8 replies to this topic

[Boycie]

Hi all.  I have 4x FAM3968 springs on one of my cars, all bought new at the same time from Minispares.

 

They were bought in 2012 but have only done 900 miles.  I believe the offside rear has failed and the car sits too low on that corner.

 

O/S Rear with no weight in the car-

 

Nearside rear, again, unloaded-

 

You can just about see the lean in this picture-

 

This has caused the handling to be most unpredictable, in fact, it seems the spring on the offside has gone soft as left-hand cornering is wallowy and vague, while turning right feels much nicer.

 

Today I stripped the offside rear corner, hoping to find a sagging cone or worn-out knuckle joint but everything looks fine-

 

The 'faulty' spring still has a perfect shape to it when unloaded and the knuckle joint hasn't worn through its seat, but there is certainly a problem with it as if I carried a passenger in the back, the wheel would scrub the arch. 

I fitted the original spring (pictured) with a few washers to raise the ride height in line with the other side and the car is now back to normal, it turns in correctly in both directions and feels a lot more confident.

 

Has anyone seen a Minispares spring fail after 900 miles (albeit with a few years' inactivity) and even more-so, look perfectly healthy and well shaped when removed?  I'm worrying about the others now!!

[nicklouse]

Or you have a poor fitted front near side Assy.

[Boycie]

I did consider that Nick, but I'm pretty sure both fronts are correct as the front has always been level.  The offside rear has dropped gradually over the last 500ish miles 

[Tamworthbay]

I am sure this won't be the issue but best to rule out the simple first, are you on original cones or hilos? If hilos, they are adjusted to the same length and similar to the original cones?

[Boycie]

Hi Clive, the suspension is totally stock (with the exception of Minispares poly bushes at the front) and mostly original as far as one can tell- standard ally cones all round.

[peter-b]

Try swapping the L to R, see if opposite sags. If it does then the cones definately nutted.

[Tamworthbay]

WHS^^^^^ and also check the radius arm for play in the bushes (but to make that much difference they would need to be well mullered, but worth ruling out).,

[Stiggytoo]

Knuckle worn through?

[Boycie]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Swapping the suspect to the other side is a champion idea, wish I'd thought of that first! Stiggy the knuckle looked A1 when I had it apart and the cup was still perfect too.