Any way to fix newish collapsed spring?

[R18Civic]

Unfortunately there was a few downpours yesterday and my [censored] end swung out on an off ramp. Did a 720 through the grass ditch and managed to steer it away from the trees before stopping.

Got my [censored] back on the road before police showed up. Only damage was loose trim, bent license plate and a collapsed coil spring. Thought I damaged the driver front brakes but the passenger wheel/rotor was caked in mud which made it pull the other way the first few stops until the pads removed the mud.

Car starts an up and down shimmy at 60mph and the front pass side sags a bit. No pulling aside from the crown on the road so Im hoping I can get away with possibly heating the spring and finding a way to pull it back to its normal height.

 

[Lubener]

You don't ever want to heat the spring. Something is either holding down the suspension(seized shock,strut or bent suspension part?) or the spring is broken. They do not get stuck.

 

[billt460]

It sounds like you have more damage than just a bad spring. But as Lubener said, you never want to heat a spring. You will destroy it's temper.

 

[skyactiv]

I think the important thing here is what caused the accident and what will you do to prevent this from happening again in the future?
Often when a driver loses rear end control in the rain on a front wheel drive car, its from having tires with more tread depth on the front tires than the rear tires. Or tires that are worn out.
Plus it sounds like you were going to fast for the conditions. Off ramp, did a 720 AKA TWO 360's and blame it on the rain.

 

[CT8]

You need to have the vehicle properly inspected.

 

[FlyNavyP3]

Originally Posted by Hemispheres
Unfortunately there was a few downpours yesterday and my [censored] end swung out on an off ramp. Did a 720 through the grass ditch and managed to steer it away from the trees before stopping.

Got my [censored] back on the road before police showed up. Only damage was loose trim, bent license plate and a collapsed coil spring. Thought I damaged the driver front brakes but the passenger wheel/rotor was caked in mud which made it pull the other way the first few stops until the pads removed the mud.

Car starts an up and down shimmy at 60mph and the front pass side sags a bit. No pulling aside from the crown on the road so Im hoping I can get away with possibly heating the spring and finding a way to pull it back to its normal height.


As mentioned above no you can't just heat the spring and pull it out. Either the spring is broken, otherwise collapsed or the strut is bent which is preventing the suspension from extending causing the sag. Replace the broken or bent parts, don't try to straighten them.

 

[Mainia]

Yes.....buy a NEW ONE.

 

[spasm3]

If the spring is damaged from this event, chances are there are more things wrong. The entire front end needs to be looked at as well as the strut towers. If you went across a ditch hard enough to damage a coil spring, the unibody is in question.

 

[JLTD]

Agree with replacing the spring at the very least, and making sure that everything is right under there.

 

[Kestas]

You're getting way ahead of yourself. Put the car on a lift, remove the wheel, and inspect that corner of the car. Report back what you find.

 

[R18Civic]

Waiting on the weather to clear up before inspection. Initial inspection of course shows the spring is sitting a bit lower/compressed than normal and the strut towers as far as visual inspection goes have no variation from side to side or dings/buldges. CV Axle boots were in good shape, haven't checked tie rods yet but I'm not experiencing any issues turning the steering wheel at all. As far as new tires go, the rears have worn less than halfway through the treads, the design is just [censored] for wet roads. Deep circumferential grooves but the sipes don't even touch said grooves so the tire isn't evacuation water the way it's supposed too.

 

[eljefino]

Your answer should be obvious when you yank the tire. I think you broke a spring coil. If you have a rubbery coating it may be holding it together, but the problem will still be obvious.

 

[Traction]

The fact that you were even asking about heating the spring tells me, to be sure and safe, just take it to a professional mechanic and inspected.

 

[The motor guy]

What happens if you wait until the cops get there? Do they write you a ticket? Its raining..

 

[The motor guy]

What happens if you wait until the cops get there? Do they write you a ticket? Its raining.. H9w do you get a car out of the ditch by itself, I'd like to try that with my lawn mower...

 

[R18Civic]

Doesn't matter. I wiped out in front of a few cars and in my state if you so much as do a millisecond burnout it's considered reckless driving. Class 1 Misdemeanor. Knew folks were already on the phone before I even got the vehicle to stop spinning in the ditch so I got lucky. Still had enough traction in the mud to get out of the ditch.

 

[Cujet]

Springs can be "recurved" or stretched. Spring steel is simply steel hardened and tempered to a specification. Yes, there are alloys that are more desirable for springs. But it's more of a temper and hardening issue. For that reason, heat cannot work.

A coil spring is simply a wire formed into a coil, then heat treated to a specific temper and hardness (Rockwell 50-55 is common).

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted by Kestas
Youre getting way ahead of yourself. Put the car on a lift, remove the wheel, and inspect that corner of the car. Report back what you find.


This.

Hard to damage a spring in your off-road excursion, but pretty easy to tear up a bushing, or strut mount, or bend a control arm or other component that will leave that corner sagging.

You've got damage, but I bet it's not your spring...

 

[R18Civic]

Got lucky. The impact rattled a strut tower bolt loose causing the strut to sit slightly cockeyed. Took it out and examined it and it back in, sits straight now. Driver side is all clear. First pic is before, second is after. Hard to tell the difference due to angles but the shimmy is gone. Took it up to 70 with no issues.

 

[R18Civic]

Got luckier than I thought. Narrowly split the car in half on a metal sign post before spinning out.