Front coil spring replacement???

Information and general chat about the Megane II CC.

Moderators: q292u, Ray, AndyAdmin, Stranger

jak01
Learner Driver
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:13 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane 1.6 CC Vectra 1.9 cdti (Company car) MGB
Location: North Nott's

Front coil spring replacement???

Postby jak01 » Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:15 pm

Hi,

Has anyone changed the front springs on their Megane? The drivers side has snapped on my car. Are there any things to watch out for? Does anyone know the spanner size required to undo the nut on the top shock mounting?

I'll also be replacing the front and rear brake pads, do I need any special tools, ie to wind back the calipers?

Guess that's my bank holiday sorted,then!! :(

John
Ford Mondeo, 1.6 vvt CC Privelege, 1973 MGB

User avatar
gav1pam
Pass Plus
Posts: 179
Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 4:32 pm

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby gav1pam » Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:28 pm

Never done the springs on a Megane, but you will need spring compressors I'm guessing.

You will also need a wind back tool for the calliper pistons, but I used a G clamp, worked ace.

ChrisM
Advanced Driver
Posts: 684
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:57 am
Currently Drives:: Megane CC 1.9Dci and a Pugeot 307 cc 2.0 HDi sport.
Location: Wales
Contact:

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby ChrisM » Tue Aug 23, 2011 9:06 am

The broken spring eh!!!! what a pig to do. :twisted:

Mine went last year, to get it out without killing yourself you will need to remove the hub really, I tried to get mine out with out doing this and you can not get enough room on the bottom suspension arm to actually get the spring and shock out so it just hangs there, so infuriating believe me. I tried all sorts to lever it out but could not get that last inch, the problem seems to be because the spring has broken, the shocker opens up further so there is too much length on it so in the end the hub had to come off, the hub nut was a pig to undo so get it whilst the wheel is on the ground, once it is turning it is fine, then it is basically up in the air, wheel off, disc off and hub carrier off, tie drive shaft to lower arm with twine as it may fall out apparantly this may cause a problem??? no idea why but that is what I was told, the spring and shocker will come out with ease.
You WILL need a GOOD spring compressor - mine is a 1.9Dci and we had the use of a 4x4 compresor boy do you have to wind these springs down tight to get the top mount on, and that is another thing - be prepared to purchase a new top mount bearing, they come as one bearing and mount as it will possibly be trashed from the break, I would replace anyway as if it fails due to a few lost ball bearings it's all off again to replace. The 1.9 front coil spring is VERY tightly compressed so BE CAREFUL . :D

jak01
Learner Driver
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:13 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane 1.6 CC Vectra 1.9 cdti (Company car) MGB
Location: North Nott's

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby jak01 » Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:15 pm

Thanks, Chris. :cool:

I was wondering about the top mount, the spring seems to have pushed itself out of the top mount and wedged in the top of the wing! Can you remember how much the top bearing was? Is it a Renault dealer only part?
I wonder if the top mount may have seized and caused the spring to fail?

John
Ford Mondeo, 1.6 vvt CC Privelege, 1973 MGB

ChrisM
Advanced Driver
Posts: 684
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:57 am
Currently Drives:: Megane CC 1.9Dci and a Pugeot 307 cc 2.0 HDi sport.
Location: Wales
Contact:

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby ChrisM » Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:04 am

Hi
Off top of head I paid about £26 for the top mount, its not a dealer only part ebay or motor factors stock them, mine came from a motor factor, the top mount usually causes the spring to break, you usually get a strange sound from the front end when on full lock mine showed up mainly pulling out of Aldi as it was an uphill junction and hard over left, can't discrbe the noise really it is really quite odd, not a grind nor a bang more of a odd sounding rub, some time got it revesing onto my drive as well seems to make it when the spring was not under that much stress, as with Aldi left hand down but pulling out so weight on righ hand side, reverse onto drive (on hill) right hand down but backing down hill and turning right so with the hill most weight again on right hand side left side makes a groan, thats it! A GROAN, did this for a few weeks but not always, so you wonder and think Ooo must look at that, then BANG! as I went over a speed hump, boy was it a bang, then poor old Meg leaned and limped home wimpering "I've hurt myself" bits of spring feel off as we trundled home at 10mph it broke at the bottom of the 1st coil at the top, it was luck really it was that high as it enabled me to drive home, carefully but got her home.
Strange we have had a Suzuki in for MOT and failed it on a broken rear spring and lady said "oh, I did hear a bang about two months ago, and thought it handled differantly" she had been driving for two months on a broken spring. Again it had broken right at the top.
Just A thought though, on your old spring are colour codes, I bought my spring from the same motor factor as the top mount, car sits fine no leans handles ok apart from when it is windy it then feels slightly "out of balance" now I don't know if this is due to the spring or at 89k I am having shocker issues. budget wise the spring and mount where a LOT cheaper from the factor than from Renault and you are also told as with shocks always replace both on an axel, so I do wonder even if I had bought the over priced Renault one would I still have this issue as I didn't change both springs to match, may be I should have bought both springs from the factor but then you start thinking where will this end, means a strip down of the driver side a swell so car off road for even longer plus when you come to change the spring will the top mount fall apart due to age so that is another £26 to spend, just thought I would let you know changing one side may give you an issue, I don't find it dangerious just a bit anoying sometimes, I think it is worth passing both plus and minus on, you could put yours on and not have a problem, so just thought I would let you know this is what you may get. :)

jak01
Learner Driver
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:13 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane 1.6 CC Vectra 1.9 cdti (Company car) MGB
Location: North Nott's

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby jak01 » Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:21 pm

HI Chris,

I'm fitting a pair of springs to the front, TBH I would n't just fit one side only for the reason you mention.

I got a pair of top mount kits (bearing and top mount) £41 inc VAT - Renault wanted £83 each!!! I found some on ebay, £35 inc postage, but I need to get it done this weekend so paid a bit more to make sure I would have them in time. SWMBO has the use of my Daughters car and I have a company car, so it's not too much of a an issue the car being off the road. The costs are rising though, £66 for a pair of springs, £82 for a pair of top spring mounts, plus front and rear pads £30-40, depending which type of front pads are fitted. OUCH!!! :( :( :cry :cry

I'll post up how I get on along with a few photos of the job.

John
Ford Mondeo, 1.6 vvt CC Privelege, 1973 MGB

jak01
Learner Driver
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:13 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane 1.6 CC Vectra 1.9 cdti (Company car) MGB
Location: North Nott's

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby jak01 » Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:44 pm

Just an update to say all done now. :D

The springs were a pig to fit, had to use 4 spring compressors to get them compressed enough to be able to fit the top mount/bearing. :shock: The main problem is that the springs are tapered top and bottom, which means that it is difficult to compress it far enough. I ended up using 2 compressors to squeeze to middle 3 coils, then 2 more to compress the top and bottom tapered sections. As Chris says, there is a lot of preload in these springs - to fit the spring you need to compress it to approx half the length it's length compared to it's full (off the car) length.

Also changed front & rear pads, ended up buying a caliper rewind tool, but even then I had to take the N/S caliper off the car and put it in a vice to hold it whilst I wound it back. It seems as though the piston had come too far out.

If anyone needs to do this, PM me if you have any queries.

Cost of parts came to £180 - 2 springs, 2 top mount/bearing kits and front and rear pads. Also bought 2 sets of spring compressors and a caliper rewind tool.

John
Ford Mondeo, 1.6 vvt CC Privelege, 1973 MGB

reckoner86
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:04 am
Currently Drives:: Renault Megane II Dynamique 1.6 5 Door

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby reckoner86 » Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:27 am

Hi All,

I thought I would ask my question in this thread as it seems pretty similar to the problem I'm having.

My front passenger side coil spring has snapped, so I took it into the garage and they said its because the "top shock mount has seized up, forcing the coil spring to snap." This sounds logical to me, however, they have quoted me £280 to replace the spring and the top shock mount which seems incredibly high to me....this is just a quote for one side too, no idea how much they would charge for doing both sides.

Am I being ripped off here?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Matt

continentalgt
Learner Driver
Posts: 93
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:17 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane 2.0 VVT CC Dynamique
Peugeot 206 1.4 HDI
Location: Paignton Devon

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby continentalgt » Mon Oct 17, 2011 7:07 pm

Only my opinion but I'd say that was probably a little expensive but not massively so, what do others think?

jak01
Learner Driver
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:13 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane 1.6 CC Vectra 1.9 cdti (Company car) MGB
Location: North Nott's

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby jak01 » Thu Oct 27, 2011 11:03 pm

Parts cost me Approx £70 for 1 spring and top mount, double those prices if from Renault. £210 sounds a lot for a couple of hours work????

John
Ford Mondeo, 1.6 vvt CC Privelege, 1973 MGB

bloomers
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 4:41 pm

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby bloomers » Fri May 31, 2013 10:09 am

Just did mine last night, after reading the haynes manual and looking at various forums was a little worried but it turned out to be easy, the way I did it was to remove the front wheel then the pinch bolt (with the aid of some wd40) and anti roll bar link, loosen the centre nut on the shock as it is easier to do so in place then remove the top 3 bolts. Twist the shock to loosen it from the upright as far as it will go then with the aid of a long bar force the wish bone as low as it will go and twist the disk towards the front of the car, this gives the extra room for the shock to be removed without having to remove disks and drive shafts etc. Remove the centre nut on the shock completely so the old broken spring can be removed. To compress the new spring using a spring compression tools I always put a jubilee clip either side of all the clamps to stop them sliding and pinging off, I also use some 2 and 3 inch jubilee clamps between coils as a safety, if the clamps comes off it stops the spring turning into a banana shape. You can just use about 8 jubilee clamps to compress the spring if you don't have any spring compressor as they are cheaper to buy. Slide the spring over the shock and put the top back on and finger tighten the centre nut. Put the shock back in place exactly as it came out and reassemble and job done. Took about an hour in total.

mechwoz
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 04, 2013 6:53 pm
Currently Drives:: Ford Sierra saff cosworth 4x4

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby mechwoz » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:21 pm

THE HUB DOES NOT HAVE T COME OFF UNLESS YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING, if you don't, leave it and stick to posting useless comments making more work for people. Ok, wheel off, drop link off, track rod end off, 3 13mm bolts on strut top, 19mm bolt holding strut t hub loosen. If you then need extra inch which u don't just put your compressors on the spring while in place and wind down as much as needed to remove unit. Piece of pish boys n girls

jak01
Learner Driver
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:13 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane 1.6 CC Vectra 1.9 cdti (Company car) MGB
Location: North Nott's

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby jak01 » Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:28 pm

Who said the hub ad to come off?
Ford Mondeo, 1.6 vvt CC Privelege, 1973 MGB

Smurf
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 23, 2020 10:38 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane II 1.6 16v cabriolet

Re: Front coil spring replacement???

Postby Smurf » Wed Jun 03, 2020 6:09 pm

Hi Guys, I have messed up replacing my spring coils.

Does anyone knows jow to tell what is top or bottom in a coil spring?

Thanks


Return to “Megane CC”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests