Snapped rear spring! (pics)

[topless_328]

So i had an annoying rattling noise past few weeks coming from my rear trunk area, and had made up my mind it was prolly my rear shock mounts going. WRONG..when putting on the summer rims and tires, saw a piece of coil spring sitting the lower contol arm! Its clearly obvious to me now considering one side is about a 1/2 inch lower than the other. DUH!?

Has anyone ever heard of this happening??

[ldsbeaker]

whoa.

[thekid]

I've never heard of that shit... figured that the mounts would break before the spring.. unless something's happened to the spring... Any other dmg back there? The strut ok?

[saltshaker185]

maybe someone thought about cutting them, got half way through and decided it was a bad idea??? other then that... i say... shit.

[drz]

o_O This is the first time I hear of anything loike this. Time to lower the ride, maybe?

[topless_328]

No...luckily no other damage. The sharp end isn't putting any pressure on the lowerer control arm, so i guess thats a good thing.

And yes...the H&R sport springs are on the way

[///M Power]

Odd you guys have never heard of this before. No worries sir. This is a very common thing on e36s. the very last coil ont he rear spring is a bit thinner than the other coils and eventually some jsut give out and snap. I've heard of this quite a bit. Luckily the rear springs are a 20 minute swap.

[scottcbr600]

ive heard of it, the spring at the top and bottom of the coil are very weak and thinner than the rest of the spring, apparantley its a common problem. you can buy pattern springs where the metal is the same thickness all the way up the coil. alot cheaper than bmw spring and will last you alot longer.

[thekid]

huh.. I don't think any one on these forums have had this happen since I've been here...

[///M Power]

Originally Posted by thekid

huh.. I don't think any one on these forums have had this happen since I've been here...

Ive seen it a few times on other forums and used to hear about them all the time in older bmw maintanence sections in magaznes.

[Furious]

yikes thats quite a bit of coil that snapped, allbeit common like mpower said its usually just the tip that breaks (say 1-2 inches) thats quite a bit that broke off, but yes its common for them to snap.

[poshsoduk]

I agree with M-Power.. its a common thing on the E36's especially the coupe's

[witeshark]

Kinda surprising...

[thekid]

This thread is kinda old....

[johnnyBgood]

Very common, as ///M Power said............I found my driver's rear spring broken exactly where your's was broken, on the bottom last coil....I found it when I lowered my e36....

WTF! This thread is old.......So am I...........

johnny,