Broken road spring.... Read this!!

[Welly]

My spring went overnight too, all on its own some folk report a very loud *bang* at the moment of snapage

[sidb]

I think Pug are copping out here because spring breakage doesn't seem to be any more common than on many other cars. They don't make 'em like they used to

iwent thru 5 springs in my old mondeo thats in a Year,
Luckily the puggy seems to be Good on not snapping springs,

if anything ithink the front springs are too hard on the 406s -iwish icouid make mine so it glides over bumps,
Maybe this is why the Xantia had the Hova-craft style suspension,

ive been told the xantia and the 406 are the same chassis

You mention the Mondeo.....does this car feature a cup below the spring that stops the spring uncompressing ???? or is like the 406 ???
i ask because at least you would'nt have to replace say a tyre,abs wiring or cv boot as you do on the 406.......myself i know its a modern car thing and ive had them but the cars obviously still driveable which is the main downer on our car......i also know that there will be other maunfacturers who produce similar circumstances on their cars,again no help if your stuck miles from home or on your drive which is bad enough.

[lozz]

I think Pug are copping out here because spring breakage doesn't seem to be any more common than on many other cars. They don't make 'em like they used to

iwent thru 5 springs in my old mondeo thats in a Year,
Luckily the puggy seems to be Good on not snapping springs,

if anything ithink the front springs are too hard on the 406s -iwish icouid make mine so it glides over bumps,
Maybe this is why the Xantia had the Hova-craft style suspension,

ive been told the xantia and the 406 are the same chassis

You mention the Mondeo.....does this car feature a cup below the spring that stops the spring uncompressing ???? or is like the 406 ???
i ask because at least you would'nt have to replace say a tyre,abs wiring or cv boot as you do on the 406.......myself i know its a modern car thing and ive had them but the cars obviously still driveable which is the main downer on our car......i also know that there will be other maunfacturers who produce similar circumstances on their cars,again no help if your stuck miles from home or on your drive which is bad enough.

yes they have a cup on the mondeo
when the springs go on them if they go whilst driving can knacker the brake flexi-pipes,
ive drove a few mondeys with snapped springs, strangely they drive ok just a clang over bumps

im not 100% on the 406 springs wether they sit in a cup or not id presume they wouid tho,

[sidb]

In answer to your post Lozz......the 406 has a cup that does not equal the diameter of the spring,only the first few turns of spring and thats the problem,many cars when the spring breaks they are still driveable,once the 406 goes so can your tyre,cv boot and abs wiring depending exactly where the break occurs........this has always been the part that concerns me,the fact you could crash if it goes and you are doing 70 on the motorway !!
To me there must be an answer in the metal science........in parts of Siberia i think it gets cold enough for metal to just snap like toffee........so with a spring under that amount of tension maybe the flexing action in cold weather causes a similar thing to happen,most seem to go in cold weather,agreed its a delayed action thing as they seem to go after a while from being parked...... so maybe its a scientific answer we need.

[cox377]

This happened to me today also

[Gary406]

better to break while stationary thats for sure ... wouldnt like to see the damage if they broke when driving
both my front springs broke last year on my previous 1998 D8 .

[gumby6371]

When mine snapped in my old D8 I was standing 10 feet away having my morning smoke.
The noise it made sounded like a big stone hitting the windscreen so I looked up and down the road trying to spot the little scroat that threw it. When I turned round I saw the wheel arch sitting on the tyre.
So yes they do go with a bloody good 'crack'

[jonsowman]

Both of mine have gone whilst the car was moving (on seperate occasions). The first time was hardly moving but the second time the car was doing about 10mph after pulling out of the drive and wrecked the tyre

[cox377]

It ruined the cv boot which is a pain and I ended up walking to the train station! First time of being on public transport in a while!!!

I've got a wrecked 406 that I'll take the whole unit from including drive shaft. Still means the train until I can do it. I've then gotta work out how to get to my other 406 to get the parts off it which will no doubt mean the bus lol!

[marco2002]

My o/s/f spring snapped just as i was driving off funny enough it was during a cold spell as well.I had done 140,000 miles on one set of springs they are supposed to be replaced every 100,000 miles according to Peugeot dealer. I was on the way to a job interview, Needless to say i had to cancel. It wrecked the o/s/f cv boot the spring was sticking through it but luckily the brake line was ok

Found a cheap way of replacing though i bought all new struts springs bearings and top mounts the old bearings were shot and fell apart. I took all the bits to a local garage they built the legs up for me cost £37.00 labour then i just fitted them on the car. Normal spring compressors don't seem to be any good on 406 springs and i didn't fancy the idea of of being injured as it takes a lot of pressure to crunch the springs up. I've done about 60,000 miles on this set of springs so hopefully theres a bit more life in them yet.....

[Bailes1992]

My Uncle had one of the struts collapse at 20-30mph. Look out the brakediscs, the wing and a tyre.
Dunno weather that was down to a spring snapping or not.