Springs

Springs all have one thing in common; they are made of specially formulated steel which is tempered to prevent it from loosing the shape it is bent into when "sprung." For this reason, a spring will compress or extend and then return almost entirely to it original shape. There are two kinds of springs, leaf springs and coil springs. Springs have life spans that are determined by the number of cycles they can withstand over a certain period of time. Occasionally a spring will break on a car while it is being driven. This doesn't usually lead to a collision, but if a spring breaks while you are driving , the car will suddenly lurch downward-- you've got yourself a low-rider! The bottom of the car might be damaged, or you might lose your muffler! Leaf springs are made of individual springs, or plates. If you break one plate of your leaf-spring, it won't be noticeable, but your car might begin to lean to one side or the other. Coil springs, if they break, will suddenly drop the front or rear end of your car and impair driving under the normal conditions of full suspension travel. Usually the springs surround the shock absorbers, because space can be saved by putting the shock absorber inside the spring. The spring on a MacPherson strut suspension rotates along with the strut body itself; it pivots on a bearing mounted to the wheel well. Some springs have adjustment dials mounted between them and their mounting points. This allows the mechanic to increase the spring tension and the ride height, you desire. This type of spring is usually used only in high performance cars, because it allows the raising and lowering of suspension system's height. The suspension system is lowered for competitive events and then raised afterwards. This way, the car can be driven normally and deal with road hazards such as speed bumps.