2006 C3 exploding suspension

[Orbit Motors]

Hi all,

Got a call from a family member with the usual ominous "my car is making an awful noise" statement. Once I'd seen how low to the floor the front of the car now was, I had a quick look online and found out about the known issue of springs and cups on the suspension tower failing spectacularly, and assumed this to be the problem.

Sure enough, the forbidden confetti has happened on both front corners. It has also bent the droplinks and the springs have come to rest on the brake pipes.

My question is, as there was a widespread recall up to 2004/5 on C3s and possibly some other models for this rather serious issue, what do you think my chances are of ringing a main stealer and asking them to consider doing a recall on this as well. Or are they likely to tell me to do one? I've seen some people's success stories on this problem previously but mainly some time ago.

Also trying to work out whether it is worth buying a couple of complete towers out of a scrapper, a couple of droplinks and seeing if it all stays intact long enough for a European banger rally as the owner now has something else and said I can do what I like with it. It is a bit too much of a wreck to bother doing up to sell!

Pictures attached for your amusement / shock

[Huskyxantia]

They have been pulled up on this , differnt car but ,my 308cc was pulled up on the front legs during the MOT last November ,one side was modified the other still had the origanal leg , the old was missing a coupling , so i replaced both myself with all the correct parts and now i know its safe. When manufactures know of these issues but choose to ignore it well shame on them. Makes you really want to not drive there bramd of car , but there are other companys doing similar.

[GiveMeABreak]

99.9% unlikely you'll get anything out of them for a 20 year old car... They'll say it would of been picked up at routine servicing / checks.

[ozvtr]

The biggest culprits were the front springs fitted to Citroen C2's and C3's. Not sure, but I think the springs fitted to the 1.6's
There was no recall (that's the problem). If the owner found out, or a responsible franchisee (lol!) had your car in for service, the "fix" was to install a 2 piece "cup" around the shock absorber to limit the damage WHEN the spring broke!! The springs were NEVER replaced! At least NOT OFFICIALLY by Citroen.
Here in AUS, addressing known "problems" like this are called "campaigns" and owners are not necessarily informed. But if that campaign has been addressed (say, during a routine service), typically, a placard addressing that campaign is affixed to some part of the vehicle.
The problem is a bizarre property of the metallurgy of the spring. A tiny imperfection on the surface would allow salty water, from winter salted roads, to start a process that would propagate corrosion through the coil of the spring. Apparently it can take decades (sorry). You would only hear of stuff like this in aircraft crash investigations!!
NEVER saw it here in Australia because they don't salt the roads in winter!
Think yourself lucky. It wasn't uncommon for the sharp end of the spring to shred tyres and/or damage rims!!

[GiveMeABreak]

I forgot to mention our right side one went on the 2007 C3 1.6 HDi, had them both replaced along with the cups.

[PaulC5]

Our 2003 C3 1.4 petrol front right spring broke when 4½ years old. I can not remember if it already had the cups on but if not they were certainly on after the springs were replaced. On our 2010 C3 1.4 petrol it was the rear right spring that failed when about 4 years old. In both cases the springs at both sides were replaced by Citroen at no cost to us.