Broken front spring

[andymc]

Happened to one of ours, just after the missus started on her way to work yesterday. I wasn't able to investigate it until today - thought at first that it might have been a stuck brake caliper, but the smell of burning rubber combined with the sag on one side pointed me in the right direction.

So, where's the best place to order a decent pair of front springs then, and what sort of money should I budget for parts & labour?

[neilll]

Rimmers are best if you want the correct springs and they also sell the tyre protecters (for future)!!
Neil

[John Armstrong]

Try Best of British - They may have some Delphi Springs left....To make sure, look under the rear seat to establish which colour spring. Also, your existing springs may still have the colour remaining. Looks like a brush dab on the spring.

[pompeyrich]

You've done well to ask and I'm sure you'll get more knowledgeable replies than mine but would like to offer my experience. After my spring broke I asked my trusted garage to sort it, it was around the £100 mark for replacing the one spring. I could have taken it to the local ex rover/Xpart place but they were around £30 dearer and couldn't fit me in for a week.

I wish I had waited as I'm sure my garage used a generic spring and the ride went from the usual "magic carpet" glide to a bouncy horrible ride, I had to let air out of the tyres to make it even remotely comfortable and without being over dramatic, it put me right off driving it.

[andymc]

Thanks for the replies folks, I'll look those up shortly. In terms of consequential damage, looking from outside the wheel with the car jacked up - albeit only using a torch in the dark - it doesn't look like anything sharp has penetrated/dug into the rubber, but the widest curve of spring was definitely pushing into the upper shoulder of the tyre. I haven't a mission of sorting it out here and didn't want to risk taking the wheel off in case I ended up stuck and unable to get it back on, so took the gamble and crawled it at about 2 miles per hour the half mile or so to the local garage - he'll be able to let me know if the tyre is damaged.

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by andymc

Thanks for the replies folks, I'll look those up shortly. In terms of consequential damage, looking from outside the wheel with the car jacked up - albeit only using a torch in the dark - it doesn't look like anything sharp has penetrated/dug into the rubber, but the widest curve of spring was definitely pushing into the upper shoulder of the tyre. I haven't a mission of sorting it out here and didn't want to risk taking the wheel off in case I ended up stuck and unable to get it back on, so took the gamble and crawled it at about 2 miles per hour the half mile or so to the local garage - he'll be able to let me know if the tyre is damaged.

Space saver

And I'm sure it'll be a green/purple spring on the Snot Supertallic one... REB101420

I'll second Ron Mills at Best of British Rover too Andy

Bri

[andymc]

Cheers! Just ordered the spring and bearing from BoB, but they don't have the top mount (which is broken). Is this the right part from Rimmers' site? http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-RNX100081

Or this one? http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-RNX100081P

[kbonney88]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

Space saver

I'll second Ron Mills at Best of British Rover too Andy

Bri

Ive just ordered some from Ron at Best of British yesterday for my dads car - he has some in stock..




Kev

[andymc]

Right, called by the garage last night and got a few pics.

First off, the top mount. Any advice on which one of the items I mentioned above will be the one to order, or even whether I should be ordering something else instead?

Secondly, the fixings circled in the other two pics are pretty much rusted solid. Can anyone tell me what I should ask for in order get replacements - are they generic items I can get in any motor factor, or are they Rover specific?

[Greeners]

Moved to technical section