Right, basically what it is, one of the rear springs on my roadster (mx-5) has broken, its only about 1/2 of a coil (if not less) from the bottom of the spring where it has broken, so as a temporary fix up job (until i have enough £££ to by a set of rear legs for it) i was wondering if the following would be feasible to get me out of trouble for now....

Get both rear legs off, remove the springs, cut off the broken end so its a clean cut, mark and copy where the cut is and do the same on the other side (not broken) spring so that they are exactly the same length and then refit.

Looking at the car as it is its only very slightly lower on the broken side as it is now, from centre of shaft to wheelarch is 13" dead on the broken side and 13 5/8" on the good side so very little difference really but it annoys me coz i know its wonky lol.

So, would this be a safe approach to keep me going until i can get some new springs, plus the front always sits higher on this anyway so could i chop say 3/4 of a coil off the front to get it sitting level, and also, would it fail the MOT if i were to do this??

Many thanks in advance!

Yes it would fail.

Yes it will work.

No its not the smartest idea.

leave it until you can replace both rear springs. I'm dealing with the same situation here. No point in removing suspension parts only to attack them with an angle grinder

So you'll hack both sides up, and have to buy two new ones for twice the price?

And that will save £££ how?

with shortening springs he will also need to change dampers. Another £££

Walk until you have the money to fix the car.

Quote from piggy501 :

So you'll hack both sides up, and have to buy two new ones for twice the price?

And that will save £££ how?

Because you never replace a single spring, you do it in pairs.

It's not the smartest idea, but surely what your doing is lowering it ghetto style?

How about going a step further and stretching the springs that you've previously shortened to their original length? For some firm suspension, you know

i think about it, and it seems like if you can get it to fit in there, it will be fine if you plan to just drive it normally. but if you try to drive at the limit it will fail.

either way if you buy a spring like jakg said you buy in pairs, so its worth a shot?

If you cut the springs, won't they not seat properly?

Quote from wheel4hummer :

If you cut the springs, won't they not seat properly?

Providing its not a live axle, apart from a knock noise when cornering or on big dumps/dips theres nothing MAJOR that can go wrong.

It seems like it could be a semi-feasible temp fix.

Aren't you supposed to do something to the ends to make it fit properly though? Usually I see springs angled at the end to create a flat surface on the ends.

Quote from rsnake53 :

It seems like it could be a semi-feasible temp fix.

Aren't you supposed to do something to the ends to make it fit properly though? Usually I see springs angled at the end to create a flat surface on the ends.

Hence why it won't seat properly.

Quote from rsnake53 :

It seems like it could be a semi-feasible temp fix.

Aren't you supposed to do something to the ends to make it fit properly though? Usually I see springs angled at the end to create a flat surface on the ends.

That's where the torch, hammer, clamp, and a bucket of water come in to play.
Stick the spring in the bucket of water up to about where you want it to bend, Heat the sucker up red hot, clamp onto it where you want to bend it, and use the hammer to bend the spring to the angle desired. Wait for it to cool for a minute then flip the spring to cool it the rest of the way.

Done it many times and never have had a problem. Just have never done it to a spring that had issues to start with.

Flame me if you want but it works and it leaves the rest of the spring unharmed. If you just heat it and bend it (without the bucket), you will have some problems.

^^Listen to the Kiwi guys.


They made cut-springs into an art.

Quote from Klutch :

Hence why it won't seat properly.

Hmm, thats a very good point, but from what i can see it isnt chaped as such at the end, it just kinda stops and butts up against the end of the rear cup...

shite pic but it kinda shows how the ends are, on the presumption that the springs are the correct way up in this pic, which i would say that they are.

Essentially what you're asking how to do is destroy the handling on one of the best handling cars in existence because you can't be arsed to save up?

On the contrary, i CAN be arsed to save up I just dont like driving around in a wonky car lol

I want to get a set of bilsteins for it at some point anyway, once i have saved up.