I suspect I may need new springs

[R13]

I doubt the are in danger of failing right this second, but they don't look so great.

Is that rubber sheathing supposed to coat the entire spring or just a couple of coils near the perch and upper mount?

 

[ChopsJazz]

You may need springs, depending upon the year and mileage of your car, but I doubt it. What you're seeing is not an indicator of imminent failure. Don't worry. Your springs will not collapse and fail.

And no, the rubber does not cover the entire spring. Yours looks about right.

 

[R13]

You may need springs, depending upon the year and mileage of your car, but I doubt it. What you're seeing is not an indicator of imminent failure. Don't worry. Your springs will not collapse and fail.

And no, the rubber does not cover the entire spring. Yours looks about right.

Right, upon closer inspection I do not see any serious rust damage to the core of the coil. The car is a '92 with 217k miles on it...so it may just be about that time.

Thanks for setting me straight on the coating. It's so ghetto looking I couldn't tell if it was supposed to end or if it had just rotted off.

 

[ChopsJazz]

Considering your mileage, you may want to "upgrade".

 

[pgilliam1]

I have a 91 with 117K that I just replaced springs and shocks on. The shocks needed to be replaced and made a big difference. I used OEM from a 2000 model and it lifted my car 1/2". My springs look new and they're in my garage - if you're interested in them PM me.

 

[R13]

I am going to pull one of the front shock/springs off of the car within the next couple of days and see how the shocks are. I've considered a few things after reading some threads, but haven't narrowed it down completely.

Zanardi springs are pretty tempting, but I'd like to know if they are the same height as the '92 oem spring. I also don't want to swing the $400/corner for the Zanardi shocks, so if mine are toast I'd be looking at something more along the lines of a Koni Yellow (which I have a high opinion of from autocrossing my MR2 Turbo on the 'yellows), or a Bilstein. For how I will be using the car, I think a coil-over would be a bit fiddly at this point.

I hope to have a better Idea by next week. Thanks for the info/offer.

 

[Honcho]

I am going to pull one of the front shock/springs off of the car within the next couple of days and see how the shocks are. I've considered a few things after reading some threads, but haven't narrowed it down completely.

Zanardi springs are pretty tempting, but I'd like to know if they are the same height as the '92 oem spring. I also don't want to swing the $400/corner for the Zanardi shocks, so if mine are toast I'd be looking at something more along the lines of a Koni Yellow (which I have a high opinion of from autocrossing my MR2 Turbo on the 'yellows), or a Bilstein. For how I will be using the car, I think a coil-over would be a bit fiddly at this point.

I hope to have a better Idea by next week. Thanks for the info/offer.

The Zanardis are about a 0.5" drop from the OEM spring. If you go with Konis, make sure you have them re-valved to match the rates of the Zanardis, which are much higher than OEM. I have Konis w/ RM Racing springs and love them. The rates for the Zanardis are 389 lb/in F / 296 lb/in R.

 

[R13]

yeah, I had figured some re-valving would be in order if there was not a Zanardi-specific item from Koni/Bilstein. I'm keeping that in might as I compare over-all costs.