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Hey, newish member here, been lurking for a while though.
I bought a tracked prepped C5 (from sperkins) back in May and have had some issues with the V B&P front leaf spring. The one that was on the car when I bought it was almost 4 years old and developed some cracks between the mounts on the top of the spring. I contacted V B&P and sent some pictures. They would not warranty the spring since I was not the original owner so I purchased a new one from V B&P as Scott spent a lot of time developing the car and I didn't want to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
It took over a month to get the new spring so I was anxious to get the car back out. After two 15 minute sessions I noticed the front end was loose and squatty and the ride height was low. I inspected the spring and found some smaller cracks between the mounts.
Old spring:
New spring after two 15 minute sessions:
I called V B&P this morning and sent the pics, waiting to hear back from them.
Anyone here run their leaf springs and had an issue like this? Any idea what could cause this? I figure the first one could have just worn out but a brand new one should last longer than 30 minutes. Really frustrated losing track time (and $$$), want to get the car running consistently. Appreciate any input from someone familiar with their products.
I replaced the front recently on mine but it had several years on it. I would say that the spring you have had a real problem. Lasting only 30 minutes suggests a badly defective spring. I know of two others that had to replace springs this past summer. I originally thought they were just worn out but now I am wondering about defective pieces. Please do update us on company response. You also might get in touch with Paul at VanSteel and see what he would recommend.
Sorry to learn this. I am the original owner to the 1st spring that broke on the car you purchased from Scott. He called and informed and wanted to know when I purchased the spring. Although, I didn't race, I did numerous track-days and time trials with that spring. For what it is worth, I also had VBP Springs on an older C3 that I completely rebuilt. No issues there either and I had them in use for 3 - 4 years. Hope this turns out to be a fluke, but your 2nd spring with stress cracks?
Thanks for the replies. Hadn't heard back from VBP so I called them again today and spoke with Steve. He originally said it could be a bad spring based on my description, but also thinks it could be heat related. I did do a search before my original post and didn't find anything related to failed front springs due to heat, only rear ones. I suppose it's possible but I haven't changed anything with the car since I bought it so I'm a little skeptical that a brand new one would fail immediately due to heat when the old one lasted for much longer on the same setup.
The good news is VBP is sending me a new spring. Don't think they had any around 1100lbs made so I won't have it for a while and may not be able to test it for several months due to winter fast approaching. Steve recommended adding some type of heat shielding above the spring to help keep heat out which I'll definitely do.
Really want to get the car back out, wish I wasn't having all this down time. Hopefully no more issues, sounds like my situation is kind of an anomaly. If the 3rd one doesn't work out think I'll have to seriously look at a coilover setup.
I have had two bad springs from Vette Brakes and I have not received my replacements. Both were new this year and both failed very quickly. I installed an older VB spring and it is good. They must be having production issues. I am glad they helped you. I am still waiting. Another call in today.
I have had two bad springs from Vette Brakes and I have not received my replacements. Both were new this year and both failed very quickly. I installed an older VB spring and it is good. They must be having production issues. I am glad they helped you. I am still waiting. Another call in today.
Looks like I'm not the only one with issues, thanks for chiming in. Hopefully they will make it right.
This may be a good time to mention that Hyperco makes custom leaf springs as well, you can get them through Van Steel. I don't have one but supposedly they are flat like VBP springs. You just have to figure out which spring rate to order.
This may be a good time to mention that Hyperco makes custom leaf springs as well, you can get them through Van Steel. I don't have one but supposedly they are flat like VBP springs. You just have to figure out which spring rate to order.
I was looking at hyperco springs on their website. Hard to figure out the rate I need as they measure them differently than VBP does. I'm also locked in to VBP to the tune of $600 so not really an option to try at this point.
I've been running their 1100lb setup for years with no issues, on slicks. I'm interested to see where this goes and I'll definitely be double checking my springs more often. Thanks for the PSA.
Welcome to the forum Travis. Sorry I'm just now seeing this thread, but I have already contacted others about this situation based on our off forum discussion.
Here's what I can add to the discussion that may help others in their research. First, the car has full aero with a full length undertray. However, it does not extend beyond the spring mount so it is "open" to ambient air under the car. With that said, I doubt it's getting the same amount of airflow that a non-aero car would get. How much is that and how much is enough? I have no idea.
Also - while it doesn't have vented fenders, the car does have an MCM carbon fiber vented hood albeit the opening is rather small compared to a true ACP race hood.
I'll update this post with info as I get it because I'd really like to get to the bottom of this situation.
Heat will definitely kill them. I blew up 2 instantly when I ran exhaust dumps in front of the diff until I heat tape wrapped it and made more radical turn downs.
Here's an update for the other guys who have had issues and are waiting on replacement springs.
I was told in October it would take 7-10 days to get my replacement spring. That came and went so i called for an update and received new ship dates each week that were not met. I was told two weeks ago that my spring was ready to be cut and would ship. Then when I called today they had "run out of fiberglass" and it would be another 7-10 days once they had some more fiberglass. Apparently they haven't even started making my spring, contrary to what they told me two weeks ago.
I've asked for a refund vs. waiting indefinitely for a new spring, they've agreed to refund my money. Hopefully they will follow through with that.
Extremely disappointed with VBP customer service and their product.
I have been running VBP springs for 15 years and haven't really had any issues until recently. I've had some failures on my race car but only after a few years. However, I have had 6 customers with broken front springs in the last 6 months. 3 were older springs and 3 were brand new which failed after one event, including my own which failed at Daytona after the Runoffs. I don't feel heat is the issue here. My car is Dailey drysumped and the oil pan is almost nonexistent...lots of clearance between it and the spring. What are we doing? I'm working with Paul at VanSteel to develop a new package with the front Hyperco T1 spring rated at 634# and Hyperco coilover assist. The goal is a #1500 front spring rate. We feel this package is more linear than coilover only packages and stronger. Also, if desired this assist could be used with a stock front spring to decrease costs. The package does require threaded front shocks to accept the coilovers. I have the new package on my car and will be testing and racing in January. I have one customer who recently Tracked at Barber on package and could tell a huge difference from the #1200 VBP spring up front. He needed new front shocks so, we went with QA1 DA shocks up front to keep costs down and he said the felt like it was on Rails. I run JRI's so I just needed the coil hardware and springs. Callaway also thinks this is the best way to help out the front rate as well. I have a new rear Hyperco 850# spring on the rear. We'll see what happens with the new package! I can't really recommend any VBP springs to customers at this time.
10-26-2015, 07:21 PM
Broken V B&P leaf spring x2
