97 q45 front coil sring breakage

[mrrsidr]

Just wondering if this is a common problem. Had one snap in two while on vacation. Took out the front tire too. Very weird, was on smooth pavement & going less than 10 mph & it just snapped & brought me to a halt in one car length... So now its a 5 day wait for Infiniti parts to arrive . Now worried the other side might be next. Car has 140k on it & never saw salt till 130k.. So don't get it ?

[BadQ45t]

very odd, springs usually last forever. at least you can still source the OEM springs since the only other aftermarket parts left in the world are coilovers.

[Q451990]

Has the suspension been modified (lowered?). Is the old spring rusty or obviously deformed, or is it a clean snap in good looking metal?

I haven't heard of this before, if that makes you feel better.

[mrrsidr]

No it was never lowered. As far as I can tell its pure stock.... I've owned it for 3 years now & never hit nothing seriously in the road like big pot hole.... It was a clean snap... Bubble in the casting ? I dunno, but glad to hear its not a common problem. Headed out early tomorrow to go get it (240) miles one way , but its fixed. $950 Later with tire. But could have been much worse had it happened at 60 mph... Might have totaled it.

[Q451990]

Seriously... very lucky it happened at a low speed.

[BadQ45t]

Are you still on the stock struts? IF your over 70k those are shot which could have contribued to it.

[mrrsidr]

You know, I'm not sure... I did get some paperwork with it, I'll have to check.... What brand struts would you recommend ? I baby it , so a good stock type replacement would be fine.

[BadQ45t]

OEM is the only choice you have

[mrrsidr]

update yea, Car now has 160 K , 1 yr later, opposite front spring broke but I caught it before it came loose. Ordered that new spring + both front struts from infiniti w/ new strut boots. $1200.in parts. My mechanic had a very hard time getting the original traction control/abs sensors out of the old struts. Actually had to cut them out with a grinder/cut off wheel. Well now they don't work …. So now I have dash lights indicating I have no ABS or Traction control. So I'm hoping there might be an aftermarket source for these ? As these sensors are about $600 from Infiniti. Any help would be appreciated !

[BadQ45t]

Did you order them from EverythingInifinit.com? You will not find any aftermarket support, I would try them and see what their price is. CAll them and mention you are a member of this board and thie wil give you some discount as well.

You could have bought entire set of 4 coilovers for 1200 my B/C's were $1600 installed!

[mrrsidr]

Thanks for the link ! Looks like they don't offer the sensors anymore. I have located them from an Infiniti dealer but am still looking around for other possibilities as their $243 Ea. I'd like to hear more about the suspension system you put in & a link to that product. Thanks again !

[ZiprHead]

I too just found out I have a broken front spring. Been trying to find a used strut assmbly online but I'm not getting a response from scrap yards that claim to have the part I'm looking for. What's the deal, they don't want my money?

Any ideas on locating this item?

[mrrsidr]

I had to go through an Infiniti dealer to get spring and struts both..... I do believe bad struts broke my front springs. When we took the struts out they were shot on the down stroke but still seemed relatively good on the rebound or upstroke. Nothing to fool with, If your spring comes unhinged at any speed your gonna total the car cause it will drop the front end to the ground immediately & forget about being able to turn or control it if that happens.


You might try this link for a spring infinitipartsdeal.com

[BadQ45t]

The stock struts lasted about 50-70k depending on your use. My rears were leaking by 50k and I did a re-do then. Those blew out at 90k (just one damn it) and so I had to either junk the car, go back to stock or go for the Coilovers.

You have many choices, God Speed, K-Sport Megan or B/C that are in market and easy to get. The Megans are ONLY for on Touring, trust me i found that out the hard way, the front brake mounts do not fit. Get them "with spindle" so you don't have to do surgery on your old spindles. There are also some called Godspeed but I have never scene those before but they are cheap!

They are easy to get eBay and other places..very interesting that there are some new entrants since I did mine about 3 years ago. The B/C's are the best built from what the speed shops told me, they are also rebuildable so you can put in a new strut if/when you wear those out.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Godspeed-MonoS ... Sw~JRaswuT

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-1997-2001- ... Swa~hZY8V-

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ksport-Coilove ... SwPcVVkZkD

[mrrsidr]

Well thanks, that is good info for all of us on this site. I'm still waiting for my new front ABS/anti lock sensors to come in. After that I'll ck the rear struts/shocks & see whats going on there. I can get Infiniti rears for $243 ea & I have seen other aftermarket stuff as low as $50 Each (Gabriel(Sp?)brand) But not sure about the quality of those. Car gets less than 10 K put on it a year So hopefully this set will last till I either bury it or sell it.

[BadQ45t]

Nope, you did not see those. There are ZERO Gabriel or others available, trust me. While sometimes you might see something listed when you try to order nothing will come. There are 2 options left, Stock or Coilovers. No mass produced options in aftermarket in the USA were ever availabe. KYB made a set for Cima in JDM (which I had to import) but never sold directly in US. This is the bane of the low production car.