2 collapsed front springs, (both broken in the middle!), on this diesel Vectra at 90,000 miles of careful, all on road, driving. No warning. But broken on taking the car in the morning. Heard 2 clicks (thought it was the usual hand brake problem), then immediate thudding in the wheel arch. Parked. Had to get a special (RAC) flat bed to get it into a Vauxhall dealer who claimed they had never seen its like before.
My questions are is this just my bad luck of getting, say, 2 innadaquate, badly forged springs, or is this a more general weakness (in which case it is a safety issue)?
Or is simply bad design when they significantly increased the size and weight of the Vectra?
Comments please.
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WHat a surprise. I have seen reports of this before and then it happened to my brothers Saab- the same car underneath.
Saab said ooohhh never seen that before.
There is a few stories on the web that this is due to cheap springs.
good luck.
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i have vectra elegance 2.2 D and every spring has broken at least once. some twice.
now done 70K but started breaking still under warranty. mate at works saab spring went (same ones i think) and they replaced his foc. i querried this at last service but was told it was out of warranty so i could have asked but ......
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2 collapsed front springs (both broken in the middle!) on this diesel Vectra at 90 000 miles of careful all on road driving.
SQ
In July this year (2009) I submitted my four year old 2.2 Direct (petrol) Vectra for its
second MOT and was very surprised when I was told both front springs were broke,
and consequently was an MOT failure.
Both springs had broken about half a turn from the bottom (within 1.5 cm similar
distance from the start of the spring), From the appearance of the metal at the breaks
it was obviously poor forging.
I had experienced two nasty jolts due to poorly/un - repaired ruts in the road about
three months previous.
The mechanic informed me that it was a common occurrence of late due to roads
not being repaired after the winter damage. He informed me that as well as Vauxhall
cars Citroen were also sufferring.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 09/12/2009 at 21:27
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Any garage that says they never see broken springs are bare-faced liars. I work in a motor factors and must sell at least 5 springs a day. Ones for Clios, Corsas, Astras, Kas, 3 series, can sell them all day long.
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You think these are bad mercedes springs snap for fun all these road humps don't help it's good buisness for the fast fit places.
Try genuine parts opposed to pattern i know sometimes it's down to cost.
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With Vectra C's its simply a case of when they will snap, not 'if'
Both my front 2 snapped (one took out the tyre) and there are umpteen incidences on the vectra-c.com forum
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VW & Audi springs on some 5-8 year old models also snap a fair bit recently judging by another forum's posts.
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Does not seem to be an issue on Toyota forums.
But then ,the Japanese tend to specify engineering of springs properly...GM engineering is to pare off all cost often at the expense of longevity...
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This issue seems to have started with the Vectra C - presumably also the Signum? On my various 150K miles plus Vauxhalls ( Omegas and Vectra Bs) I've had a grand total of one broken spring, on an Omega at about 180K.
Pity the Japanese didn't apply the same engineering longevity to Honda Jazz gearboxes!
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As I've mentioned before, I don't think it's a design issue at all.
Vauxhall, Ford, Mercedes, and BMW, to mention a few, were capable of designing and fitting springs which would last the life of the car - I don't think they've all suddenly forgotten how to do it.
What I do suspect is a more plausible explanation is that EU rules have stopped the use of heavy metal protective plating, particularly Cadmium plating, and the fatigue cracks which grow to fracture are now well assisted in their growth by corrosion and corrosion products.
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