Standard Height Springs with Fitting Position Front Axle

Standard height springs return a vehicle to the ride height it left the factory with, without changing anything else about how it sits.

They are what most vehicles actually need, since the usual problem is springs that have sagged rather than a vehicle that needs lifting or lowering.

Why Standard Height Springs Rather Than Raised or Lowered

Factory ride height is not an arbitrary number. Camber, caster, driveline angles, bump stop clearance and suspension travel are all designed around it, and every one of those moves when the height changes.

A vehicle sitting at its specified height has its alignment where the manufacturer intended, its shocks working through the range they were valved for, and its travel split between bump and droop the way it was designed to be.

Standard height springs put all of that back where it belongs. The vehicle drives the way it did when it was new rather than the way it has slowly become.

Raised and lowered springs are for people deliberately changing how the vehicle sits and accepting the follow-on work that comes with it. If you simply want the vehicle back to where it should be, standard height is the correct purchase and the cheaper one, since nothing else needs correcting afterwards.

How to Tell If Your Springs Have Sagged

Sagging is the most common spring fault and the hardest to notice, because it happens over years rather than overnight.

• The vehicle looking lower than it used to, particularly at the rear
• One corner or one side sitting visibly lower than the others
• A noticeably larger gap above one tyre than the opposite one
• Bottoming out over bumps the vehicle used to absorb
• Reduced clearance between the tyre and the guard when loaded
• An alignment that will not hold its settings between services
• Uneven tyre wear with no worn components to explain it
• The vehicle feeling harsher, since a sagged spring runs closer to its bump stops

Most people adapt to sag as it develops and only register it once new springs go in. Photographs of the vehicle from a year or two earlier are often more revealing than memory.

Measuring Ride Height Properly

A measurement settles it where a visual check leaves you guessing, and it takes a few minutes.

Park the vehicle somewhere genuinely level before you start. A driveway with any slope in it will give you a result that means nothing.

Set the tyres to their correct pressures first, since an underinflated tyre reads as a sagged spring.

Measure from the centre of the wheel hub vertically to the lip of the guard above it, at all four corners. That is the standard reference point and the one workshop specifications use.

Compare left to right at each axle before comparing to anything else. A difference between sides on the same axle points at a spring, since both have carried the same vehicle over the same roads.

Then compare front to rear against the manufacturer's figure for your vehicle. A reduction of even 15 percent produces noticeable sag and is enough to move the alignment.

Do it with the vehicle in its normal state, carrying whatever it usually carries, rather than stripped out for the measurement.

Matching Standard Height Springs to the Factory Specification

Standard height springs need to match the original rate, not just the original height.

Factory spring rate varies more than people expect within a single model. Engine size, drivetrain, transmission and trim level all change what the spring carries, and manufacturers specify different rates accordingly.

Rates can also differ left to right on the same vehicle, since the engine is frequently offset and the weight distribution is not symmetrical.

That is why a spring listed for your model is not necessarily the spring for your car. Check the variant, the engine and whether the vehicle has a factory sports or heavy duty suspension package.

A spring that does not match the original rate either rides harshly or sags under the load it was meant to carry, and neither is what you bought standard height springs for.

When Standard Height Is the Wrong Choice

Worth naming, because standard height springs do not suit every vehicle.

A vehicle carrying permanent accessory weight is the clearest case. Fitting standard springs to a 4WD with a steel bull bar, a winch and a dual battery returns the vehicle to factory height on paper and sits it low in practice, because the spring was never rated for that weight.

The same applies at the rear on anything running a canopy, drawers or a permanent tray load. Standard rear springs will sag under it within months.

Towing regularly is the third case worth naming. A vehicle that spends real time hitched sits better on a spring rated for the ball weight rather than one rated for an empty tray.

If any of those describe your vehicle, a heavy duty or raised spring at the correct load rating will give you factory ride height under your actual load, which is what you were after in the first place.

Standard height springs are the right answer for a vehicle that is essentially as it left the showroom and has simply aged.

What Shortens Coil Spring Life

Springs typically last somewhere between 100,000 and 160,000 kilometres, with plenty going the life of the vehicle. Four things shorten that figure, and they work together rather than separately.

Road conditions do the most damage of the four. Potholes, gravel, corrugations and speed humps all cycle the spring harder than smooth bitumen, and a vehicle that lives on rough roads fatigues its springs faster.

Load is the second factor working against them. Carrying weight permanently or towing regularly keeps the spring working closer to its limit, which accelerates fatigue.

Climate matters considerably more than most people think. Salt, coastal air and water crossings corrode the steel, and corrosion pitting creates the stress point a spring eventually cracks from. This one operates on time rather than distance.

Driving habits are the last of the four. Hard cornering and heavy braking load the springs repeatedly, while smooth driving asks less of them.

Inspecting Standard Height Springs

With the vehicle supported and the suspension unloaded, a visual check tells you a lot.

Look along the full length of each spring for cracks, particularly near the ends where the stress is highest. A snapped coil is usually obvious as a gap or a dropped end.

Check the full length for rust, flaking and pitting. Surface rust is cosmetic, but pitting that has eaten into the wire is a crack waiting to happen.

Look at where the spring seats, top and bottom. A spring that has shifted out of position, or one sitting on a perished insulating pad, will make noise and wear its seat.

Check the mounts and spring seats themselves for corrosion, since a rusted seat is a safety issue on a component carrying the vehicle's weight.

If anything looks marginal, measure the ride height as well. Springs fatigue before they crack, so a spring that looks fine can still be well past its best.

Replacing Standard Height Springs in Pairs or All Four

Springs go in as a pair across an axle, and that is not a rule worth bending.

Fitting one new spring against one that has done 150,000 kilometres gives the vehicle two different rates on the same axle. It leans, it handles differently in each direction, and the new spring wears unevenly because it is carrying more than its share.

Whether to do all four depends on the vehicle's age. On anything with high kilometres showing general suspension fatigue, doing both axles at once makes sense, since the rear springs are the same age as the fronts and the labour overlaps.

Shocks are worth considering at the same time. They wear on a similar timeline, the access is shared, and new springs working through tired dampers will not give you the result the springs were bought for.

Fitting Standard Height Springs and Remeasuring After They Settle

Compressed coil springs hold serious stored energy and releasing one unexpectedly causes severe injury, which is why spring work belongs in a workshop.

Replace the spring seat insulating pads while access is available. They are inexpensive, they perish on the same timeline as the spring, and a failed pad lets the spring contact metal and produces a noise people then blame on the new spring.

Have a wheel alignment done afterwards in every case. Returning the vehicle to its correct ride height changes camber and toe immediately, and the whole point of restoring the height is to get the geometry back where it belongs.

Measure the ride height again once the springs have settled, which takes a few hundred kilometres. New springs sit slightly high initially and take their set shortly after.

Suspension has been Fulcrum's trade since 1976, through 16 Service Centres and more than 200 authorised workshops around the country. Our Click and Fit service includes a wheel alignment and a free suspension check after 1,000km, which is about when a new spring has settled.

Find Standard Height Springs for Your Vehicle

Select your vehicle to see the standard height coil springs available for it, in front and rear fitments. Check the variant and engine against the listing, since factory rates differ within the same model. Warranty and a fitment guarantee come with everything, and there is a workshop network behind it.