Springs and Shocks

[Crasher]

one a veteran

Who you calling old! I'll ave you know i'm a sprightly 57...

My personal take on this is, yes I see the point Gaz makes but he should not have offered his opinion, this is one of the things about cars that are coming, people will not fix them properly either by choice or financial necessity and people will die... If you are a commercial operator you simply can't do things like that or you will go to prison, so why can a member of the public do it with their own car?

[jonathanfenton]

The thing is, I’m **** about torques on bolts and replacing everything the workshop manual tells you you have to. I have several friends who run independent garages and I try to balance my ocd and wanting everything completely stock vs cost and necessity and what the status quo from their input is. Many times I’m ridiculed for going too far replacing parts but it’s just who I am, on this occasion I spoke to a VAG Specialist near me who said shocks he would replace in pairs but springs he’s not fussed about swapped individually, another local more generic garage friend of mine said he also only swaps the broken ones and if the others not in a state leaves them be. also speaking to the old man who has driven VAG cars for 50+ years has had his fair share of springs go bang and he also said he just replaces the snapped spring.

I appreciate your opinion Crasher hence why I always seek your opinion when weighing up my options but on this occasion I took the opinions of the popular not the purest’s mainly due to finances at the time.
I know what you mean in regards to poorly maintained DIYER who’s watched a few YouTube videos and sets too with the task in hand but not sure how you’d ever regulate it. I do recall many years ago something to do with motorbikes going the covered panels route with specialist bolts. I think it was scrapped due to the fact a quick look on alibaba or eBay and you’d have the tool you needed anyway. I think the reliance on MOTs to ensure safety and proper maintenance could do with some work but all this is a conversation to have on another thread.

I just wanted to close this thread off for future google searches when debating if you should replace both your A7 springs and in reality if one blows the other probably will go eventually too!

[Something Good]

Always change everything in pairs