Front Spring broken - Is car moveable

[gadgetgricey]

Front spring on my E38 has snapped so needs to be replaced.

 

Car is on the road, and was considering driving it about 200 yards round to the garage at the back of the house, where I can try and fix it in piece. (ie move the car to the tools rather than the other way)

 

Going to try and hold spring out the way, using some bungee cords.

 

Does this seem Ok, or is it a recipe for disaster.....

 

Just concerned the strut may try to do a Xantia on me,,,,, (even at walking pace)

 

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[John F]

I can't see why it would be a problem.

[andy18s]

Depends on where the spring has snapped,an whether there is a big sharp edge getting ready to stuff itself into your tyre.

Strut wise it will be ok

[Jerzy Woking]

Be careful that where the spring has snapped, it doesn't stick out and go through the sidewall of the tyre within too feet. Don't ask what makes me warn you..............

[Pillock]

Yeah, sharp edges were my downfall on a broken spring, gouged a hole in the tyre. It'll still do uppy-downy-springy things for a few hundred metres.

 

Judging by the amount of half-coils you see in the road, there are people doing much more than 200m on snapped springs.

[colino]

As this has just happened to me, I took the loose piece off (about two coils worth) by means of a big hammer and long metal bar to get it round and off the strut, and it sat remarkably square.  Enough to drive it very gently the 5 miles to the ramp.  If it is not getting trapped top and bottom by the weight of the car, I'd have had it recovered.

[sierraman]

Its now not an MOT failure if you have broken coil so long as the break is either at the top or the bottom and the seat of the spring isn't disturbed.

[Albert Ross]

 

Incorrect. It can fail for being broken, fatigued or fractured. Also, incorrectly located, which means, to all intents and purposes, one that has a tail sitting in the wrong part of a seat groove.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Tried this once with someone else's car. I got underneath with a torch to make sure I wasn't going to shred the tyre, and satisfied myself it was safe to limp to the garage at 10mph. 

 

The spring on the other side broke within 30 seconds 

[beko1987]

The meriva snapped a coil off once. Only noticed when I was looking at the exhaust eyeing up its replacement, and noticed. The snap had rusted over again so God knows how long it was like it for. No noticeable difference in drive or feel!

 

Did change both though, along with the rear shocks as they were fucked too

[anonymous user]

The meriva snapped a coil off once. Only noticed when I was looking at the exhaust eyeing up its replacement, and noticed. The snap had rusted over again so God knows how long it was like it for. No noticeable difference in drive or feel!

 

Did change both though, along with the rear shocks as they were fucked too

All Vauxhalls etc.

[UltraWomble]

Umm, why is there a photo of a Xantia with bollocksed strut top?

 

Actually yeah, sack that off, its been a long day and I have a bad headache.

[Taff]

a bloke at work here in Bristol who I don't like asked me this.

 

I checked the snapped spring on his Audi A4, confirmed that it was snapped and fouling the tire and informed him that it would be absolutely fine for his trip home to Arbroath.

[sierraman]

I should have said it would pass if it wasn't deemed as dangerous, bit of a grey area that though I suppose