Distorted Rear Spring

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
My son's 2017 Ibiza 1.0 Eco started making a loud 'Boing' noise at the back. Yesterday we jacked it up and had a look. The bottom coil of the nearside rear spring has opened up by about 20mm so the spring no longer sits tight around the lower turret. What a load of crap! The car is three years old and has only done 20K miles. I've never need a spring distort in this way. Has anyone else?

He bought the car new and it has a full dealer service history so it will be interesting to see what they say about it.
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
No, it's bent outwards. I know, I've never seen such a thing before either but I checked the spring against the other side. The whole spring is present, just opened up at the bottom.

I can only think it's a manufacturing defect as I've never seen a spring do such a thing. My son lives in Glasgow and yeah, the roads are terrible but a spring going south after just 20K miles?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
More than annoying at any age, but I'm sure that you will not bother trying to get SEAT to do anything about it.

What is your plan, buying a couple of new springs via GSF, I think that they can order in Lojofor springs, or just get a pair of "Sach" from ECP?

I thing that the damper lower bolts are torque to yield so should not be reused.
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
We checked it more carefully and it looks like there is a bit of spring missing. I don't see the point in going to a dealer because they'll just blame pot holes, which it is. A spring breaking at 20K is still poor, pot holes or not.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
And will things improve when everyone moves across to non ferrous springs? Audi was meant to be doing that when the new A3 arrived, but I have not heard them shouting about it yet.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
They are/were to be GRP or more probably carbon fibre reinforced plastic, but they will only be as good as the integrity/protection outer layer as any chipping on teh outer surface will lead to rapid complete failure far quicker than with current materials - and price of replacements will be OUCH when compared with current materials.
 
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Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
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They are/were to be GRP or more probably carbon fibre reinforced plastic, but they will only be as good as the integrity/protection outer layer as any chipping on teh outer surface will lead to rapid complete failure far quicker than with current materials - and price of replacements will be OUCH when compared with current materials.
Oh yes, plastic springs RUM. I read something about them quite some time ago but it's all gone very quiet hasn't it. Maybe it just didn't work out? I like the idea of a spring which doesn't rust though. Stress concentrations - caused perhaps by stone chips in the spring material - will, as you say, still be problematic though?
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
If only there was some material you could make springs out of that was cheap, tried and tested and had been used for decades...
 
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Rooster

Active Member
Oct 27, 2018
1,188
326
Yorkshire
Some light commercials use "plastic" leaf springs, and to be fair they are quite tough! Did you get it sorted?
 
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