SACHS, KILEN, LESJOFORS coil springs - same company?

[jollymisfit]

PLEASE HELP ME SOLVE THIS MYSTERY.

So im back again, decided to dust off the B6 after all the hassle ive had with it since owning it, took it for an MOT and it failed due to the tip (very last 1 inch) of the rear coil spring broken. If i had a pound for every complaint ive read about broken coil springs on VW, AUDI and Skodas!!......

So as mine has factory sports suspension, i cannot just buy a standard coil spring, stealerships quoted me £101 + vat per spring, parts only, no surprise there then. I phoned around and established that there are only a few manufacturers that make a coil spring for a 3c5 Variant (which is the estate) with sports suspension. I settled on Lesjofors as that was what Kwik Fit were installing at the time of the MOT failure. I could not find one for love nor money anywhere in stock, so after calling Lesjofors and ordering them from ECP, what arrived today were 2 springs in SACHS boxes, no markings on the springs apart from a green 5 digit stamp, no colour codes on them at all either. Confused, i called Lesjofors again and they assured me that these are the right springs despite them being in SACHS boxes. But they couldnt tell me why they were in SACHS boxes!!

Now i am totally confused as I thought SACHS were a seperate company. Upon further investigation around the internet and calling local motor factors, i learned that SACHS dont make coil springs anymore. I popped into a local motor factor and took a nose at a boxed KILEN spring only to find that same 5 digit green stamp nn the spring. So after all this sleuthing, its leading me to believe that there is only one factory in Europe somewhere making coil springs for VAG, and they are being distributed under the 3 brands aforementioned.

Any thoughts my bredren? Or can anyone shine any light on this mystery?

I really would like to know that I am buying the real deal, and not some chinese cheap knock off.....