PatsLs1vette

i put one in a 68 vette a few weeks back and it broke today splintered like a bunch of match sticks.im changing it back friday for the steel one to get him back on the road till mad does something.

flood

Thats scary, I was thinking of going to a fiberglass spring. Hmmmm :confused:

mrvette

I have had my VBP fiber spring in there since '95, and it's still ok....knock on wood....I hear the TRW springs sometimes not as good....but no personal experience.....

GENE

My69

Thats awful. I think I will stay with the steel. :auto:

jpatrick636

Have had several VB&P glass springs. No Problems. What kind was it?


[Modified by jpatrick636, 6:20 PM 9/24/2003]

PatsLs1vette

vb&p and no it wasnt the one you sold me :D :thumbs: it was rated at 300 and he only drives it easy no getting on it hes 62.

1Bad69

yup...i had one in the car when i bought it...cracked it...went back to a steel one...

mrvette

Pat, I sold you sway bars, not springs...!!!

GENE

PatsLs1vette

lol no i i meant jpatrick636 :D gene your ok in my book :thumbs:


[Modified by patsnitrovette, 6:28 PM 9/24/2003]

81vette

I ran a VBP fiberglass spring on my car for about 3 years before I began the rebuild. I had no problems, and plan to re-install later. Just make sure you have a heat shield between the exhaust and fiberglass spring.

:cheers:

Mark

killain

I never heard of a TRW spring breaking. But I have heard of some of the other brand of fiberglas springs snapping due to over heating and or being deeply scratched like by a floor jack. I've had the one on my car for close to nine years now and I have never worried about it. It's a TRW with the wide steel reenforced ends. I hope it didn't do any damage. :cry


[Modified by killain, 6:59 PM 9/24/2003]

SharkByte

I rebuilt the rear end of my 81' early in 2001. When the original fiberglass leaf was taken out it literally fell apart into two pieces. I have no idea how long it had been broken but the bracket that holds it on the car was the only thing holding it together. The one I replaced it with is still holding up just fine though.

PatsLs1vette

well this one lasted 3 weeks and broke 3 inch from the middle of the mounting points.

81vette

Well there's the problem Pat. The instructions clearly state, "it's the owners responsiblity to keep the fiberglass spring cool by exercising controlled, full throttle, sprints to a minimum of 70 MPH on a REGULAR basis!"

Geeze...doesn't anyone read the instructions anymore? :D


Mark

vettfixr

Pat, I've had a TRW spring on mine for over 10 years and it's been great. I've heard a lot about problems with the VB&P springs but not many problems with the TRW .

mrvette

Fixr, I wonder what the failure is for these things??? we all doing mods, and so maybe, just maybe the failure rate is up because of something we did...???

Dunno....I think the failure rate by the very nature of it's construction allmost has to be higher than a piece of steel.....but then again, broken leaf springs are a daily occurance too....funny I never hear of a broken coil spring though....hummmm???

so I guess we either get good ones or not.....BTW, MY exhaust is a 'lo rider'....
no shields....it's not TOO scratched up......

but those scratches such as they are, show it's much loved.... :D :D :skep:

GENE

vettfixr

I don't know the answer to that Gene. I do know that the TRW spring is very different than the VB&P spring. I just bought the front monospring conversion for mine and the spring seems very stiff compared to the TRW that I have on the back. Even their rear springs are different than the TRW. The TRW spring is quite wide on the ends and thin and flexes very easy. The ends also have steel reinforcements. As I said before I've had mine for over ten years with no problems. I replaced a steel spring that broke while I was driving. That's a pucker 8 if I ever had one.

Smokehouse69

Over three years ago when I joined the forum, one of the first posts I read was about a fractured fiberglass spring. This topic keeps coming up from time to time and the common factor that seems run through these failures is is heat from the exhaust system.
It seems if the exhaust pipe comes too close to the spring it will weaken it and the spring will shatter.
I really don't think it matters who the spring comes from, although there was a spate of failures on TRW springs a couple of years back. The only springs that don't seem to fail in standard service are the original fiber springs installed on the 81-82 Corvettes, let me rephrase that, they don't usually fail in the same place as the aftermarket springs. If they fail, most of the time it is dead in the center of the spring.
If you put a spring in then make sure that there is plenty of space between it and the exhaust. Place some sort of heat shield between the pipes and the springs.

flynhi

I've been using glass springs for 15 years. I've used 3 VB springs - 2 rear and one front. I've also used a TRW rear.

I've only had one problem - my ace mechanic (Bubba) broke a VB rear while on a "test" drive. I think it was physically damaged by bottoming out. This damage began a crack that grew to a ragged break.

So, I think that if you keep 'em cool and don't damage them by bottoming out or hitting something, I think you will have very good service from glass springs.

Steve Grodin

12 years on my VB rear spring. I did have one of the spring bolts break, last year, that was installed at the same time as the spring. :chevy