Has anybody been having any problems with the coil springs on the McPerson struts breaking.My son-inlaw who runs a 2005 Ford Z Tec Fiesta 1.2 had one break last year and now the other one has gone.Could understand this happening if he was a boy racer but I thought I was a careful driver until I met him and he beats me for care.My driving record reaches back to 1943 and of all the vehicles I have driven over the years right up to the present driving my Toyota I have never known or even heard among my friends and family of one of these springs breaking.To me it sounds as though Ford have been lumbered with a faulty batch of springs or if this is happening on a large scale there is something else amiss.

I wouldnt have thought they'd be at breaking point already, but hey, the roads are in a pretty sorry state, doesn't help matters at all.

Ive always replaced springs in pairs, once one has gone, the other must be on its way.

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Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

It seems common these days, I do not think the steel they use for springs is as good as it was as they are thinner due to the lightening of car body weights for fuel efficiency. This thinner material is also subject to corrosion from road salt which with the couple of bad winters we have had of late contributes to any early spring failure. I also think that the proliferation of speed humps and general potholes is leading to greater demands on the springs and shocks. Someone I know had a spring go on a Fiesta that dropped down the strut and rubbed a hole in the tyre leading to a blow out. Spring failure is on all makes of car not just Ford.

DWD

Coil went on my 12 year old peugeot 206D 6 months ago. The top strut ball bearing had collapsed so there was a twisting force on the spring every time the steering was turned so that the wheels were not pointing straight ahead. Just something to check when you are replacing the spring.

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Mike

Can understand anything going on a 12 year old car but when springs start going boing after just six years of careful driving then car design is going the wrong way.Used to buy Ford myself until the late sixties when the overall quality seemed to drop.Since then it has been Volvo or Toyota and as I said previously in sixty eight years of driving in all weather,including salted roads and speed humps,never had a spring break or heard from family and friends of there's going,until now of course.

Had one fail on a 2001 156 about four years ago. More recently we had to replace one on a 3yr old Brera...but they're heavy cars!

wrinx

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www.ilmostro.co.uk

I have had 2 go in the last three years both on Fiesta's,one was a 1997 the other a 1999

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I have had both go on a Ford Mondeo which at the time was about 9 years old. I did use and abuse that car though so wasn't surprised. It was a great workhorse.


Cheers, John