HELP: Rear leaf spring broke in half
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 11
Likes: 1
HELP: Rear leaf spring broke in half
Soooooo I went to leave for work yesterday morning and car wouldn't move (Note: I arrived home Wednesday night with no issues and did not leave the house). Thought at first maybe I was in 5th instead of reverse, nope. Check my e-brake and its down. Got a flashlight, took a look under the car and BAM I can see the leaf spring had snapped. All I can say is I'm thankful it didn't happen while I was driving, but how THE F*** does this magically happen while the car was parked during the night? I saw a thread about someone having their dumps close to the rear causing excessive heat and possibly causing failure, but I'm running full exhaust all the way to bumper.
My car is a 2013 base M6. Would a z51/z06 leaf spring make a difference? If anyone has one lying around I'm ready to buy ASAP as this is my current daily, or if you know a good gm parts supplier I will buy a new one today. Waiting to hear back from gmpartsdirect.com about being in stock, but if you know a place to use please let me know and will call right away.
Thanks ahead of time,
Jesse.
My car is a 2013 base M6. Would a z51/z06 leaf spring make a difference? If anyone has one lying around I'm ready to buy ASAP as this is my current daily, or if you know a good gm parts supplier I will buy a new one today. Waiting to hear back from gmpartsdirect.com about being in stock, but if you know a place to use please let me know and will call right away.
Thanks ahead of time,
Jesse.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,990
Likes: 346
From: Mt. Pleasant S.C.
Call Cultrag. They are a forum vendor. Speak with Patrick. He's very responsive. If you get the machine leave your name and number, he has always called me back.
484-334-8833
https://www.cultragfactoryparts.com/
484-334-8833
https://www.cultragfactoryparts.com/
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 11
Likes: 1
Call Cultrag. They are a forum vendor. Speak with Patrick. He's very responsive. If you get the machine leave your name and number, he has always called me back.
484-334-8833
https://www.cultragfactoryparts.com/
484-334-8833
https://www.cultragfactoryparts.com/
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,493
Likes: 809
From: West coast CA
Soooooo I went to leave for work yesterday morning and car wouldn't move (Note: I arrived home Wednesday night with no issues and did not leave the house). Thought at first maybe I was in 5th instead of reverse, nope. Check my e-brake and its down. Got a flashlight, took a look under the car and BAM I can see the leaf spring had snapped. All I can say is I'm thankful it didn't happen while I was driving, but how THE F*** does this magically happen while the car was parked during the night? I saw a thread about someone having their dumps close to the rear causing excessive heat and possibly causing failure, but I'm running full exhaust all the way to bumper.
My car is a 2013 base M6. Would a z51/z06 leaf spring make a difference? If anyone has one lying around I'm ready to buy ASAP as this is my current daily, or if you know a good gm parts supplier I will buy a new one today. Waiting to hear back from gmpartsdirect.com about being in stock, but if you know a place to use please let me know and will call right away.
Thanks ahead of time,
Jesse.
My car is a 2013 base M6. Would a z51/z06 leaf spring make a difference? If anyone has one lying around I'm ready to buy ASAP as this is my current daily, or if you know a good gm parts supplier I will buy a new one today. Waiting to hear back from gmpartsdirect.com about being in stock, but if you know a place to use please let me know and will call right away.
Thanks ahead of time,
Jesse.
GM warns against using powerful cleaning agents on or near the spring, presumably such as strong acids or solvents.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 11
Likes: 1
Are you sure the spring has failed? Your rear suspension should be slammed like the trunk was filled with anvils. You don't mention noticing this, which is the reason I ask.
GM warns against using powerful cleaning agents on or near the spring, presumably such as strong acids or solvents.
GM warns against using powerful cleaning agents on or near the spring, presumably such as strong acids or solvents.
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Race Director
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 12,502
Likes: 3,631
On the transversal spring, could be factory defective part, or would bank that someone was using a chemical wheel cleaner on the rims, got it on the trans spring without flushing it off (to let the cleaner have it way with the composite part) , and what caused the spring to fail instead.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 3,582
Likes: 137
From: SoCal CA
The spring could have been damaged somehow. You’ll be able to better tell after you pull it out. Do you raise the car by the rear cradle and maybe lifted it by the spring by accident? Good thing it didn’t fail as you drove!
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 8,735
Likes: 413
From: WV
If you have a base C6 and replace just the rear spring with a Z51 or Z06 rear spring, your car will handle like crap and possibly be very dangerous to drive when pushing it...These suspensions are balanced ,so putting a heavier spring on just the back will throw your suspension balance off ....These aren't old 60s Chevys where you can just mix and match parts with good results....WW
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Last edited by WW7; Nov 18, 2019 at 08:31 AM.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 11
Likes: 1
If you have a base C6 and replace just the rear spring with a Z51 or Z06 rear spring, your car will handle like crap and possibly be very dangerous to drive when pushing it...These suspensions are balanced ,so putting a heavier spring on just the back will throw your suspension balance off ..When taking a hard rough corner the front will be bouncing at one rate and the rear will be bouncing at another rate....Even if you replace both springs with Z06 springs, you should then probably replace all your shocks with the B8 shocks instead of the stock shocks that come on the base model...These aren't old 60s Chevys where you can just mix and match parts with good results....WW.
