I don't know about VT, but here in Upstate NY (road salt - everything rusts) my '91 Civic front springs actually cracked. I didn't want lowering springs - any lower and I can't get into my driveway at the end of the day from all the snow. I couldn't find OEM springs on the internet and no luck at the junkyards either (no cars left, or bad springs on them). Finally found new at local NAPA and weren't that expensive that I recall.