Any mechanics out there

maddog.mark

maddog.mark

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My wifes 4 year old Clio has just failed it's MOT as both rear suspension springs are broken. This car does less than 6000 miles a year!

This screams manufacturing fault in the batch of springs produced at the time to me, but if there are any of you with considered opinions I'd be really pleased to hear them.
 
I can't help with your specific question I'm afraid but I do have a question. Do you live in area with a lot of speed humps? The reason I'm asking is that I was recently talking to a mechanic and he was saying that areas that have a lot of speed humps cause many suspension failures, much more so than areas without them.
 
Aye, speed bumbs and possibly overloading it at the back?

I've had my share of Renault suspension problems, so much so that I wouldn't buy another though I loved driving mine. In my case it was almost certainly a combination of bumpy potholey roads and too much load but I've had other vehicles before and since in the same situations that have not had the same problem with broken suspension.
 
6000 a year so thats 20,000 plus. sorry but youve little or no hope of getting anything out of renault. thats unusual for broken springs at that mileage ,but not unheard of.
as the guys have said speedbumps and potholes etc do give springs a hard life.do you tow or carry heavy stuff?
if you bought it new and had it dealer serviced , you could ask about a claim , but i doubt youd get any joy.worth a try.
theyre not ridiculously expensive to replace )DONT GO TO A MAIN DEALER) and about two hours labour.
 
Honest John has Clios reported breaking springs as a known fault. Link

Probably speed bumps as said earlier.
 
I would consider 2 broken springs at 24000 miles to be outrageous and agree that there could mean some sort of manufacturing fault. I used to work for Customer Service at Volkswagen and in a case like this we would have concidered a goodwill claim. VW goodwill takes into account the age/ mileage of the car, type of failure and if the car had been serviced by an franchised Renault dealer.

Have you approached Renault Customer Service? They might help with part of the cost.
 
Thanks folks,
Speed bumps no, pot holes well this is Norfolk.
The car is a second car never carried four adults let alone anything heavy, don't tow anything with it.
Full Renault service history, all by the same dealer.
I've asked for the springs and will be contacting Renault UK to voice my displeasure, but share the view they're unlikely to be too bothered.
Chuckurbarla, thanks for the link.
 
i would try approaching renault asdawson images says but if you get no luck the springs should only set you back about £50 for the pair(probably less) and they're not to bad to replace. A garage shouldn't realy charge that much to do the job
 
We do have a certain lady on here who's a Renault dealer employee / co owner iirc ;)

Springs can still fracture if they've never carried weight, so don't feel too upset. What you need to know is how many other Clio's of similar age or mileage are failing. That is the ONLY way of proving there was a batch of poorly manufactured springs. But even then at 4 years old your well outside the warranty period so Renault aren't going to be that bothered.

If your loyal to the dealer and you can make them suspect that it could lead to the replacement of the car for the current shape clio in the near future, try and get the dealer to do free labour and you pay for the parts.
 
That's rubbish :( I wish you luck.

My Clio is 14 years old and I'll celebrate for days if it passes its next MOT!
 
Once again thanks for the comments, it really helps to get the reality check.
I'll be speaking to Customer Services tomorrow to see what I can get out of them.
 
thread cleaned, keep it constructive guys
 
Hacker said:
I can't help with your specific question I'm afraid but I do have a question. Do you live in area with a lot of speed humps? The reason I'm asking is that I was recently talking to a mechanic and he was saying that areas that have a lot of speed humps cause many suspension failures, much more so than areas without them.
Click to expand...


Speed Humps...........Are they the same as quickies:lol:

Sorry DOD, posted at the same time as you
 
:thumbsdown: I too had a Clio 4 ish yr old rear springs u/s MOT fail. National Tyres informed me its a common fault!! :thumbsdown:
 
alex1 said:
Sorry DOD, posted at the same time as you
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it :) Posts were removed which were inflammatory (unintentionally or otherwise) and likely to cause conflict. Conflict makes me cry :(

























Briefly ;)
 
alex1 said:
Speed Humps...........Are they the same as quickies:lol:

Sorry DOD, posted at the same time as you
Click to expand...

:lol::lol: Thanks, that made me and the missus laugh out loud!
 
waiting for a call back, not holding my breath
 
Thanks, will post again when I know more
 
:banana: Ok I'm in a state of shock now.

Renault UK have just rung me back and are picking up the bill for the springs and fitting, I didn't even have to argue or negotiate.

I can't quite believe it someone pinch me, I must be dreaming!:woot::woot:
 
maddog.mark said:
:banana: Ok I'm in a state of shock now.

Renault UK have just rung me back and are picking up the bill for the springs and fitting, I didn't even have to argue or negotiate.

I can't quite believe it someone pinch me, I must be dreaming!:woot::woot:
Click to expand...

/pinch! :lol:
 
Excellent news. There must be some sort of manufacturing problem. Its always worth a try.

I can remember people asking for goodwill on cars that were 10 years old, had covered 100000 miles and no service history!.

Which part of no don't you understand.
 
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