2003 Megane suspension coil - fitted upside down?

[__spc__]

I'll skip a very long story.

My garage today stripped down and rebuilt my front o/s suspension.

They said that my (previous) other garage had fitted the coil spring upside down. Is this possible? (I though they were symmetrical..?)

Any ideas? I want to claim today's garage bill off my previous garage/mechanics!

[davelowe]

I've previously removed the spring from my front struts but never removed them from the spring compressors. From distant memory, the coils seemed to be identical. The only thing I remember about the episode was that they needed to be seated correctly at the top and bottom.

Lots of people here have lowered their cars, so will have better input than me.

[malcf]

I have just replaced a front coil spring and even after viewing the two springs side by side rebuilt it and found it was upside down so had to strip it again to correct it, the coils dont align parallel to the shock absorber body when the coil compressors are removed, the ends are near identical, it would be a lot easier if they marked them top and bottom.

[__spc__]

I went to Renault UK with my issue - 2 Renault garages disputing whether a coil can be fitted incorrectly or not.

Renault UK agreed with my second garage that a coil can be fitted upside down.

Because the first garage is now no longer a Renault service centre, Renault UK gave me the cost of the second garage rebuilding my suspension correctly towards some other work - £135.

It is possible, as advised by garage 2, that the incorrectly fitted coil caused my steering rack to fail. in fact, since the coil was fitted, I have had two racks fail. Sadly, Renault UK considered this and decided not to help me replace it.