Broken Rear Spring

[96VetteOKC]

Hate for this to be my first post, but here goes...

Just driving down the street yesterday, hear a sound like a branch snapping, and the rear end of the car drops like a rock. Crawl under it and look, and the rear spring is splintered all to hell. Completely confused as to why this would have happened. The car only has 60K on it, and has never been abused/raced. It has FE1 base suspension.

I've got a line on a RHY coded spring, and also a RHZ spring. What is the difference between the two, and will there be any adverse handling effects in having a stiffer rear spring in conjunction with a soft ride front spring?

Also, is there anything else under the car I should be paying attention to/looking at, that might have been a contributing factor to this mishap? As stated previously, this car has never been abused in any way shape or form. This makes no sense to me.

Thank you very much in advance.

Larry Klimper

 

[Hib Halverson]

Composite leaf springs rarely fail. They have proven more durable than the steel springs used in the C2/3 cars.

That said, never say "Never." If a composite spring fails it's going to be one of the conditions which cause it

1) defect. The spring may have had some hidden defect and after 60,000 miles that caused it to splinter.
2) Previous damage. If the spring had impact damage--say from road debris or improper service procedures--that could cause it to fail.
3) Exposure to high temperature can also cause the plastic spring to fail.

Buy the RHZ spring. That's the 94-96 base rear spring. The RHY is a higher rate rear spring from the FE7 suspension used by Z51s.

Do not mix base and Z51 springs. The car's handing and ride will suffer.

 

[96VetteOKC]

Thank you!

 

[boomdriver]

Thank you!

exposure to degreasers, wheel cleaners that contain phosphoric acid, and other automotive cleaners and solvents cause the resin in the composite to degrade and suddenly crack/splinter.

GM sent a service bulletin on this.

Be sure to get some shims with the replacement spring....there is no gaurentee that your current set of shims will be enough with the new spring. Also, do a search for C4 Spring Rate Chart and get the entire list. Use the arc to compare....the more arc the softer the spring. The closer to flat, the harder/stiffer/faster the spring. I installed an '84 Z-51 spring in mine when I cracked my rear.




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