Broken rear coil spring

Late August or early September 2013, I hear a loud «bang!» on a flat street at low speed. I figured I had rolled on something and it bounced under the car but I could see no debris on the ground in the mirror. Stopped and checked underneath, nothing dripping or out of the ordinary so I go on my merry way without the radio for a while, listening for suspicious rattles. Nothing.

Sometime during the winter on rough surfaces, I hear something rattling from the back of the car. I secured all the stuff like the snow brush and windshield washer can etc. but the rattle comes and goes. There is something loose under the car for sure but the handling is unaffected and the noise goes away for weeks before returning for no apparent reason. I am thinking of a worn stabilizer bushing or exhaust pipe hanger.

Yesterday I took the snow shoes off and lo and behold, the bottom part of the rear coil spring sits beside the coil in the well:



The car had barely 40,000 Kms when it broke. Can't wait to see if it's covered.

I just sold my used set of rear JSW springs to a club member in Pennsylvania who seemingly had a similar problem. It sounds like this was a QC issue at manufacture.

A cheap fix with a bit of upgrade might be to find lightly used rear Tiguan springs from a 2wd. It's what I did. There are a bunch of guys over on the Vortex site that have lowered their Tiggy and have used parts for sale cheap. The Tig springs are not any longer, but have a bit more weight carrying capacity.

I'll be pulling my springs within a week, waiting on upper strut mounts before install H&R springs and Koni's. Let me know if you're interested in my spring(s). 41k on the vehicle so far.

andydg said:

I'll be pulling my springs within a week, waiting on upper strut mounts before install H&R springs and Koni's. Let me know if you're interested in my spring(s). 41k on the vehicle so far.

Click to expand...

I first want to hear what my dealer will have to say about the warranty. This is premature wear and an outright defect as far as I am concerned.

I may just take you up on it if all else fail on VW side but I'll be sure to let you all know one way or the other how it goes

WOW! Scary $hit!

I have a set of OEM's in my garage since I put on the Eibachs at 45,000km in May of 2011 but will keep them in case I ever wanna go back to stock...can't see why but you never know...

As expected, the repair took 30 minutes and was covered under warranty. I would have appreciated it if they had changed both left and right but it's not such a big deal considering the low mileage.

flat street? in Montreal? You have to be trying to funny. NO offense but Montreal inner streets are the WORST in NA. I travel a lot and come to PQ every month so I do drive a lot in Montreal. Quebec is not kind o cars.....When customers in Ontario find out a used car came from Quebec they steer the other way. Glad the dealer fixed it. Probably happened on a flat street but initially weakened on one of the million potholes in Montreal. Bonne Chance! GO Habs!!!

Glad to see the dealer made it under warranty.

I live in Quebec city and I thought it was the worst streets but I was wrong...I went to MTL for Easter weekend. Woah roads there are crappy as hell.

Can't say I've heard of a coil spring giving out with less than 40K miles on it, at least not with passenger cars never used off road. The dealer was smart, good PR replacing it under warranty. Me I've replaced all 4 coil springs along with struts and shocks in the last 6 months, first the front, then recently the rears. Broken springs on the passenger side both times. I heard the rear one go, but didn't know what happened till I got it up on a rack. I can't complain I got 177k on it now, so not a big surprise.

Hmm, my '11 Golf is making a death rattle. Like Personne I tried securing everything in the trunk, even to the point of tightening the spare tire and making sure all the tools were tight in the Styrofoam tray, no luck. I will be sure to have a look at this possibility. Best way to describe the problem, the sound of a loose bolt in a tin can. I was thinking bushings. I did have the car up on the lift when the snow tires came off (not at a dealer but a local tire shop) and the mechanic said he couldn't see anything unusual other than a slight leak from one of the rear shocks.

The noise is downright aggravating and I'm almost embarrassed to drive the car in town. With the rear seat up and the cargo cover in place it's almost tolerable but as it's road bike season again my back seats stay down all the time.

I guess I'll take another look paying attention to the coils.

Have to agree with folks on Mtl roads. Truly 3d world. Plus I live on a dirt road that has extensive potholes from time to time especially after heavy rain. Murder on suspensions and the dirt is terrible for rust as well as it abrades wherever two surfaces rub together such as behind moldings; our '05 Passat is in terrible shape even after changing the two front fenders and trunk lid (3 years ago), and two front doors (last spring), all under the 12-yr rust warranty. Now the rear doors are perforating, there's rust on the door sills behind the rear doors, back fenders are in terrible shape and the trunk lid needs replacing again, perforation around the license plate lights.

Roads in Montreal are an absolute nightmare.
It wasn't as bad before I lowered the car on 17" rims, but now that I have the sport spring, I will have to use my 16" Biolines if I plan to go there (usually once a year), and then...., park my car at the hotel and try not to use it at all. Use the subway if I can instead. Last time I was there last year, lowered and on 17", could have swore my car was going to fall apart even on main avenues (Maisonneuve, St Catherine, etc).
Montreal is a car killer.

Both my left and right where broken, I'm guessing a while back but the dealer just spotted it recently. German spec JSW springs in back now. My also broke in the same spot.

I replaced my rear coil springs with VW euro trailering package rear springs. Got about 2" of lift and better performance & handling. The rear end on my 11 sw was just to soft. Anytime I had any weight in the back I was dragging coming out of parking lots etc. VERY happy with the upgrade! The car looks proportional now. Purchased them from ID parts.

I just had 2 replaced on the back at 60k

This happened at 162,000 km while the car was just parked waiting in line at a ferry terminal. It's the rear right coil spring. This is one week after I replaced the front springs because the front left one had snapped.

In my case, both my front coil springs broke on my '11 Golf TDI, within a week and a half of each other. Well out of warranty, the first one cost me $300 to replace (pars & labour).

The second one I didn't bother with, I traded the car on my '16 Golf TSI... two and a half weeks before dieslegate

now you're just rubbing it in!