Bloody French Cars

Front nearside coil spring snapped yesterday, going to replace them both.
Is this a common issue with the Winds or just French cars in general, the car has covered less than 12000 miles.

Don't want to tempt fate but mine is OK at 38k miles

had my drivers side do the same managed to find a set online(did not want to pay renault prices)
 only had to put fix one side so i have a spare

They are £42 each, come with a two year guarantee. I think the genuine Renault coil springs are over £100.

No problem with my Winds but my partner's front coil spring snapped going over a speed bump in her Fiat (not a French car....). Speed bumps are the devil's work and I always crawl over them keeping one wheel on the flat rather than straddling the hump. Straddling causes side loads on the wheels and suspension and also causes wear on the inside part of the tyre.

Funnily enough my friend Geoff (Sandancer) told me the week before last one of his front springs had broken on his Wind, a few years ago I had one go on a Citroen C2, my daughter had one go on a Peugeot 407 and I was talking to my mate Gordon last night and he has had both replaced on his Citroen Nemo.

Yes, 2 Clios and 1 Wind = 3 broken front coil springs over about 8 years. They usually break almost at the end of the coil and you can't tell until it fails an MOT. Mine is currently broken on the passenger side. Garage tells me its not a safety issue, but it will fail the MOT if not replaced.

A small part of the spring actually fell off and I heard it land on the road. The local garage is about four hundred yards away and I will be driving the car down very gently on Thursday to be repaired. He's going to give me a price for timing belt, water pump and fanbelt replacement as well.

Wow ... have you won the lottery !!! Very interested in the timing belt and spring replacement price.

Sadly no, but it's got to be done this year. Will let you know the cost.

Mine is going in at the weekend for whatever has broken on the suspension (I'm suspecting a spring or bush), its cam belt and its MoT.