I've been in my shed fiddling again. The thought occurred to me, when do ageing front springs get replaced, when they first show signs of sagging, when they are almost done or somewhere in between.


Threaded sleeve locks onto original damper circlip in place of OEM spring seat.

Needle roller thrust bearing with spring spacer/debris shield. Eliminates spring bind, allows easy height adjustment.

Assembly back in place. On hoist full droop in this pic.



While l am not suggesting a band aid as a solution to worn out springs, it would be possible to greatly extend the useful life without the excessive camber and tyre scrubbing associated with sagging front end.
My own car is an R features car and as such has always ridden lower than spec at around 380 mm ride height without any uneven tyre wear, drivers side front was a little lower but now adjusted back up to 380mm.

 

Very interesting, Steve....

 

This almost looks like you're one step away from home-made height-adjustable coilovers using the stock components. Very interesting, however, word of caution, no one should do this to attempt to lower their car, as the spring rate would cause bottoming out on the bump stops.

For this purpose of bringing it back to spec, it seems like a genius idea!

 

That is good point Gian, l did actually find on the hoist, full droop down on suspension that spring seat and nut set up will contact crossmember in vicinity of upper control arm if the seat is too far down threaded sleeve. Available movement down from stock height is only about 10mm at the thread, l calculate that gives about 15 mm at wheel. No such limit on raise.
You could, by fitting lowering springs initially have both raise and lowering capability.

 

Putting packing (12mm) made from chopping board at the top of the strut mount is much more cost effective .