I posted recently regarding SWMBO's 306 HDi estate's broken spring, which occurred as she started to manouvre the car out of the drive. There was a crunch and the broken end of the spring penetrated the inside of the tyre.
The thing is, she is now paranoid about the situation. We've had both front springs replaced as per the advice from Screwloose (many thanks and may your fault codes cease to multiply), but the lady now says, "And what if it had happened while I was doing 70 on the motorway? What if it happens AGAIN while I am doing 70?"
Is she right to be worried?
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With our old Citroen Berlingo van (W reg) at work there was a recall to fit a cup around the lower part of the spring to prevent it from penetrating the tyre in the event of it snapping. As Peugeot and Citroen are 'related' I wonder if Peugeot offer something similar?
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Anyone know if there is a spring cup for the 306, as described by DD?
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Hi there, not sure if it's of much help but over on the 406 owner's club forums we get loads of broken front coil springs (facelift/D9's too HJ), it always seems to happen at low speed or it's quite common for it to happen while the car's parked overnight ("I came out this morning and...")
The problem is (apart from coil springs made out of chocolate) is the bottom end of the spring is smaller than the rest, with a correspondingly smaller seat. The springs always seem to break at the bottom end, the rest of the spring falls over the seat and embeds itself in the tyre and, quite often, the driveshaft UJ too.
Later cars seem to have a larger bottom seat, designed to catch the spring. There doesn't seem to be anything you can fit though, the seat is part of the strut so you'd have to change the whole lot.
We're not really sure why springs fail, it does seem to be common amongst many makes though. Corrosion seems to be a contributing factor, so maybe it's an idea to keep the mud from building up there and maybe give it a squirt with Waxoyl or similar.
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Chris the car is 8 years old so now you have new springs there is no need to panick! If you still have the car in say 6 years then change them if it worries you. She is right what she say's & although its common its not common relative to the millions of cars on the road. You take more of a chance on your everyday drive than you do with a spring breaking!
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I had a tyre blowout at 70 but I was not driivng just a passanger, it was on the M62 and was the most scary experience of my life, but we were lucky. Ever since I am always paranoid about tyres but the problem is solved by replacing the tyres if I don't know hold they are and always checking the preasure. I am also worried about arms and springs snaping as my car is 13 years old, but I don't do high speeds, I rarely even hit 40 but if I wanted a motorway crusier I would at least want the springs inspected.
Your wife has nothing to worry about as the springs have now been replaced :) As longs genuine ones were fitted they should last the life of the car.
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I referred to her as SWMBO - I did not say she was my wife! (She's not, as it happens... Don't ask!)
;-)
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In 10 years I have seen 4 springs go on different makes of car (Ford, VW, MG, Pug) and they all went into the tyre at speed. I think Fiesta had a recall for this in the late 90s.
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