OME Springs are rusted, frustrated with ARB warranty support

TheJawsOfDeath · **Joined:** Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:56 am **Posts:** 305

Alright guys here's the situation. My OME springs are showing major rust. The paint/powdercoat is bubbled and flaking off of all of them. There really isnt a spot that doesnt have rust growing. In some areas the surface has completely come off, and the wire of the spring underneath is rusting pretty bad. Granted I do live in a state that salts the roads in the winter, but I wash the Jeep and pay special attention to the undercarriage at least once a week. The JBA A Arms I installed at the time of my lift dont have a speck of rust on them, for comparisons sake.

So I email JBA and tell them whats up, since thats where I bought my springs. They got back to me within a couple hours on email and directed me to the ARB warranty department. I called up ARB and the guy on the phone said that getting them replaced under warranty shouldnt be a problem, and if I send in pictures they could get new springs out without me having to send mine in first, so I dont have my vehicle taken apart while waiting for replacements. Great, sounds awesome. I take some good pictures, send it in, attach a copy of my original JBA email reciept, and wait...That was on July 1st.

On July 7th or 8th I give them another call, asking if theyve had a chance to do anything about it, the guy on the phone tells me that he has been out of the office, but asks my email address and apparently starts looking through the inbox right then and there. He said he sees my email and will get working on it. I thank him, and proceed to wait...some more...

Now its the 15th, 2 weeks after I sent the pictures of my springs, and I still havent heard one work back from ARB. I just sent another email. I wonder if I'll hear back from them anytime soon. I don't think I'm being unreasonable to at least get some kind of update or reply within two weeks of my first warranty authorization request in the email. I've seen plenty of broken coil springs take out tires or worse over the years, and It makes me pretty darn uncomfortable to have these still in my Jeep. Anyone else had issues with ARB customer service? Maybe I'm spoiled by how well JBA does things, by comparison.

DirtyKK · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:22 pm

how old are said springs?
lets see them pics...

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:54 pm

Interesting , one of my sets got some rust and I just painted them
:wink:

STINGN · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 3:29 pm

tommudd wrote:

Interesting , one of my sets got some rust and I just painted them
:wink:

yea, but a company like ARB should stand by their product and replace them...i mean, my range rover, being in chicago with snow and salt (everyone knows chicago vehicles are horrible underneath) the springs from arb lasted...my current ones are not holding up too well.

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 3:53 pm

Even seen stockers rust
does that mean Jeep should replace every set of stock rusted springs?

STINGN · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 3:57 pm

tommudd wrote:

Even seen stockers rust
does that mean Jeep should replace every set of stock rusted springs?

i was saying my OME spring for my range rover never rusted...and the weather in chicago is horrible enough to make them but they never did...but the ones on my liberty did within 6 months. I'm just saying thats kinda poor craftsmanship. my dads stock expedition springs never rusted either. but yes my stock liberty springs did. I'm defending the original poster in saying you should get what you pay for. and when you buy a jeep liberty for 20k brand new back in the day, then you get what you pay for compared to a 70k vehicle :ROTFL:

TheJawsOfDeath · **Joined:** Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:56 am **Posts:** 305

Springs are less than two years old. I'm not going to risk just painting them when my family rides in this vehicle and the metal of the spring is obviously corroding away. I've seen probably a dozen cars break coil springs and suffer damage from it. On the phone, the guy in the tech department seemed to think it'd be no problem to get them warrantied.

What you see is all rust, I cleaned up the springs before taking pics.

lfhoward · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 4:26 pm

I thought I had seen this before... http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66315
I think in that case OME sent a replacement pair of springs for no charge. You could PM the original poster to see if/how it was resolved.

DirtyKK · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 5:00 pm

Couple years old and a little surface rust. I think you're nitpicking. Take em out and paint them.

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 5:01 pm

Its all cool "IF" you take care of the undercarriage etc. I mean my first lift took over 95,000 to show any signs of rust then it was caused by spring/UCA hitting.
But just seems like too many don't take care of their rides and then complain that there is rust etc showing up.
But then I've been known to wax my springs before so.............................. :roll:

NewOldTimer · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 5:38 pm

TheJawsOfDeath wrote:

Springs are less than two years old. I'm not going to risk just painting them when my family rides in this vehicle and the metal of the spring is obviously corroding away. I've seen probably a dozen cars break coil springs and suffer damage from it. On the phone, the guy in the tech department seemed to think it'd be no problem to get them warrantied.

What you see is all rust, I cleaned up the springs before taking pics.

Mine aren't as old as your, and look far worse.
Let's hear it for Chicago winters & road salt!!

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:18 pm

I don't really see a problem there. But the lack of response is another issue.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:19 pm

I can see the frustration with waiting for a answer but come on anything that is powder coated and subjected to extreme temps,salt,being sand blasted(while driving),and constantly moving yes that powder coating will fail sooner or later.

Spring steel is pretty stout and maybe have seen one actual failure due to corrosion in 20 years.Seen many spring failures from a defect in the steel but like stated only 1 from actual corrosion.

TheJawsOfDeath · **Joined:** Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:56 am **Posts:** 305

tjkj2002 wrote:

I can see the frustration with waiting for a answer but come on anything that is powder coated and subjected to extreme temps,salt,being sand blasted(while driving),and constantly moving yes that powder coating will fail sooner or later.

Spring steel is pretty stout and maybe have seen one actual failure due to corrosion in 20 years.Seen many spring failures from a defect in the steel but like stated only 1 from actual corrosion.

Right, but I'm not sure how to tell at this point as to how far the springs will go. Most of the breaks I've seen are in Fords (especially in the rear of a taurus), several chevys, and the rest Audis (like early 2000 a4 and a6).

Here's a picture I just took of one of my OEM front springs. Its basically rust free. For the OME to be in much worse shape after 10k miles than the stock ones were after 55k miles? There's gotta be something wrong with how they were finished.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:04 pm

TheJawsOfDeath wrote:

Here's a picture I just took of one of my OEM front springs. Its basically rust free. For the OME to be in much worse shape after 10k miles than the stock ones were after 55k miles? There's gotta be something wrong with how they were finished.

OEM springs are expoxy coated,much more durable finish.Powder coating is one of the worst finishes for automotive use.

TheJawsOfDeath · **Joined:** Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:56 am **Posts:** 305

tjkj2002 wrote:

TheJawsOfDeath wrote:

Here's a picture I just took of one of my OEM front springs. Its basically rust free. For the OME to be in much worse shape after 10k miles than the stock ones were after 55k miles? There's gotta be something wrong with how they were finished.

OEM springs are expoxy coated,much more durable finish.Powder coating is one of the worst finishes for automotive use.

Didn't know that about the stock ones. I did get an email back from a manager at ARB, who asked for my shipping address and said that he would process the warranty claim. He said that the person who normally does that is at a competition. That explains the delay, and it seems as though they are going to help me out here. I wonder if it would be wise to epoxy coat over the powdercoat, before installing them? Something like VHT epoxy paint maybe...

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:22 pm

If you want it to last you need to media blast the coils then have them epoxy coated with good epoxy paint made for springs.

JeepCoMj · **Joined:** Fri Feb 22, 2013 11:54 pm **Posts:** 161

I can't believe you're bothering the company to warranty them.

Never seen a failure on coil springs from corrosion. From hard use, maybe, but not corrosion. IDK what kind of person you are....but you don't normally look under the vehicle, and if you do, seems to me that with the climate you are in you could try washing the underbody at a self wash once a week.

I'm in WI, we use more salt than you where I'm at. Once a week, I truly wash my vehicle in the winter. The other time (weekly) I just spray it all off to keep the salt from sticking. costs me 30 minutes of my time weekly to wash, and about $5 at the self wash.

TheJawsOfDeath · **Joined:** Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:56 am **Posts:** 305

JeepCoMj wrote:

I can't believe you're bothering the company to warranty them.

Never seen a failure on coil springs from corrosion. From hard use, maybe, but not corrosion. IDK what kind of person you are....but you don't normally look under the vehicle, and if you do, seems to me that with the climate you are in you could try washing the underbody at a self wash once a week.

I'm in WI, we use more salt than you where I'm at. Once a week, I truly wash my vehicle in the winter. The other time (weekly) I just spray it all off to keep the salt from sticking. costs me 30 minutes of my time weekly to wash, and about $5 at the self wash.

What kind of person I am?? I'm a professional (ASE, Audi, VW, Mercedes-Benz and Sprinter certified) auto tech. I "normally look under the vehicle" all day every day, buddy. I've seen multiple coil spring failures, and every one that did was rusted to hell. Seen broken coils go through the sidewall of a tire, seen them take out brake hoses. Not something I'm gonna gamble with. Now if it were just some light surface rust, maybe I'd just repaint them. But the powdercoat has completely come off in places and the bare metal is getting real rusty. I wash my Jeep religiously, more so in the winter, especially the undercarriage. So if I see something questionable, I'm going to address it right away. And if that issue is under warranty then I sure as hell AM going to "bother the company" to fix it.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:07 am

I think there might have been an issue with the powdercoat for some of their springs. My first set of 927s rusted out within a few months, I emailed arb asking if it would eventually be a safety issue. They just asked to see an invoice and sent me new ones. I will always choose arb if I have an option now.

Edit: The second set still looks new.

OME Springs are rusted, frustrated with ARB warranty support

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