Rear springs

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MattDC

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Investigating a "clunking" noise coming from the rear uncovered one of the rear springs is cracked (thankfully right at the very bottom, in the cup of the wishbone - the clunking noise is when it rubs together going over bumpy/uneven ground). New springs ordered, should be here in a day or two. My question is regarding fitting them. Back in the day when I last did this it was on an old 1987 mk4 Escort, which was as simple as undo the bolt holding the wishbone to the chassis, let it drop, replace the spring, and jack the wishbone up with a scissor jack until the bolt hole lined up. Job jobbed! I see this isn't going to be as simple, as there's more bolts in place and roll bars, etc.

What's the likelihood that it could be as simple as cranking down a spring compressor and sliding them out without dropping the whole thing? Probably pretty unlikely huh...
 
it basically still is the same job although the subframe might have to be dropped incase it's a quattro... if it's a FWD it's just unbolting the outer bolts and the ARB link, than push the arms down to remove the spring, put in new spring jack the lot to line up and bolt back up job done... with the quattro make sure you mark the position of the rear subframe before dropping it... but all in all it's the same procedure after dropping the subframe...
 
Sorry, I should have said: 1.4 TFSi FWD saloon.

I wasn’t sure if the bolts that attach the wishbone to the hub are camber bolts and disturbing them would throw that out
 
Did them Saturday afternoon - a little bit more involved then above: had to pull the bolts out the bottom of the shocks and pop the drop link off, as couldn’t get the wishbone to drop down enough to het the spring out. But even with that, took about an hour and a half or thereabouts to do both sides.

Surprised at how much difference it’s made to the feel of the car actually. Feels both smoother and more composed when cornering. Maybe I should do the fronts too…
 
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MattDC said:
Did them Saturday afternoon - a little bit more involved then above: had to pull the bolts out the bottom of the shocks and pop the drop link off, as couldn’t get the wishbone to drop down enough to het the spring out. But even with that, took about an hour and a half or thereabouts to do both sides.

Surprised at how much difference it’s made to the feel of the car actually. Feels both smoother and more composed when cornering. Maybe I should do the fronts too…
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In most cases all the springs and shocks need to be replaced at the same time. Because they were put on at the same time so if one spring snaps that means the rest are also tired.
 
I did that on my Lexus before this - one front shock started misting, then by the next MOT it was weeping. So since I was going to replace one shock it made sense to do both, and since I had to take the springs off the shocks there was no point putting old springs back on. Then I decided I might as well upgrade the springs with some H&R springs which came as a pack of 4, so it made sense to also do the rear shocks. And while I was at it, I replaced the lower front ball joints that are a weak point on the IS200. So it had a big suspension overhaul.

In the case of the A3, I just needed it safe again. Hence why I just swapped out the rear springs in an afternoon. I'm sure changing the shocks wouldn't have taken much longer (since we already did the bottom bolt) but in this instance it was just springs needed.
 
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MattDC said:
Did them Saturday afternoon - a little bit more involved then above: had to pull the bolts out the bottom of the shocks and pop the drop link off, as couldn’t get the wishbone to drop down enough to het the spring out. But even with that, took about an hour and a half or thereabouts to do both sides.

Surprised at how much difference it’s made to the feel of the car actually. Feels both smoother and more composed when cornering. Maybe I should do the fronts too…
Click to expand...
Mine went doiiing as a drove out of my drive this morning, and one of the rears has snapped in the middle. Doesn't look safe to drive.

Did you manage to change yours without a spring compressor then? And do you happen to know which suspension you've got? (Mine's a Sport, but with the standard SE suspension from the factory, so the spring will be a bit longer than a sport I guess, therefore perhaps a bit harder to remove). Just wondering what tools I'll need to have to hand before I get started.
 
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AJB said:
Mine went doiiing as a drove out of my drive this morning, and one of the rears has snapped in the middle. Doesn't look safe to drive.

Did you manage to change yours without a spring compressor then? And do you happen to know which suspension you've got? (Mine's a Sport, but with the standard SE suspension from the factory, so the spring will be a bit longer than a sport I guess, therefore perhaps a bit harder to remove). Just wondering what tools I'll need to have to hand before I get started.
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To answer my own question, just in case it's useful for anyone else in the future, you don't need a spring compressor. Even with standard (not sport) suspension, ie the longest springs, you can easily pull the lower arm down enough to get the spring in/out.

You just need the car reasonably high so that you've got space to fit the fully-lowered jack under the arm with the spring fully extended.
 
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