nitram38
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 01:51 PM |
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02 Smart car Spring change Fourtwo model
I have a twang noise from my front steering and appears its a fault on early smarts that the front springs break.
Looking on the internet there was a recall and my luck would have it that it ran out in 2009.
Lots of questions really.
Not much free time at the moment, 13hr shifts so I may need to get it done by a garage.
I'm not sure wether to replace all the springs with standard ones or a set of 25mm lower ones.
There are standard sets and lowered ones on ebay.
Anyone done either on a smart? Any pitfalls? Will the suspension need to be re-aligned? Any advice if I choose to do them myself?
Cheers Martin
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smart51
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 02:01 PM |
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ask on The Smart Club website. They were always knowledgable and helpful when I ran a smart.
Early smarts had a transverse leaf spring for front suspension. It was changed to coilovers for the MkV in around 2001. This raised the ride height
by 25mm to give more suspension travel for a (slightly) better ride. Threre were plenty of MkIV cars on sale "new" when I was looking for
mine so an 02 plate could be either. Which one do you have? (RHD are all MkV or later).
[Edited on 22-3-2011 by smart51]
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nitram38
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 02:07 PM |
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Its a RHD with coil springs, I'll take a look at the website thank you.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 02:11 PM |
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If your roads are anything like the ones down in the south-west then I wouldn't even consider lowered springs.
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nitram38
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 02:42 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
If your roads are anything like the ones down in the south-west then I wouldn't even consider lowered springs.
Different forums say different things, more concerned about cornering to be honest
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speedyxjs
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 03:02 PM |
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Any chance smart might honour a recall that has expired?
How long can i resist the temptation to drop a V8 in?
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nitram38
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 03:15 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
Any chance smart might honour a recall that has expired?
I called smart Croydon and they said no.
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dlatch
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 05:45 PM |
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i remember seeing one of these in at my mechanics having two new front springs as one had snapped
he said its a common problem
i have never seen such a tiny spring on a road car before 
i don't remember him complaining about doing the job so it must be pretty straight forward
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RazMan
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| posted on 22/3/11 at 06:01 PM |
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I had a broken spring on our ex Smart. No problem to change but if you go for lower springs you will need to readjust the camber and toe.
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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Marcus
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| posted on 23/3/11 at 07:23 PM |
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I thought the recall was for suspension links not springs (we had ours done a couple of years ago).
Maybe there was another one...
PS do you need a couple of wheels (Star type alloys)? 
Marcus
Because kits are for girls!!
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nitram38
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| posted on 24/3/11 at 06:22 AM |
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I've opted to buy the lowering springs, only 25mm lower. Springs are a bit firmer so I guess not as weak as the standard ones.
I'll get the tracking, toe and camber checked/adjusted afterwards. Not sure if you can change camber on the smart?
I've got mon-fri off next week so if its dry I'll do them. I'll get my trusty Rolson impact gun charged up ready!
Reading the forum suggested there is a clamp tool to hold the shock shaft in place to undo the turret nut. I'm hoping I can get the impact gun
in the space above it instead.
The rears look the easiest to do.
My main reason for getting the car was to save money on fuel. 50-60 mpg hopefully. Haven't recorded mileage yet but my fuel bill has halved
compared to my 2 ltr Peugeut 206 cc
Sorry don't need alloys. Sods law says I break one now!
[Edited on 24/3/2011 by nitram38]
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nitram38
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| posted on 2/4/11 at 02:46 PM |
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Got the springs changed yesterday and the car is transformed, feels a bit more planted in bends.
Seems to go over speed humps with less bounce.
The only thing I hadn't counted on was the bearings at the top of the shocks were knackered but they were ony £25 each.
So overall worth doing to keep the car safe
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