Corroded Coil Springs - MoT Advisory

[Surfer62]

Hi All - just joined the club yesterday. I have a 2007 Yaris 1.3 VVTi SR 5dr. The past 2 MoT's flagged corroded coil springs. Oddly, one year flagged both front and rear pairs. But the most recent year flagged only the rear pair - same garage! Had a quick look at the rear pair and the final (lowest) coil of each spring looks heavily rusted. Been quoted £380 parts & labour to replace. If I can establish it is just surface rust, it'd obviously make sense to have the springs off, rust treat them and re-coat them. Would that realistically be achievable as a DIY job, when I'm someone with little mechanical knowledge (the YouTube videos make it look fairly easy!)  

[APS]

If these are the right ones then you might as well just replace them. Not worth bothering with the old ones. The rear springs are easiest to replace yourself. You need to have a good set of tools: hydraulic jack, jack stands, sockets, and somewhere with a level ground to work on. You undo the rear shock absorbers from within the boot to drop the rear torsion bar.

Do check the parts with your reg number to make sure they are correct.

 

[TonyHSD]

Better replace springs with new or just don’t touch them until gets broken and then replace. 
Corroded springs should not be re coated because they already have micro cracks in their stricture and they will break anyway. Coating them with a new paint will only accelerate the issue and not prevent it from happening. 
 

[Stivino]

Don't do anything until the spring breaks.

[wildtapholer]

I'm with Stivino on this one, leave well alone an advisory is just that, the person who advised the rust is just telling you that, there is some rust and is bringing it to your attention. A used Yaris we bought years ago, at it's first recall it was given an health check and needed nearly a thousand pounds to put right and we'd only owned it a month, a suspected leaking aircon(it wasn't) a rusted filler pipe, (the pipe under the car from the filler neck), etc etc they all rust after a time( I wire brushed it and repainted it) To remove them and repaint is a waste of time and only looks easy on the eye as the pitting is already there so wait till they need replacing.

[bathtub tom]

7 hours ago, Stivino said:

Don't do anything until the spring breaks.

You could give a liberal squirt of WD40 at the very top of the spring, so it runs all the way down the coils, coating all of it. It won't guarantee it not breaking, but it'll probably make it last a little longer.

[MikeSh]

13 hours ago, Surfer62 said:

Oddly, one year flagged both front and rear pairs. But the most recent year flagged only the rear pair - same garage!

Which shows the huge uncertainty in these advisories. If it's not a fail just wait.

 

13 hours ago, Surfer62 said:

If I can establish it is just surface rust, it'd obviously make sense to have the springs off, rust treat them and re-coat them.

Seriously? These aren't really expensive, so if you are going to the trouble of removing them just put new ones on. Be a helluva lot quicker, less trouble and probably not much more expensive.

[Eddiefh]

18 hours ago, Surfer62 said:

Hi All - just joined the club yesterday. I have a 2007 Yaris 1.3 VVTi SR 5dr. The past 2 MoT's flagged corroded coil springs. Oddly, one year flagged both front and rear pairs. But the most recent year flagged only the rear pair - same garage! Had a quick look at the rear pair and the final (lowest) coil of each spring looks heavily rusted. Been quoted £380 parts & labour to replace. If I can establish it is just surface rust, it'd obviously make sense to have the springs off, rust treat them and re-coat them. Would that realistically be achievable as a DIY job, when I'm someone with little mechanical knowledge (the YouTube videos make it look fairly easy!)  

Might be worth a second quote elsewhere as 380 seems a bit steep 

[Stivino]

Might be worth doing nothing, as there's nothing wrong with them.

It won't be serious rust, it will be oxidation, wait until they break which they might never do.