Caroline wrote:
> For a 91 Civic LX Sedan, 157k miles, original springs and shock absorbers:
>
> 1.
> If a car definitely has one "failed" suspension spring, do people here advise
> replacing both this one and the one on the other side, even if the other side
> appears to show no damage?

if a spring has "failed", the coil wire has fatigued and broken. unless
you have just a few inches fail off one end of the coil, [unusual] the
whole thing will collapse and the suspension will drop to the bump stop.

the #1 candidate for what you describe is crash damage. unfortunately,
the crumple zones, both front & rear on this car, when activated, will
change the shock tower height. if you disassemble both rear
shock/spring assemblies, chances are, the free length of each spring is
within 1/2", factory spec.

there is a small chance that the springs have taken a "set", but that's
really rare because it requires yielding, and the springs operate well
within their elastic zone.

final possibility is that the rubbers for the mounts have at some point
been disassembled and put back wrong. or that excessive pounding has
somehow fatigued them. the rubber on the coil you mention is simply to
quiet the coils when they touch - only on the rears as they have a
"progressive" spring rating.

>
> Or, given the age of this car and that for most of its life it has been driven
> in the winter-salty Northern U.S., would many of you old hands just say: Splurge
> and replace all four spring and shock assemblies?
>
> Or just replace all four springs, if the shock assemblies appear fine?
>
> Here's the situation:
>
> The rear left (= driver's) side is lower than the right side by 3/4 to 1 inch. I
> am almost certain that this is due to having a very large, overweight person
> sitting in the car's back, left, passenger seat briefly about 2.75 years ago, as
> the next day it looked tilted as I describe above. It has remained so ever
> since.
>
> The rubber casing at the top spring coils in the rear left is broken in a few
> places. The metal beneath looks fine. On the other side, the rubber casing
> appears to be intact.
>
> The noises from the car don't seem particularly bad. There are some creaks when
> I get in and out to drive it, but otherwise, nothing leaps out at me as
> particularly suspect. (I am a slim person; 120 pounds or so.)
>
> I hope to drive this car in comfort (physical and financial) for at least five
> more years. I'd like to break 250k miles on it. I do my own repairs on it.
> Recently I learned how to replace (and participated in same) a MacPherson strut,
> including overhaul using a spring compressor.
>
> 2.
> Advice on which spring compressor to seek is also welcome. I have the general
> idea of these but am not sure Autozone's loaners will be sufficient.

anything works provided it fits the coil, and the rears on the '91 are
/real/ tight. the best type of compressor is where the ends of the
spring are compressed, not rolls of the actual coil.

>
> 3.
> Lastly, can I get away with Non-OEM springs, shocks, and bushings, given that I
> expect to keep this 42 mpg car only about five more years?

much cheaper to go with oem from a junk yard. it's hard to get non-oem
that don't lower 'cos that's where the market is with civics.

>
> TIA
>
>