I had a metallic clanging in the front end of the 2008 Nissan Altima. Pulled the front driver side wheel and found this laying in the bottom of the strut. It’s the bottom coil of the spring. I measured the height on both sides and, to my surprise, they were exactly the same. The question is, do I replace the springs or not? The struts are still good (98K miles on car), and the springs appear to be dealer-only parts. No complete strut assemblies seem to be available.
Deleted my comment; I was looking at the wrong year! Sorry!
Yes, you should replace both springs… one broke, the other may not be far behind. You may not measure much of a “tilt” but the front tires aren’t pressing to the ground with the same force. The handling will be affected but probably not by much.
Replacement struts for this car are $105 apiece and I did not find any springs listed on Rockauto. You could buy the springs at a dealer and take them to your friendly independent service shop to have them installed. The tech can check the steering bearings and top mounts at the same time to see if all is well. If the struts show no signs of leakage and the chrome is still shiny and not scratched on the rods, put 'em back in. To bad you can’t buy the assemblies with all that put together, ready to go. I couldn’t find any either.
Yep, new springs and struts in the front for you. It’ll affect handling and you’re going to have to do it sooner or later whether at 125K, 150K, etc., so what’s the point in waiting?
$400 in parts and several hours of my time in cold weather are the only obstacles!
If you don’t replace it. all of the forces that were distributed among the portion of the coil that was in contact with the mount wil not be concentrated on one tiny point. And rather than impact being absorbed by the spring in a controlled manner, it’ll be suddenly loaded onto that small point.
I vote to replace them both. It’ll keep the suspension balanced. Springs should always be replaced in pairs.
Agree, new springs and struts. At 100k I’d replace the struts, all the labor will be used to get the springs off anyway. It’s odd that Rockauto doesn’t have springs, but the dealer should.
I’d also carefully inspect the rear springs and struts/shocks, they may need attention sooner rather than later.
You’re lucky you just lost a coil, others have had the broken spring cause a blowout.
Agree w/others, safety concerns, good idea to replace left and right springs.
The sway bar may be holding the car level.
Napa might have them
When 1 coil broke on my Corolla, I went to Napa to get a set. The price was quite fair
Nope, Napa doesn’t have 'em. Dealer price is $98 each.
$98 each at the dealer sounds pretty reasonable
Replace struts and springs. In time the remainder of the spring may protrude out and puncture your tire.
There’s an online parts store “autopartswarehouse” that shows MOOG springs available for about 85 dollars a pair; either front or rear and shows to be in-stock items.
Something for consideration anyway if they don’t try to make up for the price with inflated shipping charges.
Hmm. Can’t find them on their website.
Yeah, I couldn’t find them on that website, or ANY website, for that matter
Dealer only, it seems, as you guys said
I can’t explain that. The same search does not show anything other than the struts themselves or strut mounts; no coil springs. It’s now showing only 2006 and earlier. ???
The page that pulled up showed multiple listings for an '08 for both front and rears. Will take another stab at it and see what happens.
The Altima was redone in 2007.
I can’t find that page. I did find another and some digging led to a listing for an '08 Altima but when pushed that listing led nowhere as those springs shown to be for a 2008 were actually for a 2006. Looks like this may be a dealer only item due to the newness of the car. In a few years the aftermarket may catch up and start producing those springs.
Any spring makers in your area? There is, or was, a spring company in OK City (City Spring Works) for a lot of years that would make springs out of wire stock. They had tons of spring wire and bending machines. They would poke a few buttons based on the wire gauge and number of coils, feed the wire in, and minutes later a completed, curled spring to fit would spiral out of the other side.
@ok4450 I sure appreciate you trying to find them. As a matter of fact, there is (or was) a local spring shop. Maybe when these @#$% snow storms stop for a while I’ll look into it. Thanks!