Real Coil Springs - not correctly located

My sisters car (MK1 Cab 1989)has just failed its MOT due to:

"Rear coil springs not correctly located"

It has SPAX 40mm springs on the back, tester said that when car is jacked up the springs fall out of the locator, recommends fitting new springs.

Is this correct, or can this be fixed without spending £120 on new springs + £80, I read on the SPAX site that if this happens a shortened damper is required?

Any cheaper spring options? My sis has 3 kids and does want to spend a fortune getting car through MOT, how easy is it to DIY spring replace, I dont have a spring compressor is it possible without?
cheers
danny

Did she buy it recently or did she replace the springs herself? Springs need to be matched to dampers, to prevent the above scenario occurring. So she could replace the dampers with shortened ones or replace the springs with standard length ones. Remember to match the front to rear too.

abc def

I'm not 100% sure but I think the rears can be done without spring compressory. As I say, not 100% so don't just go merrily undoing it then zebedee launches itself 20 feet into the sky - hopefully someone else can confirm!!!

Hey Paul, cheers for the reply

She's had it almost a year, so first MOT she's put it through, its been SORN'd for a good 6 months. The springs were on it when she purchased it, in fact she still has the invoice - I'll check through the paperwork to see if the dampers were replaced too - I suspect maybe not.

What would be the cheaper route? To replace the correct dampers (I guess as it only failed on the rear, would need 2 dampers) or replace with standard springs (guess would need to do all 4)?

How do I find dampers that match the rear springs?

It depends what's on the front. If there's lowered springs + shocks at the front, then the cheapest route would be 2x rear shocks.

If the car is otherwise standard, then standard springs.

To be honest, we'd need to see the car - it should be fairly obvious if its lowered at one end or the other though.

Springs tend to cost a bit less than shock absorbers.

I'll try and get some pics this afternoon

If it was lowered at the back and standard at the front, it would be pointed skywards!

Sounds like a set of shorter sports dampers will sort it out.
You won't need spring compressors to remove as it has just failed on the springs falling out of their seats!

I had a set of cut springs on standard dampers in my youth. I took a roundabout rather ambitiously one day and the spring on the inside rear dropped out as the car was unweighted on that corner. As I came out of the roundabout, the spring didn't seat properly and nearly sent me spinning the other way! It can afect handling in a big way, which is why this is an MOT fail!