Broken springs - advice needed !

[gadgetboy65]

Hi, newbie here so please go easy . I know a 'bit' about cars but I'm no expert so hopefully you more knowledgeable folk on here will be able to help me decide what to do for the best.... any sugestions and advice would be really welcome...

My Vectra's 5th annual service was done at a pukka VX dealership today where they tell me the OSF spring is broken. Yep, it certainly looks it but it's only the last 4.5 inches off the bottom where it sits in the tray.. in fact they handed it to me . The car sits and drives OK and I couldn't tell it was faulty ! They advise me to replace both front springs as it's possible in the meantime the spring may pop out and shred the tyre. I've read that can happen so I am looking to get them done.

I suspect the breakage may be down to the powder coating peeling off and then the metal rusting away as it sits in the bottom of the tray. The car is these days only used as a round town runabout (appx 3,500 miles a year) by my wife and never really gets up to any great speed to blow away any water that may have gathered (unless I take it out for a drive ).

The dealership has quoted me £321 inc VAT & fitting to replace both front springs which seems a lot... ?

I'm considering asking an experienced car mechanic friend to do them for me to save a few quid (even more if I can help him fit them ) but thought about taking the opportunity to go for a better brand and even lowering the car...

It's a 2.2 (NON-direct) Petrol, Elegance Hatch, Sep 2002 so one of the first of the Vectra Cs - just under 36k on the clock and I've owned it since it was 9 months old with 4k on it. I intend to keep it another 2 years approx.

I've a few questions about what to do next...

• Most of the spring kits I've seen seem to be there to lower the car. Are there other (non-OEM) standard spring kits available and just for the front ?
• If I did go for lowering, I'd only go to 30mm. Does lowering the car this REALLY make THAT much difference to handling ? See, told you I was a newbie
• As I don't want to spend any more than I have to, are my existing shocks OK to work with this amount of lowering without also needing to replace them ? I've seen references to 40mm or greater requiring new shocks but is that really the case ? If I don't replace them are they likely to wear out quicker due to the extra load ?
• Will any part of the car need adjusting afterwards ? My mechanic friend does have a laser tracking gadget so should be able to retrack if required.
• I've noticed the rear wheels have noticeable negative camber and whilst I gather this is normal for Vectras generally, will this be more pronounced if I lower it ? I've already replaced a set of rear tyres which in my view were prematurely worn (a good 3-4mm on the outside and down to 0mm on the inside !) and I don't want to make it worse.
• Is it quicker / longer / about the same to fit front and rear springs or does one take (substantially) longer than the other ? How long does it take with the right tools & skills ?
• Any recommendations on brands etc..
• Anything else I may not have thought about ?

In the end I either want to simply replace just both front springs with standard ones to shave loads off the price VX quoted me or possibly spend around the same to have all 4 done with lowered ones.. Maybe even doing all 4 would be cheaper if they don't take too long to fit ! I'm finding it a difficult choice as I've no experience of lowering or the benefits (or disadvantages ??) it may bring..

Grateful for any advice and keep up the good work on this forum, it's a great source of info.. !

[ed taylor]

Ther are a lot of us members who have had a broken spring. IT is advisable to get both changed as soon as you can. The price you were quoted does seem a bit high, but then that is the dealer. I would look for a good mechanic as you have suggested and get him to do it cheaper. It is not too difficult a job if you are good with spanners, if not leave it alone, if you are going to lower it then obviously you will need all four springs, again not too much of a job for a good mechanic.

[Daywalker]

Well if i was you id take the chance to fit eibachs -30 mm from lmf think they about £144 and get your friend to fit them, will make a great improvement and also have the rear camber adjusted afterwards that will help with the wear of your rear tyres HTH.

[Ste]

Changing springs is relatively easy, the rears are far easier than the fronts.

To be honest, I would have laughed at the dealer for quoting such a stupid price - the springs are not made of gold.

Personally, i don't think there is any immediate need to get them changed, if the piece is only 4.5" long and has been removed and if the car if driven relatively carefully (ie no topping the suspension off) - but it does need doing sometime.

I would go for the lowered -30mm setup of all 4, the handling will be stiffer and harsher though. The shock absorbers will be working harder though, as less travel to absorb the energy, so internal forces will be higher - but probably not a great problem.

Any competent DIYer should be able to do the job without issue, as long as they have good spring compressors for the fronts.

After it's all been done, take the car for a 4 wheel alignment that can measure camber too, and get them adjusted if necessary.

[Rebellion]

Firstly, the dealer's price is so high primarilly because of their sky-high labour rate...which pays for all their diagnosis kit - none of which is of any use when changing springs. To cut a long story short, there's nothing wrong with getting a local tyre-fitter-fast-fit outfit to do the job as it's not complex, and even dealers are more than capable of getting easy jobs wrong.

Secondly, if you ask local-fast-fit place to replace your springs, they will source a standard set themselves, without any "how much lower do you want them" malarkey, so you've nothing to worry about there.

As a guide, my previous car (Omega) failed its MOT due to a fractured rear spring, the dealer (who did the MOT) quoted £350 to replace the pair, but wasn't interested in doing it and told me what I already knew, that I could get them done cheaper elsewhere. ATS charged £150 for doing it.

[holtie]

I've just had one of mine done at a local garage (£125 - standard spring) which is far less than the dealer. I am going to do the other one myself when I get time - it's not broken but I want to change it before it does. I will also fit the spring seat mod to stop it clunking. I replaced the rear ones a few months ago which took me 45 mins to do both - fronts probably take an hour each.

[aos]

£321
My local indy garage did both front springs for £140. Can't remember if that included vat, but even if it didn't, still great.

[gadgetboy65]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I owe you one ! I think one thing's for certain - the dealership won't get my business at the price they want to charge me. I may just ring a different dealership and get a price for the supply of the standard fronts only but get them fitted elsewhere. Either that or consider replacing them all with Eibachs which seem to be the 'dogz'.. Thanks for the info too about rear camber adjustment. I had assumed it wasn't adjustable but now realise it is !

If anyone has any more advice and experience on fitting 30mm lowered springs and experiences of pros and cons versus standard, I'd be grateful.

[Duncan]

Most of the spring kits I've seen seem to be there to lower the car. Are there other (non-OEM) standard spring kits available and just for the front ?

Yep, you can get non-Vx makes that are direct replacements that don't lower. Can't for the life of me remember the name of any of them now. I can think of numerous makes that do lowering springs, just can't recall if they do normal ones too.

If I did go for lowering, I'd only go to 30mm. Does lowering the car this REALLY make THAT much difference to handling ? See, told you I was a newbie

Yes it does, especially when replaced with a set of matched dampers.

As I don't want to spend any more than I have to, are my existing shocks OK to work with this amount of lowering without also needing to replace them ? I've seen references to 40mm or greater requiring new shocks but is that really the case ? If I don't replace them are they likely to wear out quicker due to the extra load ?

Being an Elegance you'll have the normal length dampers i.e. not the SRi ones so as Ste said you'll be working them harder with any lowering springs. It's kinda okay but you'll not be getting the full benefit of putting on the lowering springs that fitting a set of matched dampers will. With the dampers you have you're liable to get things like 'double bounce' where if you over a large bump etc. not all the energy will be absorbed in the first travel of the spring and damper as the damper isn't stiffer so can't absorb all the energy. In simpler words, the wheel won't be as firmly planted when you go over certain bumps and so handling won't be as good as with as set of matched (stiffer) dampers. Even the SRi dampers would make a big difference.

Will any part of the car need adjusting afterwards ? My mechanic friend does have a laser tracking gadget so should be able to retrack if required.

If you lower it, you'll definitely need to have the tracking redone.

I've noticed the rear wheels have noticeable negative camber and whilst I gather this is normal for Vectras generally, will this be more pronounced if I lower it ? I've already replaced a set of rear tyres which in my view were prematurely worn (a good 3-4mm on the outside and down to 0mm on the inside !) and I don't want to make it worse.

Yes, lowering will make the negative camber more pronounced. Your previous issue sounds like it was down to incorrect tracking/camber adjustment.

Is it quicker / longer / about the same to fit front and rear springs or does one take (substantially) longer than the other ? How long does it take with the right tools & skills ?

As already said, the rears are dead easy, fronts need a bit more time and also a compressor.

Any recommendations on brands etc..
Anything else I may not have thought about ?

I went from the Elite suspension (same as what you'll have) on my Signum to the -30mm Irmscher kit and the difference was simply night and day. Going into bends etc. on the Elite suspension did not inspire confidence as the back end would twitch and the car would pitch and wallow and the wheels would lose contact with the ground. With the Irmscher kit that was all nicely sorted.

I'm currently on 18s with the -30mm kit and the ride is actually better than it was with the -30mm kit on my previous 17s. If you have, or are looking to get, 19s then the -30mm on 19s does give a fairly harsh ride.

Hope some of that helps.

[parapaul]

what everyone else has said

And when it's done, get a 4 wheel laser alignment session, toe AND camber. www.alignmycar.co.uk for your nearest place with top-notch equipment