BMW 5 Series & others - Broken springs

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Tue 16 Feb 2021 11:30
BMW 5 Series & others - Broken springs - peter west

I own a m/y 2010 5 Series Touring.

Putting it for MOT my local specialist reports a broken front spring.

I posted on a 5 Series forum and have been surprised to learn there are at least another 12 owners who've suffered similar failures recently, some whilst on the move.

The failures seem to coincide with the very cold weather.Few if any have reported failures due to hitting potholes.

So the questions are:- 1) how many other owners have suffered similar ( I have seen reports of 1 Series failures)?

2) Are BMW springs more prone to failure than others due to poor design/ under-specification?

Thanks in advance.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 16 Feb 2021 11:45
BMW 5 Series & others - Broken springs - skidpan

I had a broken front spring on a BMW 1 series, happened in June so nothing to do with the weather. It happened when parked on the drive and made the car pretty much impossible to move, it was jammed between the strut and tyre. RAC had to get out the broken part before winching it onto the flat bed.

Also had a broken front spring on a Micra, never spotted any changes in the drive and the car was still level, only found at MOT. That car suffered a failure on the opposite fornt spring a couple of years later but with the new owner. Again it was only discovered at the MOT.

Springs break on all brands. Just take a walk and look in the gutter, enough scrap to keep the Romanians happy for weeks.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 17 Feb 2021 21:15
BMW 5 Series & others - Broken springs - Cheesewindow

I have a 640d and one of the rear springs went. The spring looked like it was from a Kia Picanto! Tiny compared to what I took off an E38 I had years ago.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 17 Feb 2021 21:24
BMW 5 Series & others - Broken springs - sammy1

Springs break on all brands. Just take a walk and look in the gutter, enough scrap to keep the Romanians happy for weeks.

Spot on! I am frequently removing bits of spring from the roads near me. A real tyre wrecker should you hit one

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 18 Feb 2021 00:49
BMW 5 Series & others - Broken springs - brum

Springs break on all brands. Just take a walk and look in the gutter, enough scrap to keep the Romanians happy for weeks.

Spot on! I am frequently removing bits of spring from the roads near me. A real tyre wrecker should you hit one

Its not exclusive to BMW, broken springs are common across all brands since the dawn of time.

They fail due to rust.. The wheel arch where the spring lives is a hostile and much neglected place, mud, water, salt, grit, stones, road debris all fired at great speed at suspension components . Eventually any protective coating on a spring is compromised and corrosion starts leading to failure.

Ask yourself how often do you jack up your car and throroughly clean and wash your suspension, springs, brake parts etc, inspect and make good any damage?

pmmonline.co.uk/technical/coil-springs-fail/

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide