So I don't really post here any more but years ago I was one of the first people to try out the Eibach springs for the 5th gen long term.

I know a local guy who got them as well and the spring broke and actually took out his tire in the process.

I thought it was a fluke as eibachs are used throughout racing and generally speaking are considered reliable.

Well they aren't reliable enough for daily driving through 4 real seasons.

I understand shocks/struts have a service life, but springs are critical for the safe use of the vehicle and should outlast the car in my opinion.

This is after 85k of use. The struts have performed well given they are at about the end or past the end of their general working life.




As you can see the bottom coil of the spring broke off and the rest of the spring is perched precariously against the holder in the strut while being braced against the side of the strut.

 

can't see any pics, was this on his car or your maxima? It sounds like a rare accident. But to be honest we are definately not the normal car enthusiast. Most people mod cars and sell them, get tired of them, demod them etc. If I had to guess most aftermarket parts never see high miles.

I am at 60k on my H&R and Illuminas.

 

The other local guy had a 5.5 gen maxima and my car is an 02 I35... same as a 5.5 gen

So 2 failures that I know of personally on the maxima platform in a very small pool of users.

 

 

^^ red X for me

 

 

THERE YA GO!

 

Sucks...did you contact Eibach yet?
I had around 80k on my Eibachs ('99 Max) and never had a single issue.

I personally have never seen this with any springs unless they were manipulated in a way they shouldn't have been. Not saying that's what you or your friend did, just my own observation.

 

Still a red X

 

this.

 

Completely off topic but the picture only shows up for the individual that made the tag... it seems to be linked to IP address or something. My photo works for me, as BlackMax's works for him. Anyway a link to see the picture is here:

http://postimage.org/image/z8ws00egd/

 

Thanks for posting that. I dont know why I deal with free image hosting sites. I have websites of my own but its more of a hassle hosting them on my own site then using the free hosing companies

 

40,000 miles on my Eibachs and they still look and feel like new... Only bad comment I have about them is the rear springs are a way too stiff in my opinion. They are great for handling corners, but on any serious bump, they send the a$s off the car flying, I swear I probably got the back wheels off the road on a few occasions just by hitting large bumps. Maybe it's because my struts (KYB Gr2) aren't a good match for them... anyone else experience that?

 

I too have seen a couple broken Eibach springs.

 

Care to share how many non-broken Eibach springs you've seen?

 

Eh. More non-broken than broken, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

 

I had a rear Eibach break on my 3rd gen. Eibach replaced. don't know about other brands, but Eibachs can break. Personally I thinks rear Eibachs are always too soft.

 

I'm sure there's many times more people out there with no issues, but when it comes to such a critical part any failures are too many

 

Its a good thing you posted this. I was considering them in the future.

 

I see quite a bit of rust corrosion. It looks like the seat for the spring on the strut started to fail, at least from this angle. Post up some more pics.

 

I dont have access to a lift so I dont know how many additional photos I'll be able to post but I thought the same thing happened when I first looked at it.

I thought the seat had bent out of the way, but no its still in place and the struts are pretty much rust free. Whatever powdercoating/paint they use on the body of the illuminas is very durable. The spring however is starting to rust as you can see.

 

Actually, I was specifically addressing djfreestyle. He has probably worked on thousands of suspensions and so, if anyone was witness to a failure, it would be him. Hence, teh funny.

I agree that one failure is too many. Unfortunately, mechanical devices will fail. Stock springs, Eibach, Progress, any brand of coilover, etc. They all have evidence of failure at some point or other. It's funny to think that I've seen more failures of the radiator support on our cars than any number of Eibach spring failures on any make of vehicle. Now, that should really cause concern.

Good segue here... TB has a point in addressing the perceptible amount of rust on your springs. You've got to maintain the exposed metal on your vehicle or you're going to have to expect more of these failures. It's one of the disadvantages of living outside of the Sunbelt. I had to wash the undercarriage(including the components in the wheel well) of my cars several times a month when I lived in New England, especially during winter. I had several friends that had significantly newer cars with much more rust because they chose not to clean theirs. It's just the nature of the beast.

 

Lol you've never been to new england have you? Thats surface rust. Rust is nature's loctite. Thats not rusty, you should see the exhaust, which is why I was there to begin with, its the second time it's rusted through in 150k miles

 

You didn't read what you quoted, did you?

Bottom line... you have rust. Rust can cause pitting and deformation. Pitting and deformation can cause corrosion and material failure. Your rusted component failed. The correlation is too obvious to blindly dismiss it. However, I understand if you want to just be angry with one of many R&D'd products from a big bad corporation instead of exploring all possible reasons for the failure.

 

Tell that to everyone that has had to replace their radiator support due to rust...and radiators weigh less than what a spring has to deal with.

 

Damn man sad to read and see, had the Eibachs on my 03 but got totaled ...and yeah need some more pics once you get it off.....

 

I had eibach springs and KYB GR2s on my 4th gen for years...I bought the car with 103k miles on it and I cant remember when I put them on but they were on for AT LEAST 4 years and donated the car with 254k miles with that setup still on....absolutely no problems at all. When I did my setup I put new upper strut mounts on and everything.

 

A few rusted springs broken out of a million produced. That is a epedemic right thur.

 

Lol yeah was a bit to hasty with the response on that one.

I still don't accept surface rust as an excuse for failures like these. If this is considered road worthy then rust needs to be planned for in the R&D.

 

Well 3 people in this thread alone have witnessed broken Eibach springs... that alone is a failure rate way above acceptable for me. You can do anything you want.

Also, how many sets of the Eibach progressive springs do you think are really installed in Maximas across the country? I can tell you its a lot less than a million. In reality I bet its's closer to 10K or even less