might sound silly for most of u..
but was just wondering,
do springs wear out and get saggy
or affect comfortability of a ride?

I know shocks and bushings and all that wears out.. but
wasnt sure about springs.

I was wondering because I do want a good comfortable ride
in my car
and was looking at some replacement(not lower) spring.

thanks in advance

 

yes they do mostly only the rears tho cause there such a tiny spring. mine are at least 1" lower in the rear than the front cause there worn out.

 

All springs, even valve springs have a specific spring rate. They're designed to compress so much with so much weight on them. Over time and countless spring oscillations, the spring rate decreases because of metal fatigue. Coil spring suspension will sag. Valve springs will have a decreased seat pressure.

All springs will lose their tension over time from just normal use. Even leaf springs.

A high milage vehicle that doesn't carry excessive weight such as a pickup truck, should have the springs replaced about every 10 years or so. If all depends on how the vehicle is driven, what kind of roads it drives on, how often the springs are overloaded.

When taking a vehicle in for an alignment, one of the first things that is checked is ride height. If the springs show signs of sagging, they need to be replaced before an alignment can be done.

 

cool, thanks for the help.

yeah it makes sense caz spring is pretty much always on load..
I think ill swap my rear just for now caz i know doing rear is
easier.

thanks

 

Just go to your local auto parts store and pick up some Moog (or any other brand) replacement springs. Replacement springs are cheap.

 

As an example of sag - I just replaced my stock springs with the Eibach Pro Kit - supposed to lower the car 1 inch in the rear. After installation, the car was actually about 3/4 inch higher in the rear!

 

Yeah... Okay...

Don't you mean the first thing that SHOULD be checked? (but isn't)

 

you're right. when i worked at a shop, not once did i see the ride hight checked before an alignment. It would have to be noticably sagging for a point to be made of worn springs

 

its my assumption that working on rear is easier than front,
so I think ill tackle the rear spring replacement myself.

will i need like spring compressor or any sort of special tool?
or will i just snap it in and the weight will take care of that
once the car is down or what?

and the higher spring rate = stiffer ride am I correct?
not sure if I even have a choice for spring rate, but just wondering,
thanks!

 

The rear springs are a breeze....

Just jack up the rear (jack under the differential), place jack stands just forward of where the LCA's attach to the car, lower rear end some, but not completely. Remove the nuts for the shocks on the lower end, and remove the sway bar end links. Then continue to lower the rear end until the rear springs fall out. Make sure you get the rubber isolators out as well (sometimes the stick up inside). Line up the isolators on the new coils (larger coil end, put end of coil into the indention on the isolators), tape the isolators on the new coil new springs with electrical tape, stuff back in the hole isolator up, slowly jack the rear end back up while checking and adjusting alignment of the new coils in the hole. Re-attach sway bar end links and shock nuts, tighten, jack rear up far enough to get jack stands out, remove stands, lower car.

If you've never changed the sway bar end links, plan on the possibility of buying new ones - they tend to rust badly and you may need to cut through them with a hack saw.

Front coils - not so easy, but not that bad - some safety things have to be followed to make it livable. Anyone else reading this chime in if I forgot anything - I did this 2 weeks ago, but my brain isn't always 100%.

1st - go to hardware store, get a 1ft length of normal chain, and a bolt washers and a nut - long enough to go through two chain links together. Also get a couple metal coat hangers.

If stock springs getting reinstalled, get a spring compressor tool (loan-a-tool from advance or auto zone) - get the one with the hooks that runs inside the coil.

Jack front of car (jack under the center of the main front support - careful not to catch the exhaust y-pipe under the jack. Get jack stands under the car - I placed mine under the square portions of the main body frame just behind the front wheels. Remove jack and make sure car is secure. Remove wheels. Remove brake calipers (3/8" hex key), and hang with some coat hanger so that the brake line isn't stretched by weight of the caliper (find a hole in fender, the Y-pipe, something to hang from). Loosen the nuts on the control arm pivot points, but don't remove. Now, look up under the car, there will be a hole through the support (what everyone calls the K-member) - fish another coat hanger through that hole, back through a coil in the spring, and attach the chain so that you can feed the chain back through. Reach up in there and put the bolt through the chain with a washer on each end, so that there's as little slack in the chain as possible - this will hold the spring to the car and keep it from taking your head off! Remove the sway bar end links. Place jack under control arm, and center it under the round indention from the coil. Jack slightly to relieve pressure from coil (be careful here - jack enough and you'll be jacking car off the jack stands - you want weight on the stands, but relieve pressure of the coil). Loosen the nuts from the strut to the steering knuckle, and remove. Get cotter pin out of tie rod end and loosen tie rod end castle nut to the top of it's stud, but not off the stud. You want the nut sticking up so that when you bang the top with a hammer, you don't damage the stud (unless your going to replace tie rod ends as well). Bang the castle nut with hammer until the tie rod end "pops" out of the steering knuckle - leave hanging. Now, same thing with ball joint castle nut - loosen to the top of stud, bang with hammer, it'll pop - the pressure of the coil will put enough pressure on it to pop it out without a ball joint fork. Now, very slowly lower the jack, until the steering knuckle clears the ball joint stud and can be removed from the ball joint and the strut. Then continue lowering jack - the control arm will go to a straight up/down position, but the spring may still be stuck in it - you'll have the jack removed all together at this point. Take your jack handle and pry the spring out, using the control arm as a pry point - it will pop rather loudly, but won't take your head off as the chain is holding it. Remove chain, and remove spring - make sure to get the rubber isolators. Like the rear, tape the isolator to the top of the new spring (the flat end), and tape in place with electrical tape. If the old spring came out without prying it, you may get the new spring in without a compressor - otherwise you'll have to use the compressor per instructions to compress the spring enough to get in the hole and located on the control arm. Make sure the spring is aligned correctly (the end of the coil should be positioned inbetween the two drain holes in the control arm indention that are towards the inner part of the arm). Put the chain back in place and secure the spring to the K-member again. Now, get jack under control arm and start jacking the arm back up slowly, checking everything as you go, until you can get the steering knuckle back into place, get the strut bolts installed, and get the castle nut back on the ball joint. Again - be slow and careful - jack too much and the car will start to come up off the jack stands. Tighten castle nut, install cotter pin on ball joint, and tighten strut to knuckle bolts. You can now lower and remove the jack, and remove the chain. Re-attached tie rod end, and replace cotter pin. Retighten the control arm pivot bolts, replace sway bar end links, caliper, and wheel. Jack car off stands, remove, and lower car.

On the front - give yourself a day for this at least - you never know what comes up. Get a can of PB Blaster, and spray every nut/bolt of the procedure a few days in advance if possible. Also get a piece of pipe to put over your ratchet for leverage on the strut to steering knuckle bolts - they are really really tough to loosen, and get tightened to something like 168 ft/lbs - my torque wrench only went to 150, so I just gave it an extra grunt at the end. This took me 4 hours to get both sides off, and another 4 hours to reinstall by myself. You may also need to cut the sway bar end links and replace with new like with the rears, if they are rusted too much to loosen.

The front is quite a bit more involved. Consider new ball joints, tie rod ends, and struts if doing this - you have the whole front suspension apart - now's the time. You'll need a ball joint press (again loan-a-tool). But if what's there looks good, and you haven't heard any weird pops or jerking in the front, and you aren't ready to fork out the extra bucks, you can keep what's there.

If you check out someone like Firestone, alot of places have a lifetime alignment that can be bought - I got one for $119 - only twice what anyone else charged, and Firestone will realign my car every 5000 miles for as long as I own it - nationwide at any location - a good deal if you are keeping the car. It also allows you to do suspension mods in the future without paying anymore for another alignment.

Again - anyone else chime in if I forgot anything. Hope this helps.

 

wow hey thanks for all the info.

the FIRESTONE offer sounds damn good to me.. im gonna go check that out!

i think ill tackle the rear first.. as i swapped panhard bar, and rear swaybar before.. i never touch much in the front it looks too complicated for me at this point(im learning to be a mechanic)

 

I paid for a "lifetime alignment" too at a Goodyear shop near my work. I did take the car back some months later for a realignment. However, later when I tried taking the car to a local Goodyear dealer that I use near my home, no dice. They wouldn't honor the lifetime alignment. I no longer work there, so it's now a PITA that I have to take the car 45-50 minutes to the original dealer I paid for that lifetime alignment to get it done again. Just make sure that the lifetime alignment will transfer to another shop.

Lon