Snapped front coil spring :(

[Dave B]

[Dave B]

Daddy
Joined
Jan 3, 2003
Messages
2,024
Reaction score
146
Points
63
Location
Manchester
Well it's been a sh1t day. On the way out this morning I drove over a speed bump and heard a really loud bang front the front end. I immediately stopped the car and got out and quickly noticed that the offside front wheel was sat closer to the arch than normal....it turns out I've snapped a front spring :(

The car was booked in with Awesome on thursday to have a full service, haldex fluid change, brake luid change, fit new shifter and replace oil pickup pipe, but i've now had to add two new springs, two new top mounts and front wheel alignment to the bill, taking it from £400 to nearly £900 :(

Christmas is now cancelled as far as I'm concerned! Baa humbug.
 
I bought two front springs from TPS for £126


are your rear springs standard?
 
Yeah, well they're the standard -10mm Gmbh ones, but Awesome did quote about £63 each for the springs so it sounds about right..?
 
~£63 was about what I paid 2 years ago from Audi when mine did exactly the same over a f**king speed bump. Fitted them myself, taking about 1.5hrs per side, and then within 6 months, the shocks were dying, so I then changed springs & shocks for Weitec kit, which has performed perfectly for the last 1.5 years.

Oh and make sure they chage the top mounts at the same time, as they are only £20.

TBH, If you are spending that much, it might be worth asking Awesome to quote for uprating the springs and shocks all round, as if the fronts are giving out, the rears won't be far behind (Mine went 3 weeks before my front one...)

There is also a good chance that putting new springs on old shocks is likely to finish off the old shocks, as I would imagine they are original as well. Changing the shocks is negligible extra on the labour if done at the same time, but the same labour again if done a few months later...

Not the sort of bill you need just before Christmas, but at least it will go round corners properly afterwards...

Cheers,
 
top mounts will be fine. so will the shockers. tbh you shouldnt really need the alingment checking afterwards as your not distrubing anything thats adjustable.
 
alijames said:
~£63 was about what I paid 2 years ago from Audi when mine did exactly the same over a f**king speed bump. Fitted them myself, taking about 1.5hrs per side, and then within 6 months, the shocks were dying, so I then changed springs & shocks for Weitec kit, which has performed perfectly for the last 1.5 years.

Oh and make sure they chage the top mounts at the same time, as they are only £20.

TBH, If you are spending that much, it might be worth asking Awesome to quote for uprating the springs and shocks all round, as if the fronts are giving out, the rears won't be far behind (Mine went 3 weeks before my front one...)

There is also a good chance that putting new springs on old shocks is likely to finish off the old shocks, as I would imagine they are original as well. Changing the shocks is negligible extra on the labour if done at the same time, but the same labour again if done a few months later...

Not the sort of bill you need just before Christmas, but at least it will go round corners properly afterwards...

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Cheers for the advice. I am tempted to get the rear springs changed at the same time as they seem to be just as prone to going. I'm not really interested in uprating the suspenion but I might get a quote on changing the shocks for OE replacements at the same time.
 
murran said:
top mounts will be fine. so will the shockers. tbh you shouldnt really need the alingment checking afterwards as your not distrubing anything thats adjustable.
Click to expand...

Is this true, I'd assumed that the wheels would need re-aligning?
 
s3dave said:
No get it checked...
Click to expand...

I think this is prob the best bet. I'm swaying towards getting the front and rear springs done at the same time, that way they can re-align the whole lot in one go.

I can see this becoming an expensive week!
 
Ok, spoke to Awesome this morning and it's booked in for new OEM springs all round, new top mounts at the front and 4 wheel alignment. It's costly but I figure its the best bet as I don't want to have to keep paying for wheel alignment and I don't want to go down the modification route.
 
Same position fella! Getting mine into Awesome soon for the same things (front springs and top mounts), but thought I might as well have the shocks done at the same time!
 
the leg is a bolt on bolt off part. theres no adjustment in the top mount or at the lower mounting of the leg. if the alignment was right before, it should be fine after.
same with the rear springs/shockers.
if your not taking subframes, wishbones, balljoints, track rod ends off. it shouldnt need really need it. we dont normally retrack cars at work after work like this.
altho its a good money maker for garages, charging £55 or whatever on every suspension job for alignment, cus the customer expects to pay for it.... i bet in 75% of cases the guages go on, but not one lock nut is undone! and in the other 25% it wants adjusting, but that was cus it was out before.
 
murran said:
the leg is a bolt on bolt off part. theres no adjustment in the top mount or at the lower mounting of the leg. if the alignment was right before, it should be fine after.
same with the rear springs/shockers.
if your not taking subframes, wishbones, balljoints, track rod ends off. it shouldnt need really need it. we dont normally retrack cars at work after work like this.
altho its a good money maker for garages, charging £55 or whatever on every suspension job for alignment, cus the customer expects to pay for it.... i bet in 75% of cases the guages go on, but not one lock nut is undone! and in the other 25% it wants adjusting, but that was cus it was out before.
Click to expand...

Your spot on with what you are saying here a lot of the lads i used to work with used to charge for wheel alignment when they hadnt actually done it. I dont know if its the same with all places but the two places i worked at gave bonus for wheel alignment so every chance they got to make some money they did. I would still at least get it checked though but if they do adjust it make sure you watch them do it.
 
Disagree... he is swapping suspension for new parts, the car could have had the geometry checked and adjusted on old sagging tired suspension and would alter the track.
Having it checked is different to paying for it to be adjusted...piece of mind at the end of the day..your car your choice..
 
alignment is charged on a set price for simply putting the guages on in most garages, whether it needs adjusting or not.

if you know the history of the car (its not been tracked up with a bent wishbone) and it drives fine and doesnt pull to one side/st wheels straight. your tyres are wearing fine, not scrubbing off or feathering one edge of the tread blocks. then id have the springs changed. it should still be fine.
 
An interesting debate brewing here!

The £500 is actually nearer £600 and it's for two front springs (£63 each), two front top mounts (£20ish each), two rear springs (£55ish each), four wheel alignment (£123) and labour (the rest).

Regarding the current alignment, Awesome actually did the alignment about 10 months ago and it's exactly as they left it so it should be spot on.
 
Funky_Junky said:
An interesting debate brewing here!

The £500 is actually nearer £600 and it's for two front springs (£63 each), two front top mounts (£20ish each), two rear springs (£55ish each), four wheel alignment (£123) and labour (the rest).

Regarding the current alignment, Awesome actually did the alignment about 10 months ago and it's exactly as they left it so it should be spot on.
Click to expand...

I've recently been doing the same, as mentioned above.

Thus far, new rear springs and shocks have cost me £350 fitted and it will be booked in for fronts (incl top mounts) before Xmas, again costing circa £4-500.

Awesome are the best price I have found for a company I trust, so they are not ripping you off. The simple thing to do is to save up and do as much as you can at a time, rather than spending on more labour and tracking each time.
 
murran said:
alignment is charged on a set price for simply putting the guages on in most garages, whether it needs adjusting or not.

if you know the history of the car (its not been tracked up with a bent wishbone) and it drives fine and doesnt pull to one side/st wheels straight. your tyres are wearing fine, not scrubbing off or feathering one edge of the tread blocks. then id have the springs changed. it should still be fine.
Click to expand...
Most garages i know will infact check it for free and show you how far out it is, if needing adjustment...(Not talking quickfit type places here)
 
Funnily enough mine snapped about 2 months ago offside front, again over a speed bump I was taking nice and slowly luckily, it just went BONG, cost £200 roughly from Audi as that was closest to me. Took it back there stupidly for the free MOT, currently been told my rear shocks have gone (which they didnt mention a month ago when they did the MOT first time) (£400), ARB setup has had it (£1500 + geometry check/alignment) plus they "advised" I get 2 new rear tyres at £198 each (Michelin Pilot Sport 2) so in total roughly £2300. Only last month they said it was the rear bushes and front wishbones but no mention of them now! Since I'm not sure what work they are inventing as it's doubtful my entire suspension setup from top to bottom has broken in the month since the MOT could anyone recommend a specialist who can confirm and repair?
 
  • Like
Reactions: L-M
TheSpaceCowboy said:
Funnily enough mine snapped about 2 months ago offside front, again over a speed bump I was taking nice and slowly luckily, it just went BONG, cost £200 roughly from Audi as that was closest to me. Took it back there stupidly for the free MOT, currently been told my rear shocks have gone (which they didnt mention a month ago when they did the MOT first time) (£400), ARB setup has had it (£1500 + geometry check/alignment) plus they "advised" I get 2 new rear tyres at £198 each (Michelin Pilot Sport 2) so in total roughly £2300. Only last month they said it was the rear bushes and front wishbones but no mention of them now! Since I'm not sure what work they are inventing as it's doubtful my entire suspension setup from top to bottom has broken in the month since the MOT could anyone recommend a specialist who can confirm and repair?
Click to expand...

Fella, Audi are as unreliable as a French soldier. The checked mine for a free MOT with the MOT protection plan on it. Told me it was perfect. Told them it wasn't and took it to another Audi garage who listed;

rear springs cracked - fail
rear shocks leaking - fail
front drop links knackered - advisory

Take it to somewhere like Awesome or JBS etc, depending on where you're based.
 
Cheers boys, when I questioned why this wasn't bought up last MOT he said he would find out with the technician then came back to me and said it had passed, no advisory and those were recommendations! Im still gonna get it checked out somewhere reputable and see get them to inspect it.
 
Well the new springs are fitted and the car feels much better, but I am concerned about how high it's sitting which leads me to two questions:

1. How long would you expect new suspension to take to settle? 100 miles, 500 miles etc?

2. How can I visibly identify that the springs are the correct OE replacements i.e. the -10mm Gmbh ones? Is it something to do with the number of pink dots on them?

Cheers,
Dave.
 
Funky_Junky said:
Well the new springs are fitted and the car feels much better, but I am concerned about how high it's sitting which leads me to two questions:

1. How long would you expect new suspension to take to settle? 100 miles, 500 miles etc?

2. How can I visibly identify that the springs are the correct OE replacements i.e. the -10mm Gmbh ones? Is it something to do with the number of pink dots on them?

Cheers,
Dave.
Click to expand...
4 pink dots for gmbh :o.k:
 
I've had a look at the front N/S spring (it's easy to see at it's current height!) and it has five pink dots on it?
 
Ok, i've just been out and had another look. The new springs have 5 pink dots at the front and 3 silvery/whitey dots on the rears.
 
s3dave said:
**** knows then mate sorry, tried searching for there coding and nothing....
phone awsome they should know...:sly:
Click to expand...

Thanks anyway Dave :)

If it hasn't setted over the weekend I'm going to ring awesome on Monday and ask the question, but TBH I've lost a bit of confidence in them recently and I expect they're just going to tell me to let it settle.

Any other views/info?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Front Coil Spring Snapped!
Replies
3
Views
1K
Pete69zx
P
ben4866
Snapped coil spring
Replies
1
Views
781
s3dave
s3dave
S3KO4
snapped S3 rear spring / coil
Replies
15
Views
2K
coyle
C
finesse
coil spring question?
Replies
16
Views
2K
jojo
jojo
cjhill
Help - coil spring.
Replies
10
Views
1K
jojo
jojo
Top
Back