Corsa D - Broken Spring?
Discussion
I just arrived back home from a 4 week work trip to China and America and jumped in the car this morning to go grab some rolls for brekkie, before I even reversed out the parking space there were 2 almighty spring twanging noises coming from the front drivers corner as I approached full lock, prompting me to abort the brekkie run and lift the car up to have a looky.
To me this spring looks shafted, it's sitting off centre, has signs of rubbing on the shock and unless I'm mistaken the bottom end of the spring has gone on holiday without telling anyone, the Corsa D has been my daily driver out here in Germany since 2007 and to be honest I've never gave it a second look whereas the Monaro would get the attention.
For those who pay more attention to their Corsa D, am I just being mad, or is the spring really broken?
To me this spring looks shafted, it's sitting off centre, has signs of rubbing on the shock and unless I'm mistaken the bottom end of the spring has gone on holiday without telling anyone, the Corsa D has been my daily driver out here in Germany since 2007 and to be honest I've never gave it a second look whereas the Monaro would get the attention.
For those who pay more attention to their Corsa D, am I just being mad, or is the spring really broken?
Haven't got a Corsa D but from my experience & looking at the picture it looks like its more unseated/not seated correctly than snapped. The rust you can see is uniform, if it was freshly snapped there would be clean metal on some part of it. Can you run your thumb around the end & if so can you feel a sharp part (be careful)? If not, I think its somehow twisted in position although God knows how. If you undo the top mount & drop it all down I think you may be able to spin it back in position by hand.
I took the time to throw the whole front end up on axle stands today and found there's around a whole winding and a half missing at the base of the spring compared with the other side, bit of a bummer for a 6 year old car that's only done 42,000km since new and spends most of it's life tucked away in a garage...
The Corsa is now back with a new pair of front springs on it, family friend mechanic who did the work showed the missus' old man the spring from the other side of the one that had snapped, it had a fracture in it too and was only a matter of time until it caved in...!!!
I was changing both springs anyway, as that's common sense, but...
Has the build quality of new cars really become "SO" bad now that a car which has only covered 42,000km from brand new 6 years ago, that's garaged both at home and at work and other than some longer trips around Europe (i.e. home to Glasgow from time to time in it's infancy) is only used to take me and the missus the few km each day to and from work...can have such issues...???
I've been an avid VX driver since the early 90's and having gone through the whole Astra range (with Mk3> being brand new cars) I'm really being pushed in the direction of other marques (who are no doubt also cutting similar corners to increase the bean counters favourite numbers at the end of the day).
If this was a piece of non-critical tat like door trim etc I wouldn't be concerned, but the two front springs deciding they've reached end of life so early in my eyes is a serious safety concern...!!!
p.s. I don't live or drive on roads which resemble a dodgy WRC stage either
I was changing both springs anyway, as that's common sense, but...
Has the build quality of new cars really become "SO" bad now that a car which has only covered 42,000km from brand new 6 years ago, that's garaged both at home and at work and other than some longer trips around Europe (i.e. home to Glasgow from time to time in it's infancy) is only used to take me and the missus the few km each day to and from work...can have such issues...???
I've been an avid VX driver since the early 90's and having gone through the whole Astra range (with Mk3> being brand new cars) I'm really being pushed in the direction of other marques (who are no doubt also cutting similar corners to increase the bean counters favourite numbers at the end of the day).
If this was a piece of non-critical tat like door trim etc I wouldn't be concerned, but the two front springs deciding they've reached end of life so early in my eyes is a serious safety concern...!!!
p.s. I don't live or drive on roads which resemble a dodgy WRC stage either
Edited by baz7175 on Tuesday 17th December 04:41
Road springs fail on all cars. Powder coating flakes off steel spring and corrodes. Salty winter roads littered with potholes are the problem.
Vauxhall are no worse than other manufacturers, they like most don't make their own parts. The same company making them with make for several manufacturers to exacting specification.
I always make a point of rinsing the arches when washing in winter to remove salt. At the end of the summer I also wax oil the upper strut tops, wishbones, rear axle and rear panel too. Corrosion has never been a problem on my cars and I've never had a broken spring either.
Vauxhall are no worse than other manufacturers, they like most don't make their own parts. The same company making them with make for several manufacturers to exacting specification.
I always make a point of rinsing the arches when washing in winter to remove salt. At the end of the summer I also wax oil the upper strut tops, wishbones, rear axle and rear panel too. Corrosion has never been a problem on my cars and I've never had a broken spring either.
H100S said:
Road springs fail on all cars. Powder coating flakes off steel spring and corrodes. Salty winter roads littered with potholes are the problem.
Plus the never ending army of sleeping policemen all taking their toll on your suspension. My 5 yr old Corsa D VXR is pampered, but has had 3 new radiators a new aircon system and is rusting faster than a car made by British Leyland!! They are made to a budget, which means inferior parts unfortunately.
Gassing Station | VX | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff