Probably a silly question, but is the angle of the lower mounting plate (where the springs sits) the same on all dampers?

One of the springs on my Grande punto snapped (with less than 25K miles on it!) so I'm trying to replace the complete spring and damper on both sides. I didn't want to fit the same crappy Fiat springs so got some Sachs springs from Eurocarparts. Also ordered new dampers and top mounts from shop4parts.

Took all the bits to local garage yesterday and they fitted the springs and top mounts to the dampers, but the guy thought the springs were wrong as the top mount is sitting at a weird angle which really doesn't look right, as you can see in the following pics:





The Sachs boxes for the springs have the correct part number and label saying they're for a Grande Punto 1.4 , also I went to my local Eurocarparts this morning and asked to see another set of the same springs (just in case the wrong springs were in the box originally) but they look identical to the ones I've had fitted.

So , could the dampers be wrong? It's really the angle that the bottom of the spring meets the mounting plate on the damper that's causing it to run "off straight" and end up so bent like that at the top... so do I need matching Sachs dampers or should the mounting plate be the same on all dampers?

Any suggestions welcome.

I thought you were trying to mix and match different parts from different models, but you're not?!

It does look strange, but you haven't fitted the top mount yet. Is there no pre load for the spring?

Do the springs fit the other way up and are they square ended. I.e. if you stood the springs on the ground would they point straight up?

There's nothing to adjust so I don't think there's any pre-load to change.

Yes, with the damper not actually fitted it's hard to say if the extra weight of the car will push the top mount flat, that was the one thing the guy at the garage said made him think they may be OK although it seemed unlikely.

The springs don't fit the other way, the top end where it fits around the top mount is flat (and they would probably stand upright on a flat surface that way around) but spirals inwards to the size of the top mount. The bottom end is wider and not flat and was much more steeply angled than the grove in the lower mounting plate on the damper.

Shop4parts have said that Sachs don't make springs for the 1.4 Grande Punto (and to be fair I can't find them listed on the Sachs site either) so not quite sure where Eurocarparts got them.

Have now ordered a set of Killen springs from shot4parts that they say will fit the dampers properly, so we'll see how that goes.

Forgot to update this, but if anyone is interested... turns out that it was fine at the strange angle and the original fiat springs/dampers are just the same.