Can i still drive with a broken rear spring coil?

[XFRFred]

As the title says.
Just discovered that I have a broken rear o/s spring coil, a RWD Jag.
I'm guessing it snapped when I hit a pothole that buggered up my front tyre a couple of weeks back.

Never replaced a spring coil before and I don't have the two clamps, that I think I need to have.
Better off taking this to the garage or is it a piece of piss to replace?

Also replace just this one, or both the rear spring coils?
The paperwork I have with the car (receipts dating back years), I can't see that they have been replaced before, so they are most likely the original on a 83K mile car.

[DanielSan]

You’ve driven it for the last couple of weeks since it possibly broke, lumping it to the garage should be ok. If possible get a mate to follow behind just in case.

[CrutyRammers]

Spring compressors are a faff, and also quite dangerous. I've had a couple of these and always get the garage to do it. You're fine driving a few miles to the garage.

[Grayedout]

Always replace them in pairs.

[ian in lancs]

There’s corrosion in the faces of the crack. I guess a stone or something punctured the paint covering allowing corrosion to build up and a crack develop. Any stress, pothole, ramp etc would just finish it off. Common. Replace in axle pairs.

[poing]

There will be 1000's of people driving around with broken springs that they don't know about. Unless it takes out the tyre they will only find out at MOT time. I've always changed in pairs even on cheap cars.

[jkh112]

Looks like the broken end piece is still in place. Be careful this doesn’t come loose and damage the tyre.

[Turkish91]

Where that has broken on the spring will be fine to drive to a garage IMO. However, they are a piece of cake to remove those rear dampers, and the springs aren’t actually held under that much tension either, so if you have some knowledge and all the tools, give it a whirl! I’m lazy though and would probably still get a garage to do it, but they shouldn’t charge much labour on that.

[caelite]

You can drive on it, chances of it failing spectacularly is fairly low.

However if it does, if you take it easy you shouldn't fly off the road, however there is still a risk, if it does come a part it will likely foul on the wheel, damaging the tyre, arch and possibly the wheels. If you accept these very real risks, and drive accordingly in a manner that would not result in complete loss of control if your rear end gets upset,then you should be OK for a short period of time.

[Perseverant]

Go carefully to a garage. My old Mercedes hit a pothole around the end of January and I couldn't see any damage to either tyre or spring (n/s/f) but a week or two back the spring collapsed spectacularly. I was able to creep home as I'd only driven about a hundred yards along our cul-de sac and the post mortem revealed the original crack up inside the spring mount as the edges were lightly corroded, plus TWO more new breaks! Never seen anything like it and the car is still on blocks awaiting better weather.

[XFRFred]

I've had the spring replaced by Surrey Jags yesterday and will be collecting today.
Doubt i will notice anything different in the way the car drives, but at least there is one less worry.