Real German vs Chinese knockoff spring compressor

[JHZR2]

In one of my car buying situations I was given a Chinese internal MB spring compressor. I have a Klann official one that I’ve used on W123/126 springs before.

For a ball joint project I was doing today, I thought I was going to just take a bit of force off the spring but not remove it. So I figured I’d try the Chinese one for no other reason than that the Klann is wrapped in paper and this was easier to put away.

Imagine my surprise when it wouldn’t fit!

It looked like I’d need to hammer it in. But why??!?

Oh…

So I grabbed the Klann one and it went in easily and worked fine.

I think the Chinese one fits some of the other springs. Otherwise it’s just a waste of metal.

 

[supton]

It's because of the extra rust on the springs.

Hey, someone bought the tool, so everyone else made out on the sale. You got a free paperweight I guess.

 

[JHZR2]

It's because of the extra rust on the springs.

Hey, someone bought the tool, so everyone else made out on the sale. You got a free paperweight I guess.

I do think they fit the other cars. When I was doing something on my w126 which is a much bigger and heavier car, and I realized that the plates I had were too small. I tried the Chinese ones to validate that I needed the larger size. They did fit, and I subsequently bought the larger diameter Klann-Gedore ones. The interface to the threaded internal shaft is different between the Chinese and German ones.

If I can’t take a little force off, yeah, they’re a paperweight. I’m not going to compress 6-7 coils to touching each other, I’m not doing it with a questionable Chinese unit.

 

[daves87rs]

Free paperweight!

All those are usually for. Never trust it for springs……