Budget shock absorbers

[Simon H]

I have a 97 Chim 4L with 3 leaky shockers.

I want to source a set of new units - I'm not intending to go mad on the track and do approx 4000 miles/year on the road so ultimate performance is not too important.

I have had a quote for some Spax units at £100 a corner (supply only)... Is this as good as it gets or could anybody enlighten me?

[chimburt]

AVOs at £90 ea.
peninsula in the sw

www.peninsulaautomotive.co.uk

[M@H]

I have the Spax RSX shocks on the front of mine and they do seem pretty good to me.. for an adjustable hight and damping shock absorber I wouldn't want to go too cheap.. afterall they are there to serve a critical purpose..

Cheers,
Matt

>> Edited by M@H on Thursday 13th November 16:22

[chimburt]

well, just to put things in perspective, when i was in a vw, koni adjustable front, fixed rear gas shocks £40 ea.

[19560]

Do a search. I think that The Gamekeeper is selling them at £60 or £65 a corner. Jonathan

[joospeed]

check the archives for mismatching dampers and spring rates.

[GreenV8S]

You need to either get ones specifically sized and rated to suit the car, or get adjustable ones. I don't know of anyone selling non-adjustable aftermarket dampers suitable for TVRs. This suggests that you need to go adjustable, which rules out all the really cheap options.

I went down this route a few years ago and started at the bottom of the price range and gradually worked my way up to the current Nitrons. At first glance one damper might seem the same as any other, but I've found the very cheap dampers are a waste of money, the performance and reliability just isn't acceptable (to me, anyway). If you can afford it (and bear in mind what your car is worth and how much you are paying per mile to drive it, do you *really* want to do this on the cheap?) it is worth spending the extra to get good quality dampers. As well as being far better to drive they should last longer and will be rebuildable, reducing your future maintenance costs.

[Pies]

Just one other thing they are what keeps the wheeels on the road

[HarryW]

Peter are AVO's really that bad , I am considering next years change's/improvements and am finding it very hard to justify more than twice the price for the Nitrons over the AVO's.
Isn't half the problem that the springs need to be matched better to the car/shocks. Therefore a well matched set of springs coupled with semi-decent shocks, such as AVO's, are a big improvement over standard, or am I just more confused than normal .

Harry

[GreenV8S]

Well I hated those AVOs so much I took them off and sent them back as not fit for purpose. Maybe if you get the right spec they're OK, I just wasn't prepared to take the risk bearing in mind the first ones, which had been recommended as suitable for the car, were just diabolical. Not trying to spend your money for you, just saying that changing to Nitrons was one of the best things I did to the car and they have been worth every penny. Now, Guy, about that discount ...

[joospeed]

harry, you're dead right. A set of aftermarket dampers with matched springs will outperform any std TVR suspension package except maybe the latest tuscan S / T350 packs. The downside of std TVR stuff is the price and the fact they're not rebuildable and fail at alarmingly low mileages. Even so-called budget dampers like AVOs coupled with matched springs (std dual rate springs are worthless) make a big difference. AVOs also have a 2 year guarantee so if you're upgrading on a budget they're my value damper of choice

[rude girl]

HarryW said:

Peter are AVO's really that bad , Harry

I'm not the expert that Peter is, but I know someone who is

I think it depends how you drive, what you use your car for and how hard you push it. Most of us don't have the skills (much as we'd like to believe otherwise) to push the car to its limits. If you're never going to use the range of performance between eg an AVO and a Nitron, and can't afford Nitrons, then AVOs are certainly better than the standard suspension setup. Talk to Joolz (I would say that, wouldn't I??) about how you drive and how and why you want your car to be different - he'll give you impartial advice.

If you've ever seen Peter drive, you can see how much of the additional Nitron performance he uses

[joospeed]

ha ha .. three answers in a few minutes. only on ph would you get that response

one last note about AVOs .. the earlier red versions were WAAAAAAAAAY too harsh in operation, on the later versions the adjuster is still rather coarse in it's adjustament, the range you'll use will be over 5-6 clicks in the middle where it'll appear to go from very soft to very hard in those few clicks, so they aren't exactly linear in adjustment - that's a function of the bleed valve shape and it's blinking difficult to get that shape right, so I guess many budget damper manufacturers offer a straight taper bleed valve or similar easy shape to turn. On something like a nitron you get bleed valve shapes specifically tailored to the damper application and that's one reason why the Nitron adjuster has noticeable effect over a much larger click stop range, offering finer degrees of damping tuning. The later black coloured AVOs appear much better than the earlier red versions IMO, but don't go wild on those spring rates, that's the key.

[HarryW]

rude girl said:

............. If you've ever seen Peter drive, you can see how much of the additional Nitron performance he uses

Cheers for the responses, Rude/Joolz I've seen Peter Drive and I'm not quiet looking for the same out of the car .
As joolz says I think getting the right spring rate is probably the secret. Depends who you speak to as to what was standard spring rate in the first place. I think there's enough info in the back posts to work out whats required IMHO. I've said before its such a shame Joolz is so far north and I'll say it again.

Harry

[k4trv]

joospeed said:

ha ha .. three answers in a few minutes. only on ph would you get that response one last note about AVOs .. the earlier red versions were WAAAAAAAAAY too harsh in operation, on the later versions the adjuster is still rather coarse in it's adjustament, the range you'll use will be over 5-6 clicks in the middle where it'll appear to go from very soft to very hard in those few clicks, so they aren't exactly linear in adjustment - that's a function of the bleed valve shape and it's blinking difficult to get that shape right, so I guess many budget damper manufacturers offer a straight taper bleed valve or similar easy shape to turn. On something like a nitron you get bleed valve shapes specifically tailored to the damper application and that's one reason why the Nitron adjuster has noticeable effect over a much larger click stop range, offering finer degrees of damping tuning. The later black coloured AVOs appear much better than the earlier red versions IMO, but don't go wild on those spring rates, that's the key.

Says it all !! Don't believe anyone who says just change the dampers - you need the correct linear springs as well. Not only got the tee shirt & video, but a wife with a bad back..........!!! She now rides in the TVR for relief !!!

Trev McM

[Simon H]

Thanks everybody for all the comments - I was out on the road this morning so didn't get a chance to check for responses.

I have also been doing my homework and have been quoted £303 for a set of AVO's which is closer to what I was hoping for...

Now, matched springs sounds very interesting - where do I look for these and what kind of cash are we talking about

[K4TRV]

Simon H said:

Thanks everybody for all the comments - [snippity] Now, matched springs sounds very interesting - where do I look for these and what kind of cash are we talking about[snip]

Joospeed can supply them and dependant upon poundage/usage you require, budget for just under £200 inc vat & postage. Really does make a difference and AVOs only need to be set between 5 & 10 clicks - don't set at mid-way (15/16) your fillings will fall out.

Trev McM

>> Edited by K4TRV on Friday 14th November 13:35

[.Mark]

Got my AVO's and spring from Joolz, just rears for a '96 Chimaera at about 250-ish quid, delivered with handwritten fitting instructions.
Even a numpty like me had the old ones off and news on in less than an hour and the complete set up finished an hour later.
They are now set at 13 clicks, and are bloody good.

Give Joolz a ring, tell him what you are after - he's a good egg.

[rude girl]

You can read Joolz writing?

[.Mark]

rude girl said:

You can read Joolz writing?

My wife teaches small children, it has it's uses.