My front springs were looking a little worse for the wear, so I'm experimenting with some aftermarket replacements meant for a Ford. They comparable in dimensions and spring rates, so we'll see how they work out once I get the car back together.

 

The original springs have closed, ground ends. Those new ones are much different, any concerns there or do you have a way to address that?

 

The new ones are tangential, not entirely that different.

I have a set of ramped spring isolators that are in the mail (generic photo shown) which will level the spring and also help fine tune ride height.

 

Where did you find them please and what size do you need?

 

I’m surprised you are replacing the original springs just because of some minor surface rust. I would think an hour’s work with a wire brush and a lick of paint would make them look smart again. The free heights look equal in your video so neither appear to have lost strength. Seems like an unnecessary expense to replace them but you alluded to a previous bad experience so perhaps you would like to tell us your reasoning?

 

The springs are a safety critical item. Although I could "paint it black and put it back", any little bit of rust I missed will continue to grow and cause pitting in the steel. The twisting action of the wire cycling weakens the corroded steel, which eventually breaks. I have had this happen on a 2000 Subaru Outback, a 2009 BMW 335i, and 2016 BMW X5, all of which were driven in winter, and a 1998 BMW 323i, which was not. Since I drive my family around in the car during the nice weather months, spending $100 on new springs is a good investment. If I were not removing the springs to replace the suspension bushings, would I have replaced the springs just because? Probably not. But since they were out and sitting on the garage floor, it was an easy decision.

Here is a generic photo of a broken spring - you can see how a crack formed due to corrosion, which caused the crack to get worse. This spring is in far better shape than mine.

 

Greg, I buy most of my parts from www.rockauto.com which is based here in the States. They have no storefronts and only ship from warehouses, which allows them to maintain very competitive pricing, many times less than local parts stores. I just looked up spring isolators for the same application as the Moog springs I bought, which is for a 2002 Ford Escape with a 2.0 4 cylinder engine. The springs/isolators are for the front axle.

 

Thanks; I look forward to hearing how they perform.

 

Any updates on this project?

 

Nothing yet. I have been busy with family life this summer and also preparing my E92 M3 for an upcoming track event, so the Jag is sadly sitting on the lift begging for the attention that it's used to.

I will say I have bought a few sets of spring isolators with little success of compatibility. The bare rubber isolators (Monroe 907906) do not have a ramp built in and are very thin, so they would likely tear from the spring pressure at the end of the coil wire.

DEA / MARMON RIDE CONTROL 4713919 is advertised to fit and has an ramped seat, but the diameter does not exactly match the spring as it is too small, so the spring wouldn't sit flat/evenly in the groove.

Unfortunately many of the dimensional specs are not available, but for $7 per isolator I can do some trial and error, and always return what I don't use.

More to come..

 

I went through similar with my coupe last year and thought there had to be a matching set of front springs for another car that would replace these, and I still think they're out there. I felt the closed, ground ends were really needed to couple with the spring pans properly and the search just went on and on. So I pulled the springs off my car and found packing on top and bottom, pulled those and after putting it back together it sat really acceptable, looks totally normal. It could go an inch lower for that street racer look but with the sacrifice in ground clearance I decided to leave as is. I had almost pulled the trigger on a pair of King springs, but kept thinking those are just a generic spring with the right dimensions at three times the cost, but somebody did the legwork to find them. I'm still looking though.