Coil Spring Broke in the Middle of the Night!

[edgersoldchap]

My S211 E320 offside front coil spring broke with such a noise last night it woke my neighbours who thought their car parked on the road had been run into until they saw my hazard lights flashing and heard my alarm going off. When I parked on my drive at 5.00pm last night, all was well but at 3.00am, it suddenly went. I suppose I'm lucky I wasn't driving when it broke.





Now I have to get it fixed at my local indy - would it be safe to drive 2 miles to his workshop, do you think?

Coincidentally, I had to get my grandson's Skoda Fabia fixed last week for exactly the same problem - I had both front coils replaced for £135 on that. I wonder what this will cost me on my S211?

Eddie

 

[grober]

Mercedes-Benz W211 Front Shock Absorber Replacement (2003-2009) E320, E500, E55 | Pelican Parts DIY Maintenance Article
I would be concerned that "fallen" part of the broken spring might cause the steering to bind. Be advised by your indy? Get both front springs replaced to match rates

ps link shows replacement for a 4 matic 4wd car but principle the same.

 

[merc85]

The times i've read on here w/s211 springs giving up whilst the car is parked is unreal, and worrying as tbf your's dont look externally that bad.

 

[edgersoldchap]

The times i've read on here w/s211 springs giving up whilst the car is parked is unreal, and worrying as tbf your's dont look externally that bad.

It's a 2004 MY, with only 64,000 miles and generally in good condition, regularly serviced etc, with no MOT failures and no visible signs of corrosion or damage to the spring. I would agree it's a bit worrying - had it gone at 70mph on the M6 rather than on my drive!

Eddie

 

[renault12ts]

I'm not sure what the explanation is...but they only seem to break when parked.

 

[renault12ts]

Coincidentally the same thing has happened to a member on the other side called Marco...he's even borrowed your pics...cheeky!!

 

[D-18]

My '09 was in for a service recently and two broken front springs were discovered. There was no warning or any obvious loss of ride height so not easy to see until the wheels were off.

This seems to be a very common problem on the 211, to the extent that the dealer holds these parts as a stock item.

Just seems to be an example of the 'quality' Mercedes build in to their cars these days.....

 

[Dickie Fix]

Some years ago I had a FNS spring break on a Peugeot 406 one night while it was sitting in my garage. As strut didn't have a spring catcher fitted, the broken end of the spring was resting on the rubber boot of the half shaft having just narrowly missed the flexi brake pipe. Moving the car even an inch would have been impossible without damaging the boot, so I replaced the spring where it was, squeezing into the 18 inches between the car and the garage wall. Not a job I wish to repeat!

 

[zipdip]

You should be ok to drive to the Indy,what you will get is a rattling sound where the broken spring moves about but the suspension arm will keep you level,you would not mind if you had been the cause of the braking spring in the dead of night up some leafy lane.

 

[grober]

My '09 was in for a service recently and two broken front springs were discovered. There was no warning or any obvious loss of ride height so not easy to see until the wheels were off.

This seems to be a very common problem on the 211, to the extent that the dealer holds these parts as a stock item.

Just seems to be an example of the 'quality' Mercedes build in to their cars these days.....

Purely down to the spring manufacturing process which has been covered before. Most car springs are cold wound which leaves them with internal stresses from the manufacturing process. In other words they have "self destruct " built in unless these stresses are removed by post winding heat treatment and or shotpeening the surface. This costs money and time of course. The springs are normally powdercoated/painted to prevent rust but due to their low position on the car are susceptible to damage from road debris. Once rust is established this leads to microcracking which then acts as a focus for all that residual stress and " boing" is the result. Why does it happen at night? I can only surmise its due to temperature/humity changes pushing a damaged spring finally over the edge.

 

[BTB 500]

My '09 was in for a service recently and two broken front springs were discovered. There was no warning or any obvious loss of ride height so not easy to see until the wheels were off.

This seems to be a very common problem on the 211, to the extent that the dealer holds these parts as a stock item.

Yup I had one rear spring go on the Vito (70k miles, only ever used as a 'car' ... no heavy loads in the back) without any obvious external sign. It drove completely normally.

The black coating on the spring had cracked and come away, allowing rust to start:

 

[EuroCarParts]

Hello Edgarsoldchap,

So sorry to hear about that your S211E320 offside front coil spring. WOW! It sounds like you had an explosion!

Good to know your safe.

Can't believe the same problem happened to your grandson.

I really want to help. Can you please send me your reg number to check if we have the product on our system.

I can also create a 25% off discount code for you to hit our price math guarantee.

Hope this helps,


Regards,
Seyi

 

[BTB 500]

The springs are normally powdercoated/painted to prevent rust but due to their low position on the car are susceptible to damage from road debris.

I'm not 100% convinced about the road debris theory as the springs aren't exposed to stuff thrown up from the tyres. I think the coating just cracks, allowing moisture in.

 

[grober]

I'm not 100% convinced about the road debris theory as the springs aren't exposed to stuff thrown up from the tyres. I think the coating just cracks, allowing moisture in.

You could be right about the cracking since the spring surface will flex at lot. Once broken the crack will be regularly "jet washed" with a mixture of road grit ,water and salt in winter. Ideal conditions to initiate surface corrosion.

 

[MancMike]

Good to know you're safe.

Fixed that for you.

Now I'm just off to ignore all your posts because all this nonsense "I'm so sorry, I'm literally sat at my desk crying into a tissue" bull is getting on my nerves. Everyone knows you're just advertising your parts, quit the heartfelt crap.

 

[roger574]

I had the same happen to a front spring on my previous Vectra. The spring broke whilst the car was parked outside the house. I rang the AA who confirmed the issue and loaded it onto a truck to the garage. Unfortunately the steering rack had also been damaged. The AA mechanic said mine was the second Vectra with a broken spring he'd attended that week and he blamed all the speed humps in the area. Personally I wouldn't recommend driving a car in that condition.

 

[Auto-mobile]

As stated the w211/w219 springs seem to fail while parked, so weird! Had quite a few fail at a silly time in the morning setting off the alarm to.

Regarding it being safe to drive, I had a customer drive from Luton back to Birmingham on one front spring as he didn't want to pay recovery costs

I think you Will be fine to drive to your Indy.

 

[edgersoldchap]

Coincidentally the same thing has happened to a member on the other side called Marco...he's even borrowed your pics...cheeky!!

See what a common problem it is then! Perhaps his phone was out of charge and couldn't take his own pics?

 

[edgersoldchap]

All sorted! Rang my indy first thing yesterday morning and explained the problem. Within a couple of hours he came, collected the car from my drive and by 5.00pm it was fixed with both front springs replaced. Total cost £240 including VAT.

I think that's brilliant service at a reasonable cost - thanks Nick Webster, Mercedes Specialist in Poynton!

 

[BTB 500]

FWIW M-B Ascot (not the cheapest main dealer) charged £308 to replace the rear springs on our Vito.