Mrs Breathe said there was a knocking around the rear of the car when she got home. Looks like the rear coil spring has snapped (its dark and very wet out there so I've not done a full-on inspection...) - wheel arch closer to tyre on driver side than passenger side, as far as I can the coil looks dodgy.
Okay to drive with gay abandon, or is it a trundle down the back roads at 5 mph to the garage tomorrow if I can get it in to be looked at?
If you take anybody's word on here that it is Ok you need your head examining. FWIW I rather think that the risk is that the chassis could collapse onto the wheel.
def not a gay abandon job. gentle trundle at best
So long as its not rubbing or catching, chances are it'll be fine. Most people don't even find out about broken coils until MOT time.
Disclaimer; you may die following my advice. If you do die, it's not my fault, it's your fault for following my advice.
Coil could penetrate the tyre. I would be VERY cautious until I had taken a good look at it. It would be an MOT failure, so would be deemed NOT safe to drive.
Bump stops will stop suspension collapsing fully but risk is broken part of coil escaping into tyre/brakes whilst driving. Gentle trundle is the way and always best to change as a pair.
You will die.
(one day)
IMO it depends where the coil is broken , 2 years ago I replaced the coils on the back of my car as both of them were broken (right at the bottom). How long they had been like this is anyones guess but the brken ends were very rusty so it must've been a while 😳
I bought a fixer-upper once which had a broken rear spring, in my rear left. It didn't totally make for safe driving with it yawing around and the wheel not tracking the ground right. I just didn't race my car around till I got a new one bought. Both my front struts were shot too. I was amazed when I replaced them all in one go, the car felt higher. It encouraged me to go and get a replacement steering rack for those awkward left hand turns when it locked up.
risk is broken part of coil escaping into tyre/brakes whilst driving.
Agree this is a [i]theoretical[/i] risk, but theres a lot of cars driving around on broken springs out there, and not very many cars careering of motorways in flaming fireballs as a consequence. Yes it's an MOT failure, but so is a sidelight bulb out.
In seriousness, in todays litiginous world it would be a particularly daft manufacturer that didnt consider what happens when a road spring breaks and engineer in a fail safe mode of operation.
Looks like the last coil at the top (slightly smaller radius than the main spring) has snapped off. Could be commuting on bike in the wet tmrw morning if garage can't book it in. MOT due in a week so it'll need doing fairly promptly.
I am amazed at how many suspension coils I hear of breaking these days, my previous cars have never suffered from this. I have replaced 2 recently. One of which I happened while I was just standing beside the car I heard this massive boing noise and on inspection found the broken spring. It was not impinging on the tyer, steering or brakes and I drove it about for 3 days with no problem. A mechanic had a look to confirm it was safe to drive till it could be fixed.
Inspect it, get a second opinion and drive with care.
A colleague had a coil break on a nissan almera, the spring promptly went straight into the sidewall and shredded the tyre.
Do you change a coil spring with the car the right way up, or upside down?
😆
Our office runaround Zafira was driven for several months with both front springs broken before I took it to the garage and investigated the rattle. No harm done.
