Suspension: V40 Broken spring help

[swwvolvov40]

Hi
just joined and am looking for advice My Volvo V40 Reg. 2015 33000 miles has a broken spring! No idea how this could have happened. It was fine the day before no unusual noises or pulling, just a normal day. Started the car the following morning turned the steering wheel and this horrible banging noise stopped immediately called RAC. They towed it to a Volvo garage who have said I have a broken spring. How can this be ? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[60041]

Broken springs are not uncommon; over the years I have changed dozens and have had to do one on almost every car I have owned.
Age or mileage do not have any bearing on whether a spring breaks or not, it just takes the right speed and the right pothole.
Often they break and have no noticeable effect on the car until it is picked up at an MOT test, other times they make the most dreadful noise - it’s the luck of the draw.

[Scooser]

Just had my rear spring replaced by Volvo. Standard fitting time is 24 mins (0.4 hours) for my V70. They use an air compressor pinching tool to extract and replace the spring without undoing a single bolt!

The Indy I contacted wanted 1.5 hours to do the job, presumably because he didn’t have this special tool.

Even at £144/h (£120+vat) Volvo where competitive with an Indy charging £60/h because of the fitting time difference.

Labour on mine was £58 (0.4 x 144) and the spring was around £100, which was a bit steep but I wasn’t too worried as the Labour was so cheap, and I’m granted an OEM part.

[Marty Dolomite]

Scosser, there isn't anything special as such about the tool its just an air powered version of the manual one garages have but 45 mins per side is a bit much but very likely the garage would put it on ramps and remove the wheels as well which takes some of the extra time.


Just reread and they wanted 1.5 hours to do ONE side :O

[Clan]

Originally Posted by swwvolvov40

Hi
just joined and am looking for advice My Volvo V40 Reg. 2015 33000 miles has a broken spring! No idea how this could have happened. It was fine the day before no unusual noises or pulling, just a normal day. Started the car the following morning turned the steering wheel and this horrible banging noise stopped immediately called RAC. They towed it to a Volvo garage who have said I have a broken spring. How can this be ? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

broken springs are common on all European cars from 2000 .. occasional on Volvo not that common ...
It is because they do not bend the ends flat and temper ( heat treat ) the end coils , cheaper to cut them off a long coil now , bend the ends to weird shapes to fit the spring seats and leave it like that ..

[oragex]

As mentioned, it happens mostly because of a manufacturing defect due to poor design or 'cutting corners' on the design.

On recent cars, the cars are so recent, the word hasn't spread yet on Internet. Could be uncommon or common, time will tell.

No one can say if it's going to happen to another spring on your car, but judging by the past experiences and by the very low miles on the car, I would guess there is a chance another spring to break. Hopefully not a front one while driving.

One way to anticipate this, would be to always drive slowly over the speed bumps, and also to try not to hit potholes - no need to steer like crazy either when there is a pothole ahead , that may be dangerous for loosing control.