Spring broke on my car '97 Malibu

[mechanicx]

This happened this past weekend. I was leaving from my sister's the other night and slowed way down for a speed bump and heard a loud pop from the suspension and grinding so I stopped. It was really dark and I couldn't really see what the problem was but it felt like the spring might've been hanging down past the stut. I got out a flash light and saw the spring was broken. Tried to drive back to my sister's close by and the tire quickly flattened so I had to have it towed home.

And this is what it did to a fairly new tire:

Combined with the flat tire and the spring no longer holding up the passenger side front, the car was so low I couldn't get a floor jack under the front crossmember or right side. I had to use a scissor jack to lift it enough to get the floor jack under the front crossmember.

 

[SuperDave456]

Just curious. How many miles do you have on your Malibu?

 

[mechanicx]

132K miles, but what really counts is the 14 years of salty winter roads. Neither of which really explains why the spring should break. The springs looked perfect and I had just put on new KYB struts replacing the originals a few months ago. There was probably an internal flaw in the spring, since springs breaking is ocassionally known to happen on 1st gen FWD Malibus. However, the spring's coated looked fine but there was rust on the metal where the spring broke that became visible after the coating was exposed. So it could've been due to corrosion.

 

[ddean]

Curious about the mileage as well. The final N-Bodies were known to have problems with broken front springs on struts past 100k miles. New Monroe Quick Struts work fine.

P.S. Check out www.gaownersclub.com if you need anything specific to your Malibu (yes it is really a N-Body forum not just a Grand Am forum).

 

[OilNerd]

Could be worse. My strut bearing plate went on my '86 Olds (RIP). So much tension eventually built up in the spring that it snapped and punctured the tire.

 

[JHZR2]

Ouch. it happens though. Glad it didnt happen at high speeds on the fly.

 

[eljefino]

My BILs spring holder on his strut went out from rust, and the edge of it caught the inside edge of the tire. We thought for sure it was a wheel bearing from the roar.

 

[Steve S]

Cheap steel.Engineered to give the least for the $$$ spent. Though springs break.

 

[mechanicx]

Yeah the spring bearing seat and strut mount should be fine and reusable but I will have to replace the front springs and it ruined an almost new Goodyear Eagle ResponsEdge which are no longer available.

 

[mechanicx]

It grinded so much that I thought for sure the spring was gouging the aluminum wheels or the CV joint. I haven't really got into tearing it down yet but so far it looks like it was just grinding against the tire sidewall.

 

[The Critic]

You can probably find a new Responsedge on ebay or one of those online tire sites.

That must have been scary. I would just replace all 4 springs for peace-of-mind.

 

[mechanicx]

Yeah the ResponsEdge are still out there at the online tire sites. They are being closed out and are even harder to find in a 15" wheel, but there's not really much selection for 15" anymore anyway.

This is really just a spare car, so I'm in no hurry and not sure what I'll do yet. If I replace just one tire it would have slightly more treadwear and I'm not sure if I want to buy 2 new tires to have a matched axle pair or even stick with the ResponsEdge. I might just put a used tire on it for now and rotate it to the rear.

I have new Moog springs for the front, made in USA. And if I decide to keep the car I will probably put on new rear springs along with new rear struts. The rear springs are less likely to break but it's possible.

 

[babyjay8495]

Very common problem with these cars, couldn't tell you how many i've changed the past few years. Last one i did 3 out of 4 springs were broke. Luckily none of the tires blew. I've had good luck with just going to junk yard and getting the entire assembly. Cheaper than buying the new ones and doesn't take long at all. Get ready for the others to go out eventually.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Interesting that it happened right after strut replacement?

That spring was rudely compressed at small points. May have been a factor...

 

[mechanicx]

When I put the stuts on I used a bench mounted spring compresser that compresses at the strut mount. The stick spring compressor most likely would not damage a spring that had no defects. They might nick the spring coating and eventually rust could develop. Maybe if used a really cheap spring compressor and went crazy you could damage the spring metal, but I have used them several times in the past and no problems. N-cars are known to break springs.

 

[mechanicx]

If you look at the bottom of the second pic where the spring is sheared, you can see the spring coating torn away and there's shiny metal showing and where the spring sheared it's rusty. That was probably a factor. The coating on the spring looked intact, but piholes can develop and corrosion can start underneath the coating out of sight.

 

[Kestas]

I've analyzed a number of spring failures. To understand spring failures, you need to know that the spring surfaces are shot peened to provide beneficial compressive stresses on the surface and resists crack formation.

During use, the coating can be compromised for any number of reasons -- rock chips, handling, or plain age. Once the coating is compromised, rust shoots through underneath lifting the coating and pits the surface. Once these pits grow deep enough below the surface of the shot peening, further cracking (more exactly, fatigue cracking) can develop more easily. Once the crack grows to a critical size, the rest of the cross section can give way in one snap.

So you're correct in thinking that rust has something to do with it. It usually has a lot to do with it.

 

[mechanicx]

Yep, I took the strut off and the spring broke at the bottom where it is most exposed to salt. There was fairly heavy corrosion where it broke and I'm not sure how but where the spring sheared it appears rusty/corroded half way through. Probably through fatigue cracks as you mentioned, Kestas. So the corrosion must've been working over some time. I can't remember if I even really noticed the corrosion when I replaced the struts recently. I think I did see it and hoped it was just superficial. Along with replacing the struts at the same time, replaced a leaky steering rack with a reman ACDelco, new ps pressure line and and a worn outer tie rod, I had to cut off new parts for the old car somewhere, I didn't get by with it this time

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