The Volvo stranded the wife

[dlundblad]

The wife took the Volvo to work. As she was leaving, she heard a clunk. The coil spring broke. Not only did it break, but it ruined the tire. Sadly, these are only 4 year old Sachs quick struts with around 30-40k on them.

It could have failed as she was driving. Could have been worse so I’m definitely thankful for that.

She kept the broken chunk. I’ll post pictures.

 

[HankHill]

What year and model?

 

[Astro14]

Sachs used to be made in Germany, and were the OEM supplier to Volvo. I’m surprised you had a failure that early in their life.

 

[MRC01]

Did she drive into a curb or other obstruction?
That still shouldn't break the spring, just wondering whether it was triggered by a sudden impact.

 

[Kira]

+1 on it not failing at speed.

 

[HankHill]

I was under the impression that sachs were pretty high quality? I was led to believe from a BMW forum that they made the OE springs..

 

[HankHill]

And I do know what it feels like to fail at speed.. Rear spring broke in my ford Taurus and shredded my tires sidewall at 65...

 

[Kira]

Sachs farmed out the work? They may have needed a participant for the Quick Strut market?

 

[HankHill]

Sachs used to be made in Germany, and were the OEM supplier to Volvo. I’m surprised you had a failure that early in their life.

I wonder if Sach's has gone the way of other manufacture's, selling cheaper versions on their quality name.. KYB quick strut springs were absolutely horrible and were way softer than OE Motorcraft. They wound up settling 2" rear 1" front after 10k miles on them.
Because of this I will never buy KYB anything again. And I had awesome adjustable KYB's on my lowered Integra, they were great! But yeah, no.

 

[Rand]

While unexpected and an early failure at least this sort of problem a straightforward fix.. not one of those intermittent hair puller type issues.

 

[dlundblad]

Looks like it had been cracked for a while.

 

[dlundblad]

Did she drive into a curb or other obstruction?
That still shouldn't break the spring, just wondering whether it was triggered by a sudden impact.

No.

More would be broken than that too.

 

[wpod]

Sachs used to be made in Germany, and were the OEM supplier to Volvo. I’m surprised you had a failure that early in their life.

Not much is like it used to be .

 

[The Critic]

Sachs used to be made in Germany, and were the OEM supplier to Volvo. I’m surprised you had a failure that early in their life.

Most OE suppliers have a different standard for quality for their aftermarket lines, and it is becoming more and more apparent nowadays.

 

[Cujet]

Just a note about springs. Rust/corrosion is very often a trigger for a crack on spring steel. A well protected spring (think valve spring) is much less likely to crack than a pitted rusty spring.

 

[Oillover]

Sorry to hear of the mishap

Sadly, these are only 4 year old Sachs quick struts with around 30-40k on them.

Yup, makes sense

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Glad she's ok

 

[HankHill]

Just a note about springs. Rust/corrosion is very often a trigger for a crack on spring steel. A well protected spring (think valve spring) is much less likely to crack than a pitted rusty spring.

Agree, surface defects lead to cracks eventually. Wish they could charge just a tiny bit more and paint them with something to last.

 

[Andrew1972]

“Stranding” is not what is used to be. A cellphone call for help or Uber to whisk you away. I spent an overnight on kancamagus highway had to wait for plow to come by and give me ride to next town.

Glad it worked out !

 

[HankHill]

“Stranding” is not what is used to be. A cellphone call for help or Uber to whisk you away. I spent an overnight on kancamagus highway had to wait for plow to come by and give me ride to next town.

Glad it worked out !

I had a decent wait once too, broke down on a desolate road in VT. No cell service, houses nearby, traffic except for a snowmobiler that saw me. Thought I was spending the night too.