Broken Spidan spring less than 2 years old.

Pras

Pras

A2OC Donor
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Wife hit a pothole with the front wheels on the nearside and the spring on the offside broke off at the bottom.

Any idea why the spring on the side that didn't hit the pot hole would break?
Quite disappointed that it broke after 2 years when it replaced the original sport suspension that was 15 years old!
 
According to p10 here they have a 10 year warranty when replaced in pairs. I expect it only covers the part though, not fitting :(
 
Looks to me it has been cracked for a while (rust on face) still not good after two years and a known quality part manufacturer.
 
Gonna be honest here this happened 2 weeks ago and I didn't have time to inspect until today. So the rust could have built up since then.
 
Were the strut top bearings replaced at the time of spring swap?

A notchy / dry bearing places additional stress on the spring as it is keyed into the bottom spring seat of the strut leading to premature failure
 
What size tyres are you using?

Softer riding tyres will reduce the shock being sent through the springs.

If you're on 16" or 17", consider changing to 15". With the state of the roads, every little helps.
 
My front Spidan springs also required replacing in under 3 years and 15k miles. Only broken on one side but replaced them both with OEM parts and put it down to abundance of potholes.
 
carlston said:
What size tyres are you using?

Softer riding tyres will reduce the shock being sent through the springs.

If you're on 16" or 17", consider changing to 15". With the state of the roads, every little helps.
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On 15" pepperpots....
 
Would be worth getting an idea of how long the original (OEM) springs lasted (15 years 50,000+ mls on mine). Maybe the high cost of OEM is actually a good investment, compared to aftermarket that last less than 5 years.
Mac.
 
I fitted a set of Spidan springs to my TDI in early 2012 and proceeded to do approximately 100,000 miles with them over the ~8 years that followed.
Audi's own springs are really prone to torsion fractures and, frankly, not worth their price, especially when you consider how much better the car rides on Spidan springs. Audi springs also don't compensate for the inevitable lift that's introduced by the use of Koni FSD/SA dampers, which was the original reason Spidan springs became so popular. Spidan springs are made by GKN, who are a quality OE supplier.
One of my front Spidan springs finally broke about 9 months ago. Considering the tough life they've had on Lake District roads plus countless other journeys through rough mountainous areas, I can't complain. I immediately ordered some identical replacements, but one of them broke within weeks. Annoyingly, I was in Belgium at the time, but managed to find an online supplier and a garage who were happy to let me use their ramps. I replaced the spring and have done 6000 miles since then, including some very rough gravel tracks in the Alps. All seems well.

One possible conclusion is that GKN produced a poor batch, hence the rash of early failures over a short time period.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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Had the spring replaced today. £50 labour not bad. Now that the horrible rattle is gone I'm getting a clunk from the other side when the steering is turned.

Had a quick look and all seems ok without taking the strut out...
 
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Pras said:
Had the spring replaced today. £50 labour not bad. Now that the horrible rattle is gone I'm getting a clunk from the other side when the steering is turned.

Had a quick look and all seems ok without taking the strut out...
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I would say that was a very cheap job ..off side is nothing like as easy as near side ..you did well there .
 
And 8 months later the other side is broken half way up. Somewhat disappointed with these spidan springs after all the recommendations received on here.
Anyway just updating the thread in case anyone ever searches for broken spidan springs.
 
I have heard recently, from a good garage service source, that the spidan springs are perhaps not as good as they should be quality wise.
 
I would avoid Spidan and Suplex as another regular contributor on this site had a front Suplex spring break recently after only about 18 months use.

Spidan and Suplex appear to be the same springs, as they both claim to be made in Germany, they always have identical specifications, and where there's a Spidan spring there's always a matching Suplex spring, and vice versa...just like Lesjofors and Kilen are actually the same springs made in the same factory in Sweden.

Suplex is marketed in the UK, whereas Spidan is marketed in Germany. Maybe the brand name Suplex sounds better in English and the brand name Spidan sounds better in German.
 
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I don't know if it is me referred to above - but a (newly-fitted in our ownership and quite vocal here about how good they were afterwards) Suplex spring on our 1.4i broke in half after about 18 months weeks ago but not a huge amount of miles (my other half only does about 4-5k per year commuting), but then again as she pointed out at the time, it broke when she "hit the pothole, the one I hit every day going into and out of the village".... so perhaps the wear was accelerated percussively. Replaced with pair of Sachs. Fingers crossed. Shame, because the delicacy of the steering and ride at the front end with the Suplexes was excellent. Not noticeably different with the Sachs, maybe a fraction firmer but not obvious.
 
Pras said:
And 8 months later the other side is broken half way up. Somewhat disappointed with these spidan springs after all the recommendations received on here.
Anyway just updating the thread in case anyone ever searches for broken spidan springs.
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Hi Pras. My car went in for its MOT in August and the offside rear was broken. As stated before on this thread that's less than 5 years and approx 20k miles. Spidan were well recommended as you say but from my experience the quality isn't there. New ones all round now..
 
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