Are my springs done for?
 

RCE Tarmac springs on my Bilstein B8's. Both have about 35k miles on them in Chicago and about 6k miles in the winter.

The coating on the springs is starting to come off. Today is the day I learned about coilover covers.

Are my springs done for? I'm not sure if there is rust on the springs, but from what I see, there is indeed rust. Not sure if I should purchase new ones. Anyone know if it's safe to keep these?

https://i.imgur.com/9CfvNu7.jpg

Question, im confused here, how in hell are they so compressed? Do you have 5 dudes sitting inside the car and another car on the roof or something?

Edit: also, the fact that the coating comes off doesnt mean they stop working. If the car feels fine and does bounce several times on bumps and ondulations on the road, you can (and should) still run them, maybe get coilovers after the winter if you dont like how the car feels anymore.

if that's what they look at on jack stands, with the wheel off, yes. they are completely shot.

While not the best thing, rusty springs are common on the general public's cars.

I'm much more concerned how your spring is fully compressed. Your struts or springs may be toast.

Those look totally fine, take a wheel off and inspect for major damage but I suspect you don't have any issues. The top is compressed like that because it's a secondary rate to keep the spring in tension at full droop. Very common on properly designed lowering springs.

A little surface rust can definitely happen on a spring in certain areas of the country. If you take a pic with the wheel off and send it to us we'll have a closer look, but that doesn't look too concerning.

And yes, that part of the spring is the "helper" portion designed to keep everything captive and let us have a more linear main portion of the spring.

- Andrew

Thx for concerns and comments. Good to hear that the springs are fine like that. I went ahead and checked the springs on the other side to see if they are as compressed as the other one and they indeed are.

While we're on the topic of secondary rate..can someone educate me on how that works? I just can't imagine how I'd have rebound if the springs are always compressed like that. Car still rides very smooth.

https://i.imgur.com/XLmhk0Z.jpg

they're that compressed in the current state though? i can see for sure that the wheel/tire is off, so i'm making the assumption that the axle is fully extended.

i see what you mean, but wouldn't expect them to compress that much.

https://www.ft86speedfactory.com/med...comptarmac.jpg

wait, are these pictures through the wheel?

that completely changes my perspective...

Yeah, through the wheel, lol!

This is how my setup looks when I took them off in the summer.

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net...b7&oe=5E858C2F

Quite a few coils that end up fully compressed at static ride height, not uncommon imho that's what the black rubbery piece is for to make sure they're quiet when they compress. My Bilstein B14 had two or three coils bound up when sitting still.

I don't know Jack about snow and corrosion but they look fine to me for at least another year or two, just surface spots on those to my eye.

Totally normal and also necessary to have those tight winds in the spring that are compressed at normal ride height.

Here's a pic of Swift Spec R springs with similar design:
https://www.ft86speedfactory.com/med...4t909r-2_1.jpg

Without them and with spring rates that stiff, you either have a spring that fills up all the space between perches with a constant rate and thus raises the car or you have a spring that's too short and doesn't remain captive.

- Andrew

Is it really supposed to be fully compressed like that? I understand on coilovers that use a helper spring, but this just seems nuts. I get the concept though. Thanks for guiding us

i feel tricked.


he's taking pictures of the springs on the car, at static ride height, of the part that is going to compress onto itself by design.

had he taken pictures from the front/rear of the vehicle to display the full spring length, it would've been more apparent that there is not a problem.

You will get surface rust on any springs where the coating get's damaged or is too thin. It is fine. Springs (even cheap ones) are very durable and by the time any rust on them develops to a point where it is a problem the rest of the car has probably turned into a pile of scrap anyway.

They are probably good for a few more decades.

I'd re-read the posts so far, that's 100% by design... Andrew from RCE's explanation is very clear.

Yeah I saw, more just in disbelief; it looks counter intuitive but I get why it works