Mk 7.5 suspension spring failure

[Vendee]

My wife called from the shops today and said the car was making a funny noise over bumps and cornering. I told her to come home and I took it for a drive. It took less than 100 yards to work out that the right rear spring was the problem and taking the wheel off confirmed that the spring had snapped. I've had this before but on 10 year old, 100k mile Mondeos. Her Fiesta is a 65 plate with 24k miles on the clock. Anyone else had one fail so early?   

[iantt]

Normal.  Today's roads and speed humps take there toll on road springs. All manufacturers have the same issue. 

Easy and cheap to fix. 

[Vendee]

1 hour ago, iantt said:

Normal.  Today's roads and speed humps take there toll on road springs. All manufacturers have the same issue. 

Easy and cheap to fix. 

You say normal but my own Mk7.5 is a 13 plate with 50k on it and the springs are fine. Actually, the roads where I live are not too bad. 

[Bobr]

I had both front springs break on an 09 Fiesta once.   It was three years old at the time.   Not an uncommon problem with Fiestas.

 

[Mavroz]

I guess it doesn't matter how old the springs are, hit a pothole or speed bumps a little too hard or fast and the springs can be damaged or broken.

 

 

[TomsFocus]

10 hours ago, Vendee said:

You say normal but my own Mk7.5 is a 13 plate with 50k on it and the springs are fine. Actually, the roads where I live are not too bad. 

Maybe it's your wife's driving then!  

[Vendee]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Maybe it's your wife's driving then!  

Tell you what..... I'll give you her number and let you tell her that 🤣

Seriously, I think its just a bit of bad luck or a bad batch of springs. My own Mk7.5 is 2 years older, double the mileage and tends to get used on the ***** roads while the wife's car is used on shorter trips on good roads with no speed bumps.

[Neb_engineer]

never mind (ignore this please, i was wrong, and got confused about the model year)

[Ian Lanc]

Driverside front spring snapped on our Fiesta [10 plate] car was only 3 years old at the time, replaced both sides, then passenger side rear snapped about 6 months later on, modern cars aren't made to last and are not robust for todays terrible if you ask me, maybe I should have got a 1940's Willys Jeep.

[TomsFocus]

9 minutes ago, Ian Lanc said:

Driverside front spring snapped on our Fiesta [10 plate] car was only 3 years old at the time, replaced both sides, then passenger side rear snapped about 6 months later on, modern cars aren't made to last and are not robust for todays terrible if you ask me, maybe I should have got a 1940's Willys Jeep.

My Dad frequently used to tell a story about a snapped leaf spring on his Mk1 Escort on holiday in a foreign country...maybe springs are just rubbish regardless.  

[Neb_engineer]

my fiesta is a 13 plate fiesta, had no preblems with the springs despite the way i drive, it could just be to do with where the springs were made

[Ian Lanc]

Talking of failures! Our Fiesta started to drive terrible after about it was six years old and it clunked & banged on any road surface, I decided to investigate all the bad noises which was fixed over time, car now drives like brand new again, like its on rails.....

Both front suspension link arms worn & lose.
Both front wishbone bushes worn & lose.
Rear trailing arm bushes worn & lose.
Rear anti-squeal bushes disintegrated.
Both anti-roll bar bushes worn.

Gear lever linkages & cables went very stiff to the point changing gear was impossible.

Track rod ends......Fine.

Car is a 10 plate has only done 50,000 miles and never abused it, think the next thing to go is the exhaust as it VERY VERY RUSTY.

 

 

[Neb_engineer]

bushes don't tend to last much more than 6 years (the only reason mine have is because my car has 21k Miles on it) to be honest i am surprised mine haven't dry rotted

[TomsFocus]

2 minutes ago, Neb_engineer said:

my fiesta is a 13 plate fiesta, had no preblems with the springs despite the way i drive, it could just be to do with where the springs were made

In fairness, there is another 'luck' issue that causes spring failure.  If a rogue stone chips a bit of paint/powdercoat off the spring then water and salt can get in and start rusting it, creating a weak point for the spring to eventually fail.

[Ian Lanc]

4 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

 If a rogue stone chips a bit of paint/powdercoat off the spring then water and salt can get in and start rusting it, creating a weak point for the spring to eventually fail.

That's exactly what happened to the front spring on ours.

[billyboy]

Are diesels worse than petrol for spring failure due to the heavier engine as I have only ever had a springs break on my diesel and never on my petrol cars.

[iantt]

1 hour ago, billyboy said:

Are diesels worse than petrol for spring failure due to the heavier engine as I have only ever had a springs break on my diesel and never on my petrol cars.

Nope. 

[iantt]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

My Dad frequently used to tell a story about a snapped leaf spring on his Mk1 Escort on holiday in a foreign country...maybe springs are just rubbish regardless.  

Mate of mine had a MK3 Cortina and dropped the clutch for a quick pull away from a car park we were all congregating in. Needless to say both rear springs broke at the same time and bits of spring shot out. Was funny to see the suspension collapse on him . But no less funny than another mate in another MK3 Cortina when his fuel tank fell out only a few days after his exhaust fell off after switching ign off and on to make it bang out exhaust. Those were the days!!! 

[iantt]

4 hours ago, Ian Lanc said:

Driverside front spring snapped on our Fiesta [10 plate] car was only 3 years old at the time, replaced both sides, then passenger side rear snapped about 6 months later on, modern cars aren't made to last and are not robust for todays terrible if you ask me, maybe I should have got a 1940's Willys Jeep.

Brother in law got 2 Willy's jeeps from the 40,s nothings fell or broke off them. But they only done 40k in 80 years. 

[Ian Lanc]

55 minutes ago, iantt said:

Brother in law got 2 Willy's jeeps from the 40,s nothings fell or broke off them. But they only done 40k in 80 years. 

Back in the 1980's my brother had a wartime Willy's Jeep, was mint and on the back was a replica 303 machine gun, complete with bullet belt & ammo box, it looked dead real too, so real when a Police car would go by, he'd see it turn and pull him up, reason for the stop.....that machine gun 😄 

[iantt]

One of the jeeps is a radio jeep with huge radio transmitter equipment and 20 ft whip aerial.has to have it tied down on front bonnet while driving or would twang the overhead telephone wires . Lol also has rifle holsters which when he displays at shows he can put on rides and fake amination onvdisplay. display ( decomissioned obviously. )  Think he may have a large gun still  which he tows behind  . 

 

 

[Vendee]

Just as a followup, I had both rear springs replaced at my local independent yesterday. One hours labour plus parts which came to £96 total so quite reasonable. The garage owner reckons that they are replacing springs much more on recent Fords than on older Fords.