Help! Rear suspension collapsed

[akwaugh]

Just looking around for answers.

About an hour ago there was a loud bang outside the house and my car alarm went off ( that was a bit of a surprise since I hadn't heard it before). I didn't connect the two until I looked at the rear of the car which had dropped by a good inch, maybe more.

What could have caused this problem? I'm now reluctant to drive it to avoid damage.

I'll give the OPC a ring in the morning to sort things out - it's got a warranty thankfully - but it would be good to hear of any similar problems.


All this after praising the car just the other week....

 

[Lancerlot]

Tyre burst maybe? [&:]

 

[T911UK]

Coil spring broken, very common, dont drive far

 

[tscaptain]

Yep, with the state of our roads, odds on it's a broken spring.

 

[garyw]

ORIGINAL: T911UK

Coil spring broken, very common, dont drive far

What he said ^

 

[daly747]

Yes the same thing exactly happened to me on my 997. I thought initially that someone had put a brick through the windscreen. It was the offside rear spring. 24hrs later whilst the car was still parked the same thing happened again. This time the nearside one had gone.

Apparently it is quite a common occurrence but usually on the front.

Springs are sold in pairs about £135 + VAT, and it takes 2 hours to fit.

It is not recommended to drive the car in this state.

Brendan Daly
Operations Director
Chairman Motorsport.

 

[akwaugh]

Thanks guys, the tyres are fine and no worries there - it's a puzzle that a spring should go since both sides of the car are level, but I suppose a double break can happen.
The car looks pretty cool being so low - see pic - but likely a little tricky to drive.

Strange thing is that it should happen when the car had been stationary for a few hours, no load. Glad it didn't happen on our PCGB Fish and Chips run last Tuesday. Could have been very dangerous.

For information I replaced the front coils just a month or so ago.

And no, there's no way I'm driving it the way it is!

 

[Motorhead]

Highly unusual for both sides to collapse simultaneously I would have thought. I've had this happen on other cars on three occasions (2 front and one rear spring). Commonly, the spring fails at its lower end where it abuts the strut/damper cup and where water tends to collect, corroding the spring and causing stress-raisers.

Maybe there's been a catastrophic failure of the rear subframe mounts. Again, highly unlikely.

Best, as you say, to get it trailered to your PC for a full examination.

Hope you get it sorted quickly and keep us posted on progress.

Jeff

 

[944s2]

glasgow roads

Enough said

 

[akwaugh]

Haha Dougie.

Well, having driven an Ampera electric-ish car recently and been all smug about not using fuel for ages I can now say that my 911 is using no fuel at all - on the back of a trailer - to get to the OPC!

Had a look underneath and the OS spring is definitely gone - a big bit seems to be missing. The NS unit seems ok but as both sides are equally low I'm not taking it for granted it's good. And even if it is, it's going in the bin. Maybe replace the (PASM) shocks while I'm at it but will need a deep breath and a quick chat with the bank manager!

Such is life.

 

[garyw]

on the upside... it looks cool [8D]

 

[akwaugh]

Follow up - one of perhaps a few.

OPC advised BOTH rear springs gone.

Car is on warranty from Warranty Direct - this is my first claim on the very comprehensive policy, grandly entitled "Performance & Prestige - Extra Care".
I'm writing this for the benefit of others considering such a warranty. Cost was approx. £1500.00 for 2 years, and the car was 6 years old and 38k miles at time of purchase.
Both springs are covered by warranty, but there's a catch! This is counted as two events and there's an excess to pay per event.

The process is straightforward - just phone WD up, tell them the problem and advise where the car is going to be inspected. Mine went to OPC Glasgow.
Once inspected, OPC phones WD to advise the position and costs.
Assuming servicing, MOT etc., are up to date there's no problem. Or at least none in my case, so far.
A ticket is issued to proceed.


When the job is done I am to pay OPC then reclaim from Warranty Direct.
There's a discount based on age and mileage of 20% (due to being over 6 but under 7 years old) but I can handle that.

I will let everyone know how it goes - job should be done and car back around Tuesday/Wednesday next week (21/22 May)

Andrew

 

[tscaptain]

Andrew, does this mean you pay 20% of the total repair cost and what, may I ask, is the excess per event? Interesting to see how this compares with Porsche warranty which is obviously more expensive but doesn't have the excess/discounts. Would be a big chunk to pay for an engine blow up, for example? Is there a maximum pay out on the WD policy?
We are often asked about alternative warranty schemes so it's good to get the full picture when comparing to Porsche's own.

 

[garyw]

Would be interesting to know if Porsche warranty would have covered it at all? or said it's wear and tear on a suspension item.. [&:]

 

[tscaptain]

Shock absorbers, tyres and wheel bearings are excluded but no mention of springs.........[&:]

 

[dhossack]

Hi,
Ive been with Warranty direct for a couple of weeks with my 11yr old 996 Turbo. I negotiated labour costs up to £200 per hour (covers OPC) with them and no % to pay for parts. Usually (they told me) with a 10yr old car its 50% of the cost of parts with the total labour being paid. There is a £50 excess for each claim.

I negotiated at the end of a month and they wanted my business so dropped the price to around £1,000 for a years cover. This also covers wear & tear items at MOT should they be a failure?

Just had a major service at OPC and two coil packs needed replaced, they agreed to the costs. OPC did all the leg work re calls, etc, WD called me and emailed me the same day explaining how to submit the claim.

On the face of it seems a good warranty, suppose time will tell?

 

[akwaugh]

As promised, here's the update on my little saga :

Car is all fixed now, and a couple of other very minor items were attended to at the same time - for extra money, of course.

I paid the bill, a total of just over £600.00 and have submitted my documents to WD.
Parts were £143.67 (for the pair of springs)
Labour was £356.40
All Plus VAT

Take away the 20% discount and we have £114.94 approx.
Take away the excess of £50 per side (each spring treated as a separate claim) and we have a balance for parts of £14.94 approx.

Now, that might not sound such a good deal but as labour and VAT come to around £450 and is entirely covered, it suddenly seems quite reasonable.

Answering another question the max. payout is the value of the vehicle.

As I write I'm waiting for my refunds so I'll post again when they come in - or if there are problems.



That was only part 1 - my other (less well used) car, an A3 3.2q is covered by WD also.
Had to get it in for work and guess what? Bust calipers at the rear! So I was on the phone to WD again last week - an expensive fortnight for them (and me!)

 

[sbuckley]

HI All,

Much to my horror I've found myself in the same position as akwaugh. Last night there was a bang outside my house and my car alarm went off. As in akwaughs initial post I too have not heard my alarm before either. I went outside to find my nearside suspension had collapsed. My C2 is 7 years old with 37000 miles under its belt, I find it hard to believe this has happened and am also wondering if this is more common that it seems. Hopefully I'll get my OPC to cover this as it should not have failed. I would appreciate any thoughts on the matter, especially whether or not you think Porsche will accept that this is a major component failure and not just wear and tear. I'll update once I've had a chat with my OPC.

cheers

shaun

 

[Lancerlot]

Seems to be an increasing problem.

They'll probably blame it on potholes. []

Regards,

Clive.

 

[sbuckley]

Good News,

My OPC are going to repair the suspension under warranty. Thank god it didn't happen next month when my warranty is up.

shaun[]