oops, speedbumps!

[welly_59]

I recently went over a speedbump to fast(i didnt see it) and have damaged my car.

forgive me for not knowing the correct terminoligy but this is whats wrong. The big spring that you can see when u look behind the front driverside wheel appears to have popped off the plate that keeps it compressed. I've tried to get it back up by using a jack to push it but could not quite manage it.

How could i fix this? the car is a renault 19.

thanks for any help guys

 

[IanDB]

It's your suspension. You could hire a spring compressor but due to the dangers of the stored energy in these things once they're on I'd just take it down to the garage and let them do it. You should also get your tracking checked at the same time.

 

[AdamW]

Try sending the bill to your local council too. You won't get anywhere with it, but if enough people do that then they might think twice before installing new car busters... I mean speedbumps.

Either that or they will branch into suspension repair shops.

 

[welly_59]

what kind of cost would i be looking at?

 

[MANDATE]

With the car jacked up and wheel off the spring will be almost at its longest length, with little compression and little stored energy.
If you no spring compression set you could try tapping it back or you may find you can lever it back with a screwdriver. With a couple of spring compressers you can increase the compression until it is free to move by hand.

 

[AdamW]

Surely there will still be quite a bit of stored energy in those springs, even at full stretch.

I am just thinking, if the spring was able to get outside of its cup, doesn't that suggest the spring is getting tired and should be replaced anyway?

 

[david and julie]

Mandate is right on this.

When he says jacked up, he means with a jack under the floor though and not the suspension. So that the suspension can freely hang down.

Safest way is 2 axle stands with wood on the top to spread the weight on your floor, it is also safer if you have to do a lot of pushing shoving.

I would suggest you have the dampers checked out too.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

I would suggest you get the whole lot checked by a good garage.

That might just be the damage you can see. Is that the only damage??? It needs a trained eye to make sure all is ok.

If it is just that the spring has dislodged from the top cup, then probably only an hour (or so) to put right.

 

[pipme]

Of course the suspension has never been modified, in any non-standard way, has it ?
Strikes me as highly unusual for a spring to mislocate itself, perhaps with no damping present it could be possible ......

P

 

[doctorwhen]

Get it checked professionaly!

I ran over a pothole (which was filled with water, and looked like an innocent puddle) and the impact bent the suspension arm. No amount of tracking could correct the problem and I needed new arm, shock and spring.

I tried billing the council, but got nowhere. I even took photos! Their attitude was "Yeah? So sue us..." I wish I had a pet lawyer!