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another motoring numpty


SteveD

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I think it is probably a case of cheap Chinese spring steel, probably from recycled stock...

 

Not so.  As both and ex-steelmaker and ex-scrapman I can tell you that the Chinese most definitely make steel to the specification requested just like any other steelmaker.  And that spec is very easily tested on delivery.  Steel is 100% recyclable with no degradation in quality - every steel part on every car you drive (apart from the visible body panels) has been recycled.  Probably several times.

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Had something similar on my wife's old Pug 106 GTI. The bolt head on the torsion bar cover / retaining plate on the offside came corroded and snapped off. The torsion bar would then slide out and into the side of the tyre! It happened on the M4 when I'd borrowed the car and smoke was coming out the back which I couldn't see! Felt totally normal from the drivers seat though. When the burning smell hit I pulled over and called the RAC. The tyre was starting to show the white cord under the sidewall.

The most annoying thing is it happened again after a garage had repaired it!

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Fiesta front springs go the same mines only done 60k and both have gone. Luckily my better half isn't an idiot although she is an inexperienced driver she tells me if something isn't right with the car. When the last one went she hobbled it home from school run.

I had to angle grind the spring off to get it to the garage.

Ford said it was a known/common fault.

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You wouldn't believe how many bits of broken springs I see on the side if the road, normally just a 3-4 inch section... But if that bit has come off, what's the rest of it like?

I spend a lot of time in my mates garage... Pretty much every car in has not had a service in several years and is the main reason for whatever issue it has... Then most customers will bring in a car for something minor and say "could you check..." Then refuse to pay for whatever the major issue was. Like wipers needed changing "could you check the exhaust, it's very loud..."

My favorite is when people come in:

"You're expensive, but can you..."

Then when quote is given:

"They will do it cheaper over at..."

The reply they get is:

"Go there then."

Quite often they'll cone back and say:

"Can you connect the computer and turn out the service light?"

So clearly someone has done the service on the cheap... If at all, then wants the light turned out for free! I find it really entertaining! When I connected up my Volvo I checked it and every service is logged to who did what and all faults from day it was produced. That's what he uses as reason not to turn out lights.

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They stay constrained...

There is a plastic sleeve on the spring (for some reason)...

The sleeve is probably to keep the spring in place WHEN it breaks :d

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Speed bumps every time , you very rarely heard of springs breaking prior to the dreaded traffic calming measures being implemented now its like a plague .

 

supposed to stop accidents but have to wonder how many accidents these things have caused as a direct result of suspension damage ???

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My Mk3 Mondeo did that once. There was a noise, loss of power, and a pull to the one side. But mostly there was a load of smoke from the front wheel arch and a stink of hot rubber after only a mile! Didn't take a lot of diagnosing...

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The sleeve is probably to keep the spring in place WHEN it breaks :d

Good point!

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Springs are made from coils cut off square these days, not ground flat. The problem is they need a big profiled gob of rubber or foam at each end to house them in the platform and the result is it traps dirt, damages the coating, sets up a stress raiser which then causes stress corrosion cracking. It propogates through the spring section over time then eventually lets go.

Very very common problem for me at work these days, I see it all the time. Road humps and cars getting heavier doesn't help, along with big wheels and elastic band tyres.

It's a typical control that the bean counters have over cost of materials / processes in manufacture that prevents a good standard of engineering in our cars these days.

They'll never learn :rolleyes:  :oops:

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Not so. As both and ex-steelmaker and ex-scrapman I can tell you that the Chinese most definitely make steel to the specification requested just like any other steelmaker. And that spec is very easily tested on delivery. Steel is 100% recyclable with no degradation in quality - every steel part on every car you drive (apart from the visible body panels) has been recycled. Probably several times.

They will make it 'properly' when requested, but when no-one is looking??? Not withstanding Windy's suggestions, there is a appears to be a definite decline in overall quality of specialist steel components in the automotive industry, which is also reflected in similar components in the haulage industry. Whether it is the Chinese to blame, or cost cutting to compete with Chinese components, or possibly both, but it has happened...
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According to Honest John in the weekend Telegraph, Japanese cars rarely suffer these failures but on European cars it's common. Mind you, HJ has come up with some hare brained answers to queries on occasions too.

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Again - it's got b*gger all to do with the Chinese.  Why do you think we will eventually end up doing their laundry?  Because they do it equally as well as we do but cheaper (not to mention the cost of the bl**dy EU).  If they are supplying car manufacturers then it would be commercial suicide to provide out of spec material.  If there is a decline in quality, then it is being driven by the car manufacturers specifying inferior stuff; no-one else.

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Again - it's got b*gger all to do with the Chinese. Why do you think we will eventually end up doing their laundry? Because they do it equally as well as we do but cheaper (not to mention the cost of the bl**dy EU). If they are supplying car manufacturers then it would be commercial suicide to provide out of spec material. If there is a decline in quality, then it is being driven by the car manufacturers specifying inferior stuff; no-one else.

;)

Picked my car up from the local garage today, and the lads there were talking about this very subject. VX Corsa comes in for its first MOT, bought by an old dear and has completed a heady 4,000 miles since new. Failed the MOT, four broken springs! Not sure that is the quality Vauxhall would strive for!

Stuart, of course these things are driven by cost - and that is why so much manufacturing is currently done in China. I'm not saying that they are a country of bodgers (the smart phone I'm typing this on was made there!), but costs can only be cut so far before the product quality takes a dive. Anyone here that dabbles with monkey bikes will tell you the same - the (many) Chinese copies of the Honda step-thru engine will readily interchange components with the original. But none of them are anywhere the quality of the Honda....

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Yea but that's a little different - when you buy a Corsa you aren't buying a Chinese copy of a Corsa are you?  I would bet some of the components of the Honda-made engine would be made in China but subject to Honda's QC procedures.  So it can only be down to GM's policies/lack of QC not their suppliers' quality issues.  Wherever their suppliers may be.

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