly as yours :rofl:

Good luck mate

Thanks Nosa... In fairness she did say "You're sure these ones will fit, unlike the last time you got a bargain set of these spring things ?" :wink:

PMSL :rofl: :rofl:

 

[bcworkz]

Looks OK to me. The spring seat is supposed to be eccentric. The notch at the end of the eccentricity should point out and a bit to the rear. You photos are from different angles relative to the front of the car. One is from the rear of the tyre and the other from the front, that is why the eccentrics look different. In fact they are as they should be. They are not perfect mirrors because the springs wrap the same direction, they are not left and right. The spring coil can be seen above the notch bearing on the seat. The dip in the seat to the right of the notch allows the coil to 'launch' cleanly from the seat with out unpredictable interference.

 

[Bing]

bcworkz, good point about angles... However the car is still 10 to 15mm lower on the driver side, and it still looks wrong to me. I have just been out and gotten right inside the wheel arch to take 2 pics, both from the front (sorry, couldn't quite get the same angle on both :

Passenger side :

Driver side :

Should there be quite so much eccentricity in the driver side ?

It actually looks like it has either slipped out part of a turn, as suggested above, or has somehow gotten bent out of shape. I have had a feel around and cannot feel any cracks or breaks... But that probably means nothing. What do you reckon ? I may not get your answer till the morning, as I need to get up in 5 hours, so don't think I am being rude

EDIT - in the second pic the rubber seat (?) seems to be pulled out a bit. If I imagine twisting everything back into place, away from you as you look at the picture, I can see how the spring would sit in the same way as the passenger side...

 

[Bing]

So I just got a quote for this work from H&C Motors in Maidstone - a BMW Specialist Indy...

£216 labour to fit four springs, incl. VAT

£192 to do a 4-wheel alignment, incl VAT

Any opinions ? I will be getting a couple more quotes of course... However the 4-wheel alignment looks pricey compared to other quotes I have seen on here :?