How long should springs last?

[sharkfan]

I'd be grateful for some views on this...

I've just found out that I have two broken rear springs on my Alpina Roadster. This seems a bit odd as the car has only done c.40k miles. Surely to have both springs fail at the same time means there is something up? Would the spring breaking mean something else is wrong as well?

A couple of other issues are that it was only in for a service around 500 miles ago. Should the garage (BMW main dealer) have picked this up? Finally, should my BMW warranty cover any work?

Any help gratefully received.

[steve-p]

You so rarely hear of springs failing that it would be reasonable to expect them to last the lifetime of the car I would have thought. They aren't really a wear and tear or consumable item after all. Failure would make me wonder about either a design or manufacturing fault TBH.

[E30M3SE]

Four year old, or thereabouts BMW springs broken, doesn't comes as a suprise to me, should be covered under warranty.

[DJFish]

E46 tourings are well known for breaking springs, one of mine was replaced under warranty (+ the excess) however, whenever you tamper with the suspension you should always get the geometry set up properly and I doubt any dealer will include this in any warranty claim.

[Tony 1234]

One of mine broke at 18 months and the other at 3 years!!!

3Ltr Z4

Tony

[sharkfan]

Thanks for the thoughts. They are going to be replaced under warranty so no hassle there. Just don't want to think about the cost if I didn't have the warranty...

[Mustard]

buffly said:

Rear coil springs on e46 are a common fault, but not heard of any breaking on a z4....

Just as common on Z4's

[Sortie 10]

Mustard said:

buffly said:

Rear coil springs on e46 are a common fault, but not heard of any breaking on a z4....

Just as common on Z4's

At MOT-time last June my Z4's rears were found to be broken. This is clearly far from unusual as my car was a year out of warranty (and I did not pay for the extension) and BMW paid for all parts and labour - no doubt helped by a full single dealer service history.

[8Tech]

Unfortunately this is a sign of the times with the advent of speed humps and potholes.
In years past, you could expect coil springs to last the life of the car with heavily used cars suffering just spring compression/sag, but not breakage.
Now though, breakage is common and for some reason, very common on BMW's. This may not be due to poor materials but could be that BMW's use a higher spring rate and heavier dampers to give that drivers experience and enhanced handling.
BMW are honouring the issue with extended replacements free of charge but these are just as brittle. I now use Swedish manufactured springs and have never had one break.

8Tech.

[sharkfan]

Sortie 10 said:

Mustard said:

buffly said:

Rear coil springs on e46 are a common fault, but not heard of any breaking on a z4....

Just as common on Z4's

At MOT-time last June my Z4's rears were found to be broken. This is clearly far from unusual as my car was a year out of warranty (and I did not pay for the extension) and BMW paid for all parts and labour - no doubt helped by a full single dealer service history.

The bit that I found most worrying about all of this was the fact that I couldn't tell. I would have thought that 2 broken springs would lead to the car behaving oddly but there was nothing obvious to me. Seems like Sortie 10 had a similar experience...

[Tony 1234]

Yes, I was riding around for about 3 months hearing this slight rattle.

Was amazed when I was told it was a broken spring, road holding was just the same!!!

Tony

[Andrew D]

This sounds very familiar...

Both of the rear springs failed on my Z4 3.0i in March. It had done about 28k miles and was just under four years old.

[john_p]

If you just stick your head under the car when it's on its wheels, can you see the broken spring?

I had a M3 cab which only revealed its broken spring when it failed the MOT..

Edited by john_p on Wednesday 21st May 16:55

[8Tech]

Quite oftenly not. There isn't enough room to see clearly either under the car or between the coils unless the suspension is hanging and it nearly always seems to be the last coil broken on the bottom.

[sharkfan]

8Tech said:

Quite oftenly not. There isn't enough room to see clearly either under the car or between the coils unless the suspension is hanging and it nearly always seems to be the last coil broken on the bottom.

The RAC man who located the problem only found it by feeling the springs all the way down. There's no way you can see them, particulary if you are running 18" or 19" wheels...