Discussion
STSCH said:
Just failed my MOT on 27 k miles due to broken spring. Getting bot rear replaced and moaned to the ever helpful Alpine customer service. Has anyone had a good will payment for this? Obvious common issue, Martins agreed it's very common
Yes mine has just failed MOT at 39,000 miles for broken offside rear spring.Strangely had not noticed any extra noise or other problems.
Really p****d off that Martins did not spot this at the annual service 4 weeks ago - which follows on from last year when they failed to notice front brake disc MOT failure (see other thread).
Decided enough is enough, ordered Life 110 springs and will get my local garage to fit. Don't trust Martins anymore to check car safety.
If I had a phone I would throw it down!
So that is the culprit. Spring got rusty and broke.
Amazed that something only 5 years old and designed to be under the car can fail this way, particularly a well known brand as Eibach.
Faulty batch?
Fitted the lowered LIFE110 version with the updated geometry.
Slightly harder ride (not very noticeable) but looks great (who knew 18mm was so important!).
All other springs look fine - anyone needing a replacement let me know!
Amazed that something only 5 years old and designed to be under the car can fail this way, particularly a well known brand as Eibach.
Faulty batch?
Fitted the lowered LIFE110 version with the updated geometry.
Slightly harder ride (not very noticeable) but looks great (who knew 18mm was so important!).
All other springs look fine - anyone needing a replacement let me know!
Martyn P said:
So that is the culprit. Spring got rusty and broke.
Amazed that something only 5 years old and designed to be under the car can fail this way, particularly a well known brand as Eibach.
Faulty batch?
Fitted the lowered LIFE110 version with the updated geometry.
Slightly harder ride (not very noticeable) but looks great (who knew 18mm was so important!).
All other springs look fine - anyone needing a replacement let me know!
That's terrible at 5 years old. Amazed that something only 5 years old and designed to be under the car can fail this way, particularly a well known brand as Eibach.
Faulty batch?
Fitted the lowered LIFE110 version with the updated geometry.
Slightly harder ride (not very noticeable) but looks great (who knew 18mm was so important!).
All other springs look fine - anyone needing a replacement let me know!
Martyn P said:
Yes mine has just failed MOT at 39,000 miles for broken offside rear spring.
Strangely had not noticed any extra noise or other problems.
Really p****d off that Martins did not spot this at the annual service 4 weeks ago - which follows on from last year when they failed to notice front brake disc MOT failure (see other thread).
Decided enough is enough, ordered Life 110 springs and will get my local garage to fit. Don't trust Martins anymore to check car safety.
If I had a phone I would throw it down!
Interesting, I just bought a approved used A110S of Martins. Here s a list of everything that was wrong with it upon delivery. Strangely had not noticed any extra noise or other problems.
Really p****d off that Martins did not spot this at the annual service 4 weeks ago - which follows on from last year when they failed to notice front brake disc MOT failure (see other thread).
Decided enough is enough, ordered Life 110 springs and will get my local garage to fit. Don't trust Martins anymore to check car safety.
If I had a phone I would throw it down!
1. Phoned me 5 minutes before the guy who was driving it up to me picked it up to tell me the rear wing was damaged and needed repaired. At this point I was careless and according to them all of there painters were on holiday at the same time so couldn t paint it before delivering it to me. When it turned up it had damage everywhere including the side skirt and rear bumper being a different colour to the rest of the car. Had to sort this out myself and invoice them, cost £1,000. I have a screen recording of the salesman telling me how immaculate the paint is in a video ?.
2. Car was advertised as having Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 s on it but when it arrived it only had them on the front which were worn to 2mm and 2.5mm on the inner edge. The rear tyres were Michelin Pilot Sport 5 s. Huge safety issue and they have no interest in sorting it even know they effectively miss-sold me the car, £700 to put right.
3. Rattling noise from behind my head. Turned out the engine cover was just sat in place and not actually tied down. When I removed it the coolant level was low. Couldn t care less when I told them.
4. The tail lights are full of condensation. They don t care about this either.
5. Didn t tell me upon purchasing the car that it had and extended Alpine warranty and sold me a 3rd party warranty. I found this out from the service documentation. Didn t care when I told them.
6. Haven’t even bothered bringing this up with them because they do t care about anything else but the car has the upgraded 320mm brembo brakes but is fitted with the standard brake discs.
Bought a car from Alpine directly for piece of mind but I can safely say that the car will never go near another Alpine Dealer. I’ll be taking legal action regarding the tyres as I have the screenshots of the advert stating it has Cup 2 s on it. I had also ordered a A390 company car but have since cancelled that and going with a Ionic 5.
Edited by JoeR1988 on Friday 20th March 02:21
^ sorry to hear of your purchasing woes. I bought mine from a northern Sytner Select branch and they were just as chronic at customer service, but at least the car was in better nick.. Hopefully driving it and owning it will put a big smile back on your face and soon you'll forget how it got to you.
Mine had Cup2s as a new factory option but now runs on PS5s, and they're brilliant. Perhaps the dealer was lazy and just cut & pasted the original options on the car into the used ad rather than inspecting the car as it stood?
Re number 4. above, I think it's a case of 'they all do that sir at certain times of the year, it's a characteristic not a fault'..
Mine had Cup2s as a new factory option but now runs on PS5s, and they're brilliant. Perhaps the dealer was lazy and just cut & pasted the original options on the car into the used ad rather than inspecting the car as it stood?
Re number 4. above, I think it's a case of 'they all do that sir at certain times of the year, it's a characteristic not a fault'..
Edited by MaFue on Friday 20th March 12:08
Martyn P said:
So that is the culprit. Spring got rusty and broke.
Amazed that something only 5 years old and designed to be under the car can fail this way, particularly a well known brand as Eibach.
Faulty batch?
Fitted the lowered LIFE110 version with the updated geometry.
Slightly harder ride (not very noticeable) but looks great (who knew 18mm was so important!).
All other springs look fine - anyone needing a replacement let me know!
Matt at Spires explained that they tend to break when a stone gets caught in the very last coil loop at the base of the spring, which looks like what’s happened to yours?Amazed that something only 5 years old and designed to be under the car can fail this way, particularly a well known brand as Eibach.
Faulty batch?
Fitted the lowered LIFE110 version with the updated geometry.
Slightly harder ride (not very noticeable) but looks great (who knew 18mm was so important!).
All other springs look fine - anyone needing a replacement let me know!
Mine had two rears broken at the MOT last year, so I took the opportunity to fit AST coilovers all round. #man-maths…
domrusty said:
Matt at Spires explained that they tend to break when a stone gets caught in the very last coil loop at the base of the spring, which looks like what s happened to yours?
Mine had two rears broken at the MOT last year, so I took the opportunity to fit AST coilovers all round. #man-maths
Domrusty, how are you finding the ASTs?Mine had two rears broken at the MOT last year, so I took the opportunity to fit AST coilovers all round. #man-maths
MaFue said:
^ sorry to hear of your purchasing woes. I bought mine from a northern Sytner Select branch and they were just as chronic at customer service, but at least the car was in better nick.. Hopefully driving it and owning it will put a big smile back on your face and soon you'll forget how it got to you.
Mine had Cup2s as a new factory option but now runs on PS5s, and they're brilliant. Perhaps the dealer was lazy and just cut & pasted the original options on the car into the used ad rather than inspecting the car as it stood?
Re number 4. above, I think it's a case of 'they all do that sir at certain times of the year, it's a characteristic not a fault'..
Yeah, I’ve just shelled out £700 for PS4’s as I had a very hairy drive in a white out on the A9 on Sunday.
In regards to the tail light condensation it hasn’t cleared in the 17 days I’ve owned it, temperature has fluctuated from about -3 to +17 degrees, haha
Mine had Cup2s as a new factory option but now runs on PS5s, and they're brilliant. Perhaps the dealer was lazy and just cut & pasted the original options on the car into the used ad rather than inspecting the car as it stood?
Re number 4. above, I think it's a case of 'they all do that sir at certain times of the year, it's a characteristic not a fault'..
Yeah, I’ve just shelled out £700 for PS4’s as I had a very hairy drive in a white out on the A9 on Sunday.
In regards to the tail light condensation it hasn’t cleared in the 17 days I’ve owned it, temperature has fluctuated from about -3 to +17 degrees, haha
Edited by MaFue on Friday 20th March 12:08
domrusty said:
Mine had two rears broken at the MOT last year, so I took the opportunity to fit AST coilovers all round. #man-maths
My man maths is one broken spring, replace all 4!All I can say now that the new LIFE110 lowered springs are bedded in is WOW.
Great feel, great handling and no loss in comfort.
AMRicardo said:
Domrusty, how are you finding the ASTs?
Around town you’d be hard pressed to notice a difference. (To be fair, I hadn’t even noticed the two broken rear springs…!) But once the car is moving, around its sweet spot of 50-70 mph on undulating A- and B- roads the sheer composure is impressive. A bit less floaty than before? And far more capable than I am for sure.I’m currently toying with upping the damping a notch because I’ve got the heavy Legende wheels which means there’s more mass to be controlled, but it’s pretty fine as it is. The fact they are adjustable is nice.
Just pottering around there does seem to be more clunks / clatter over bad surfaces. I think I read somewhere it’s to do with the type of joints the ASTs use. (Or something is about to fall off?!
)Latest update:
I approached Alpine for compensation on what I consider a serious safety fault that I had to repair.
This is a known problem.
The response was that because the fault was not inspected by an Alpine Technician (but already failed by an approved MOT station) they have no liability for the failure (even though I have offered to send them the failed item).
So much for brand loyalty after continuous servicing and inspection with their dealership.
I approached Alpine for compensation on what I consider a serious safety fault that I had to repair.
This is a known problem.
The response was that because the fault was not inspected by an Alpine Technician (but already failed by an approved MOT station) they have no liability for the failure (even though I have offered to send them the failed item).
So much for brand loyalty after continuous servicing and inspection with their dealership.
Martyn P said:
Latest update:
I approached Alpine for compensation on what I consider a serious safety fault that I had to repair.
This is a known problem.
The response was that because the fault was not inspected by an Alpine Technician (but already failed by an approved MOT station) they have no liability for the failure (even though I have offered to send them the failed item).
So much for brand loyalty after continuous servicing and inspection with their dealership.
Yeah, both the dealer and Alpine had no interest in resolving or compensating for the faults with my car. Quite upsetting having just bought into the brand but the only time they’ll see my car again is for recalls.I approached Alpine for compensation on what I consider a serious safety fault that I had to repair.
This is a known problem.
The response was that because the fault was not inspected by an Alpine Technician (but already failed by an approved MOT station) they have no liability for the failure (even though I have offered to send them the failed item).
So much for brand loyalty after continuous servicing and inspection with their dealership.
domrusty said:
Around town you d be hard pressed to notice a difference. (To be fair, I hadn t even noticed the two broken rear springs !) But once the car is moving, around its sweet spot of 50-70 mph on undulating A- and B- roads the sheer composure is impressive. A bit less floaty than before? And far more capable than I am for sure.
I m currently toying with upping the damping a notch because I ve got the heavy Legende wheels which means there s more mass to be controlled, but it s pretty fine as it is. The fact they are adjustable is nice.
Just pottering around there does seem to be more clunks / clatter over bad surfaces. I think I read somewhere it s to do with the type of joints the ASTs use. (Or something is about to fall off?! )
Thanks Domrusty, it’s certainly a switch I’m planning when out of warranty / first cracked spring. As you say, man maths!I m currently toying with upping the damping a notch because I ve got the heavy Legende wheels which means there s more mass to be controlled, but it s pretty fine as it is. The fact they are adjustable is nice.
Just pottering around there does seem to be more clunks / clatter over bad surfaces. I think I read somewhere it s to do with the type of joints the ASTs use. (Or something is about to fall off?!
)Martyn P said:
Latest update:
I approached Alpine for compensation on what I consider a serious safety fault that I had to repair.
This is a known problem.
The response was that because the fault was not inspected by an Alpine Technician (but already failed by an approved MOT station) they have no liability for the failure (even though I have offered to send them the failed item).
So much for brand loyalty after continuous servicing and inspection with their dealership.
Martyn, how long ago did you agree the purchase? Personally I’d reject the sale based on what you have said. The mismatched tyres, shagged Cup2s and removed engine cover indicate its certainly seen some time on track. Better to go back to market and find another example, especially as it sounds like they have zero enthusiasm to rectify the issues.I approached Alpine for compensation on what I consider a serious safety fault that I had to repair.
This is a known problem.
The response was that because the fault was not inspected by an Alpine Technician (but already failed by an approved MOT station) they have no liability for the failure (even though I have offered to send them the failed item).
So much for brand loyalty after continuous servicing and inspection with their dealership.
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