suspension spring

[tink_ng]

Hey everyone jus registered and wondered if anyone could give me a bit of info?
was driving and heard a clanging noise from passenger side suspension then it stopped and had to chase a bit of my spring down the road! got a quote from quik fit 4 the front 2 suspnsion springs and tracking 4 £135 wondered if that was a good quote or if its just as easy to buy some lowering springs and have them fitted? any help appreciated!

 

[great_kahn]

Hey everyone jus registered and wondered if anyone could give me a bit of info?
was driving and heard a clanging noise from passenger side suspension then it stopped and had to chase a bit of my spring down the road! got a quote from quik fit 4 the front 2 suspnsion springs and tracking 4 £135 wondered if that was a good quote or if its just as easy to buy some lowering springs and have them fitted? any help appreciated!

Your a quarter of the way to some coilovers at that...

Seriously... how are SEAT getting away with the suspension problems on these cars? My workmates misses had both of the springs on her 1.2 snap within weeks of each other... needless to say she took it to a SEAT dealer and got robbed blind.

 

[bald_eagle]

same thing happened to me,lost the bottom coils on my front springs.

£135 sounds reasonable too me including tracking if their using genuine parts,thinking about it maybe pattern parts might last longer

think i paid £40 X 2 just for the springs alone from seat if i remember right and fitting is a little tricky and time consuming.

 

[techie]

Your a quarter of the way to some coilovers at that...

Seriously... how are SEAT getting away with the suspension problems on these cars? My workmates misses had both of the springs on her 1.2 snap within weeks of each other... needless to say she took it to a SEAT dealer and got robbed blind.

Not just SEAT, Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot/Citroen and BMW are also suffering, shite UK weather and roads full of potholes dont help.

 

[RUM4MO]

Not just SEAT, Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot/Citroen and BMW are also suffering, shite UK weather and roads full of potholes dont help.

In the main I agree with you, but the percentage of failures with Fabia, Polo 9N and Ibiza 6L do seem to be a lot higher than that of the other marques quoted. Also I'd substitute "VAG" for "SEAT" as I firmly believe that this is a supplier (and a crappy Skoda CZ supplier at that) that is leading to a disproportionate number of failures with these little cars. Maybe German engineering but like most marques that include M.B. and BMW, VAG do like to get stuff made where its cheapest - remember the stupid ign coil early life failure issues, I seem to remember that there had been a transfer of manufacture to a newer European state! The annoying thing is that the customer still pays the original price and gets reduced reliability - its called progress!

 

[great_kahn]

Not just SEAT, Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot/Citroen and BMW are also suffering, shite UK weather and roads full of potholes dont help.

You only have to look at the MOT failure rates for suspension on the Ibiza to know there is a problem.

 

[Rob_B]

the passenger side spring on my mums car has just snapped aswell. if the springs are £40 each and tracking is £40 the quikfit looks like a winner!
how hard are the springs to change? any special tools needed? just finished doing the wishbone bushes and noticed this spring broken, what a chore!

 

[Copey]

You could get raceland coilys on ebay for £160, and they aint supposed to be that bad, might get a pair myself.

 

[Torquemonster]

In the main I agree with you, but the percentage of failures with Fabia, Polo 9N and Ibiza 6L do seem to be a lot higher than that of the other marques quoted. Also I'd substitute "VAG" for "SEAT" as I firmly believe that this is a supplier (and a crappy Skoda CZ supplier at that) that is leading to a disproportionate number of failures with these little cars. Maybe German engineering but like most marques that include M.B. and BMW, VAG do like to get stuff made where its cheapest - remember the stupid ign coil early life failure issues, I seem to remember that there had been a transfer of manufacture to a newer European state! The annoying thing is that the customer still pays the original price and gets reduced reliability - its called progress!

I agree.I wonder how the new Polo(built in Bratislava,Slovakia) will fare?.

 

[Rob_B]

You could get raceland coilys on ebay for £160, and they aint supposed to be that bad, might get a pair myself.

not sure my mum would be keen on that!

 

[RUM4MO]

I agree.I wonder how the new Polo(built in Bratislava,Slovakia) will fare?.

Now you've done it!

I thought that is was bad enough that I'd heard that RHD Polos were being build in South Africa - I seem to remember back in the "good old personal importing days" that quite a lot of folk that used "dodgey" importers ended up with Golfs from South Africa and the body build was poor and the transmission even worse - ouch!

Just to finish, I'd think that Polo is still my wife's car of choice!

 

[RUM4MO]

the passenger side spring on my mums car has just snapped aswell. if the springs are £40 each and tracking is £40 the quikfit looks like a winner!
how hard are the springs to change? any special tools needed? just finished doing the wishbone bushes and noticed this spring broken, what a chore!

It is a bit of a chore, but depending on how much you had to remove to change the bushes then maybe not too bad. Maybe buy a Polo 9N Haynes repair manual - same as Ibiza 6L engine wise and suspension wise. Also maybe use "search" here and have a look across at www.briskoda.net in the Fabia section - as its also the same car. You will also find a list a tools "THAT ARE NICE TO HAVE" for this job, namely:- big deep socket for hub nut + M14 spine bit for strut base/hub top clamping bolt + hub spreading tool + a few sets of spring compressors to "tame" the new springs. If I were you, I'd change both sides and change the bearing packs at the top of the struts, also strut top nyloc nuts + all small bolts at the top of the strut mounting + hub nut(s) + clamping bolt and nyloc nut. You might get one side off without removing the drive shaft, but its easier if you do for teh other side - Haynes will keep you right!

You might just need a full four wheel re-alignment after all this work has been completed - the future front wheel tyre wear will indicate if you have got off without doing this - although this info will come too late to save the tyres - depends if you are feeling lucky really!

By the way, what age is your mums car - if it is before 2004 build date then it might just still have the old style ARB fitted - if so, these fail and that means dropping the cross member to get it out - and that means a proper re-alignment is needed. Maybe research that issue as way as it could save your mum some money long term if this job is done now as the re-alignment is quite costly.

 

[techie]

You only have to look at the MOT failure rates for suspension on the Ibiza to know there is a problem.

True, but ive changed the same springs on Polos and Fabias, done a run recently on Fiestas also.

 

[great_kahn]

True, but ive changed the same springs on Polos and Fabias, done a run recently on Fiestas also.

Its not just the springs, its the top mounts and the bushes.... everytime i take my cupra out now it seems to develop another knock...

 

[techie]

Which is why they have changed everything on the MK5..lol