help trying to find a spring and buy in pair needed?

[dei9]

Hi all, so I need to buy a spring for my car, EuroCarpParts is the only place I can find one (at £47 each). Looking at ebay it all seems vague as to whether it fits my car which is the xsara in my signature. Has anyone got any good suppliers of this spring and also the top bearing mount?

Also I know suspension parts need replacing in pairs, but when it comes to springs does it matter so much? It's not mismatched tyre, a new damper against an old one, etc. What is the overall opinion?

Thanks all.

[chinkostu]

Try carparts4less, same company as ECP but all online and worse postage!

I'd do the pair, i had both springs snap within months of each other

[dei9]

I can see/feel a break towards the top of the rattling side, and checking the other spring it sits in a weird way as if it's been all over the place. A pair it is! What happened there I DO NOT KNOW, I guess it needs the bearings too.

LOL... they've copied ECP! Funny! I'll stick to ECP since a quick google search could get me a discount code!

[chinkostu]

they're basically a sister company to ECP, no same day delivery and uses slower UPS postage so the prices are cheaper. All online helpdesks too.

they're £35.28 each on GSF, AEP has them for £80! (no thanks!)

top bearings are £15 each.


not got any small motor factors nearby? i found they were suprisingly cheaper for some things


servicebox lists the same 2 springs for the 306, xsara, partner and berlingo, so i'm not sure why they're so expensive if they're pretty much used across the board

[wheeler]

Always do springs in pairs, you would be mad not to, if one has broken the other is usually not far behind it.

[Peter.N.]

There used to be a firm called 'Wigan Road Springs' don't know if they still exist. They used to make up springs for my diesel conversions but this was a few years ago. Brilliant firm.

Peter

[qprdude]

Disagree about changing in pairs. Nearside and offside springs are subject to totally different stress. In reality, in the UK, the nearside spring will get a bit more torture than the offside generally. It depends on driving style and loading too, as well as where you live, if you have speed-bumps or lots of potholes.
Just my opinion of course, but I've changed a few springs in my time, and always just the broken one. Can't say I've ever had the other side go in a short period of time. In fact I've never had two springs break on a car. I'm just a tad careful with the old filthy Lucre and don't see the point in replacing a perfectly serviceable spring "just in case".

[mad_at_french_cars]

Disagree about changing in pairs. Nearside and offside springs are subject to totally different stress. In reality, in the UK, the nearside spring will get a bit more torture than the offside generally. It depends on driving style and loading too, as well as where you live, if you have speed-bumps or lots of potholes.
Just my opinion of course, but I've changed a few springs in my time, and always just the broken one. .

Same here. Never changed a pair. So far my car has had 2 nearside ones and no offside ones..

[bobins]

I look at it this way - if it was a warranty job* to replace a broken spring, would they replace the not-broken one as well ?
*- If it was a Citroen warranty job, they'd probably tell you that springs aren't covered

[qprdude]

It just doesn't make any sense to me.
Unless you have had your car from new, you really have no idea how many hours/miles your springs have done.
Unless you have a bill stating the springs have been previously changed as a pair (highly unlikely) then as far as you know, one spring could be a year old with 5,000 miles done, and the other could be 5 years old with 25,000 miles done.
I have has a spring changed under warranty and the garage just laughed when I asked if they were going to change the other side too.
It's just not logical unless you 100% KNOW the springs are the same age . IE if you bought the car brand new.

[Stickyfinger]

Measure them, a soft spring will shorten.....BUT......you have to take them both off to do that and they could still be a differing grade anyway...

Always Change Both if an unknown age/make

[daviemck2006]

My daughters astra needed a nearside rear spring last year for its test. A very trusted mechanic told me just replace the broken one as they can break after 10 miles or after 1000000 miles for no reason. So we just changed the one.

[qprdude]

Having worked in the steel / engineering for 20 years, I find it incredible that anyone would think that two pieces of spring steel should be changed when one piece breaks. As I said, one could be a few months old, and the other a few years. I suspect the "change them both" fallacy started from spring manufacturers as there is no scientific evidence that because one spring breaks, the other will do the same within a short period of time.

[Stickyfinger]

I am not talking about the spring failing, on the front under sudden compressive force, they can if not a matched spring rate, make the car unsettled as they will compress thru their resistance grade points at differing rates.
Are you saying you would not do both on the rear of a Tow Car for instance ?...

I agree the problem is very much less on the rear of a normal everyday 1/2 passenger daily driver, I would most likely cut that corner.

[Stewart(oily)]

Changing them in pairs ? brakes and shocks, definitely springs, no, springs are often broken by a pothole, why replace the one that missed it ? the exception might be leaf springs if theres significant wear.