The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I was out in the cold and wet today changing a front coil spring on a Zafira I know very well.

I acquired this car nearly 6 years ago and with it, a massive MOT fail which included 3 broken coil springs. Since replacing these, fixing all the other problems and selling the car on, I have now replaced a further 6 (YES SIX!!!!) coil springs to date on this vehicle. It does only 3000 miles per year and most of those with me at the wheel as it's lady owner is losing her eyesight and has stopped driving. The car however is needed once a week to collect supplies for her shop from a warehouse which is a 50 mile round trip away. So I, being a semi good Samaritan, take her there and back every Thursday morning.

This car is not alone, but the worst example on my books for eating coil springs. It's a job I do, probably more than any other and my scrap pile bears witness to this. There is no doubt that the appalling state of our Shropshire roads is responsible for this carnage and expense for my customers, BUT.........

The point of this rambling story is this:- In all my 45+ years of spannering, i've NEVER come across a broken coil spring on a Dolomite, nor do I know anyone who has! Unless you know better!

Steve

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'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

another thing to look at is the QUALITY OF STEEL being use to make those springs

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Dolomite 1300,1980`V`reg in british racing brown(russet),3.63 diff with 21t speedo pinion,95%poly`d,HL clocks,standard wheels with SE covers wrapt in 175 70 13,mot`d 19-09-2014,been off the since 1990,(july2017) stainless steel exhaust 3-piece,(xmas2018) wooden mountney steering wheel,(june2020) new monroe shock(radial front,gas-matic rears) with -1" lower`d springs all round.

Well it HAD mostly KYB springs, but starting last year, i've been using a different manufacturer, hopefully these will last longer, but at this point it's hard to tell. One of the KYBs lasted only 13 months, just enough to be out of warranty!

Sure, a lot of aftemarket bits are crap, but what can you do when the main dealers want 3 times as much! The punters won't pay it!

Steve

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'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

And the number of coils. Moderns have about 2,8 coils and Dolomites 8 or 10? A movement of 10cm divided by 2,8 coils or by 10 is a big difference in flex per coil.

Jeroen

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Classic Kabelboom Company. For all your wiring needs. http://www.classickabelboomcompany.com

That is a very good point Jeroen has made. Teh twist/stress in the spring will be much greater.
Add to that the lardyness of modern cars (or latest weighs nearly double the toledo) and the fashion for super low profile tyres which must add "jolt" stresses to the springs. It all means they are working much harder.

As to why some individual cars suffer way more than others, I blame Brexit.

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Clive Senior
Brighton

One of the problems Brexit solves are broken springs.

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Classic Kabelboom Company. For all your wiring needs. http://www.classickabelboomcompany.com

This has got me thinking Steve, does anyone think it is the shape of modern springs? They all seem to have rugby ball shapes and they dont brake in the middle only at the top or bottom...... So if it was crap metal why break in the same spot.....
Most older cars with coil springs have the same shape as a Dolly and i dont think i have had one break even when out rallying. Rear leaf springs did break, but rarely.

Tony.

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NOW A CLUB MEMBER 2017057

The early Dolomite I had suffered a broken nearside back spring.
I only became aware of this because the exhaust would catch on a raised section of a certain access road I used frequently,
whereas previously it hadn't.
It had broken near the bottom of the spring.




Ian.

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We also had a Zafira in the family that ate springs... 3 fronts in 2 years. Last time i changed them i also changed the shocks too. No breakages now for 3 years and counting... my theory is the shocks were weak on bump putting excessive shock loads through the springs. It felt fine to drive on the old shocks though and they were not leaking so who knows?

stress related then!! its a vauxhall

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Dolomite 1300,1980`V`reg in british racing brown(russet),3.63 diff with 21t speedo pinion,95%poly`d,HL clocks,standard wheels with SE covers wrapt in 175 70 13,mot`d 19-09-2014,been off the since 1990,(july2017) stainless steel exhaust 3-piece,(xmas2018) wooden mountney steering wheel,(june2020) new monroe shock(radial front,gas-matic rears) with -1" lower`d springs all round.

Oddly I DID change out a front shock at last years MOT, along with the spring and this was the first spring from the alternate manufacturer. The shock was smothered in oil and obviously fubared but the car still rode more or less normally. Only about 3" of spring had sheared off, so no apparent difference in ride height either!
The latest spring to break sheared a coil and a half from the top, just enough to let the spring ride up over the topmount and into contact with the body - which was fun to drive, but I nursed it home!

So Ian's broken a Dolomite spring, any other offers?

Steve

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'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

we see a lot of broken springs out in the road, usually Zafiras and fiestas. I was told but never checked the facts that the reason zafira's eat so many springs is that they are they same as Corsa (Or was it another lighter car?) and they are stretched slightly at the factory to give the extra length (as part of the manufacturing process) which weakens the spring at the base, this with the slight flex you get when you steer/ hit bumps causes them to snap.
Fell free to tell me I'm taking BS as it was told to me by a Vauxhall Tech.

And of course as said cheaper metal is being used now.

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Some people are like Slinky's, they serve no real purpose in life but bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

My information is that the Zaf is on a stretched ASTRA platform, so you may be essentially correct, but there is generally a lot of interchangeability between Vauxhall models. I know that the guys who think it's fun to lower Cavaliers till the sump scrapes like to fit Corsa rear coils as even the aftermarket max -60mm coils won't drop the back of the car far enough for their taste! A mate even fitted a pair to a diesel Carlton estate, which was so low it horrified me!

Steve

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'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

That sound more likely

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Some people are like Slinky's, they serve no real purpose in life but bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Ive seen more ford springs broken over the last 5 years than in 35 years. Not lowered cars just normal. We had a Galaxy break a rear spring and a mate had a Mondeo spring break and he's captain slow!. Aftermarket, if you can spec it the best in the world is Eibach , they make std or lowered for lots of moderns and are far superior to most (imo). Spring breakages are down to cost at manufacturing level using cheap (offshore) companies

Tony

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