XC 70 front coil spring failure

[Greszkev]

So, to JRL and precopster, your position is that this is normal wear and tear? I don't mean to be argumentative, but if that's the case, there should be a larger bottom spring plate that would prevent catastrophic destruction of the tire. I believe Subaru had a recall at some point to install a protective plate for just such an issue. Again, I just don't feel that it should expected or normal for a well cared for vehicle with only 80,000 miles on it to experience a failure that presents such an obvious safety concern. I thank you for the heads up regarding pro parts quality concerns.

[precopster]

I'm not down playing your loss just giving a reason for the failure.

From a dealer's perspective if someone walks in with a part in hand claiming it was from their car I would refute the claim as anyone can get a $30 part from a wrecker and claim it was fitted to their car and try to claim back hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars for a faulty part.

The only way to make a proper claim is to bring the entire vehicle in so they can assess the failure as an entire event and see if there are any or no mitigating factors on the vehicle that may have caused this failure. Once they determine this (and it will play out for weeks, of that I'm sure) they'll make a judgement. Almost not worth the effort on a $70 part. However they may be coerced into buying you a new tire if Volvo NA is involved

Also the POTENTIAL injury that COULD have been caused is not their concern and this sounds callous however if you had been driving the car and an incident occurred involving injury they would be a lot quicker to react and pay attention if the car were towed in for inspection. The total amount of broken springs on Volvo cars in NA is almost negligible in comparison to cars sold as this fault is heard of but not a common event like ETM failure on early cars.

I've been walking around wrecking yards for more than 30 years now and haven't seen a car with a tire spring protector fitted to a McPherson strut tower. Subaru must have had their tail between their legs on that one or they had a significant level of claims to act upon.

Again I feel for your loss and inconvenience but you should have towed the car in to a dealer if you wanted compensation and consideration.
Good luck with the vehicle.

[oragex]

What is interesting is that when googling Volvo spring broken/failure, almost only XC70's pop up, 2001+ and all only with front broken springs.

Looking on this topic for the amount of owners with this issue
http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showthrea ... oil-spring

I've heard about 1-2 S60 with rear broken springs, but comparatively, only the XC70 have this issue. Do they have longer springs compared with the S60/V70? Maybe the XC70 spring was just a stretched and weaker S60/V70 version.

Another possibility is the spring supplier missed on proper spring coating

I would replace both front springs on a XC70 (along with various other suspension components) around 80k miles.

On my S60 I pulled cleaned and coated with 2-3 layers of anti-rust paint the front springs, will do the rear springs this summer.

[shiloh51933]

My wife's '04 XC70 l/f coil spring snapped about 8 months ago. The bottom coil that actually sits inside of the spring insulator broke but there was enough of the coil left to hold the entire spring in place. We kept hearing a squeaking sounds for a while but I couldn't locate origin of squeaking . The sound went away after i replaced entire strut assembly with Sachs shocks, factory spring insulators/strut mounts/cross nuts & springs.
I was shocked when I found the broken end of the coil lying there in the insulator. I had to look really close to realize what had happened.

[abscate]

I've had broken springs on VW and BMW but not Volvo. I did replace my 1999s at 15 years old

[vtl]

It's called poor metallurgy and happens often in the casting process. A small air pocket or impurities in the metal can have catastrophic results months or years down the track, especially on a part that is actively flexing on every drive and has already experienced millions of cycles. Happens to all makes and models, not just Volvos.

You can easily say that by looking at the broken spring.

Spring snapped in my 2004 Seat Ibiza (VW Polo made in Spain) in 2010, less than 6 years serving on northern European roads, which in general are far better than US cars usually see.

[Greszkev]

Thanks again for all the replies. Is the consensus unanimous on Pro Parts Sweden replacement parts that they are crap? I only ask because the OEM parts have been unimpressive themselves.

[abscate]

If you can't find good reviews on an aftermarket part that requires significant install effort, stay with OEM.

I wouldn't tar all Proparts with a bad brush, but no way I would use them for suspension here.

[Greszkev]

SO.... continuing my story, I am happy to report that the local service service manager called me and said that the regional manager agreed to replace the broken coil, paying 100% of parts and labor. They would not pay to have the car towed, but agreed to rebuild the strut for me since I had already removed it. I will then collect the strut from them and reinstall it myself. He additionally agreed to mount and balance a replacement used tire that I was able to find that matches brand, model, and tread wear of the remaining three. So, while it has been an inconvenience having the car out of commission for the last week, Volvo is helping me out, and the whole ordeal won't end up costing more than a few hours of my time and the $52 I paid for the used tire.

In terms of the concern in replacing the spring on only one side, that will only effect ride comfort, correct? I can wait to see how noticeable it is without causing any damage to the car in driving it around, right? Thats what the service manager said, so I just want to check with you all.

[vtl]

Strut height affects camber, so you'll end up having different camber angles. Not to tell that compression progression and rebound rate will be different for struts with a 10 years old spring and a brand new spring. Sway bar will be twisted too, causing uneven pressure on bushings, which are already about to fail on a 10 y.o. car.

When you were a boy, didn't dad tell you to change tires, struts and springs in pairs?