buying R8

[ian-163jt]

PompeyReece said:

Personally I've not heard of this dot matching - if you provide your car model and year, any decent seller will tell you whether they fit or not. Alternatively look for the exact part number from Audi.

Swapping in pairs is not mandatory IMHO.

yes you are right you don't have to match in pairs , I have found out some details that might help others in this situation , if I am wrong please let me know as no expert just trying to help others & I am keeping original mag ride , but I think maybe a better option would be to go to ricky & he supply & fits non passive shocks (as said by guys on this thread , but I thought the feeling was it was slightly harder than the mag ride , which is reason I didn't go down this route!) with delete kit so no light on dashboard ,but your mag ride button wont work , but he assures me the ride is nice & soft , so basically its fine for road use but it wont stiffen like mag does when you push on (which wouldn't bother me because how fast can you drive on road & I wont be tracking it !) ….
some guys on here said get the audi + non passive, but there seems to be confusion over if it will fit to a 2008 v8 (so if anybody knows different let me know ) maybe is this the newer version v8 or v10 only ?????

the old original mag shocks are Delphi , they were taken over by a company BWI (so any newer mags will be BWI) these are all compatible so can have Delphi on one side & BWI other ,the fronts are shorter & the rears are much longer ,but for your 4 corners you have 4 different shocks (part numbers ) then they have coloured lines on which I think means weight / spring rate , so the V8 have different shocks to v10 .
so my fronts have 3 blue lines & 1 red
the rears have 3 yellows
but again remember each one has different part number /fits only 1 corner & quite hard to tell (the only difference I can see on either front or rear is the plug for mag ride round opposite way, but maybe other issues …)
so I have purchased 4 on e bay , 1 front one is nearly new , 1 rear one is nearly new , the other front is not leaking so I will change both my fronts as both leaking , my rears are ok but I now have 1 nearly new spare one , the other rear he sold was leaking hence his change .I will then send the spare ones to Poland to get re furb if any of mine start to leak , so car wont be off the road....
so hopefully that's the end of my mag ride issues , if anybody wanted to send mine of to get re furbed & swap with there leaking ones to help out ,let me know as they will be just sitting in my garage, it will save you the £400 deposit per shock !!! …
thanks for all your help & when I get car back with put some pics on …...

[Raven Flyer]

I think it is sensible to stick with the OE system unless you do 10k miles a year.

If the car is a second or third car then the cost over a 2 or 3 year ownership is very small, or possibly zero.

As above, cars with very infrequent use seem worst affected. Another reason to enjoy what sunny days we get this winter.

[ian-163jt]

Raven Flyer said:

I think it is sensible to stick with the OE system unless you do 10k miles a year.

If the car is a second or third car then the cost over a 2 or 3 year ownership is very small, or possibly zero.

As above, cars with very infrequent use seem worst affected. Another reason to enjoy what sunny days we get this winter.

yes I know my car history & couldn't have had easier life ,1 owner / no miles / channel islands so no fast roads / guy never tracked or been of island ,
perhaps like you say no use , sometimes these seals with oil in need to move about on rubbers to keep supple ???
yes you are right, I will take mine out for both sunny days next year !!!!!!!!

[jakesmith]

pompeyreece said:

Swapping in pairs is not mandatory IMHO.

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

[Trev450]

jakesmith said:

pompeyreece said:

Swapping in pairs is not mandatory IMHO.

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

It is advisable but not essential.

As they deteriorate through use, the springs become weaker and the dampers less efficient. Replacing them in pairs ensures that their performance is matched.

[PompeyReece]

jakesmith said:

pompeyreece said:

Swapping in pairs is not mandatory IMHO.

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

Technically you can change only one so it's not mandatory to do both but whether it's good practice or not is another thing.

My thinking is that when they leak, performance starts to gradually fade - when oil isn't leaking, old and new units contain the same amount of oil and therefore should roughly have the same performance. I guess there might be some "wear and tear" due to age but my thinking is it wouldn't be that noticeable compared to a leaking vs non-leaking shock.

Happy to hear otherwise.

[Raven Flyer]

PompeyReece said:

jakesmith said:

pompeyreece said:

Swapping in pairs is not mandatory IMHO.

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

Technically you can change only one so it's not mandatory to do both but whether it's good practice or not is another thing.

My thinking is that when they leak, performance starts to gradually fade - when oil isn't leaking, old and new units contain the same amount of oil and therefore should roughly have the same performance. I guess there might be some "wear and tear" due to age but my thinking is it wouldn't be that noticeable compared to a leaking vs non-leaking shock.

Happy to hear otherwise.

I would agree. If the remaining unit had 60+k on it, the oil would be pretty knackered but at <30k, they haven't done much work.

[Durzel]

jakesmith said:

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

I was strongly advised to replace in pairs (so all 4) on my 458. The main dealer contributed (oil leaks aren’t covered by Ferrari warranty) but was still a big bill.

I pointed out to Ferrari UK that I also had a 10 year old Civic Type-R on all the original brakes, shocks, clutch, etc on 45k miles but they weren’t sympathetic

I can’t imagine it’s a great idea to have a new, unused shock on one side of the car, so whilst it was not a pleasing experience I wouldn’t have skimped in only replacing the two misting shocks.

Edited by Durzel on Tuesday 17th December 14:24

[ian-163jt]

jakesmith said:

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

no its fine to swap 1 , I have been told by a few people that know there stuff who I fully trust , there is the same amount of oil whatever age , maybe tiny drop off in oil performance , so maybe Lewis Hamilton might notice a 1000th of 2nd around Silverstone , but I wont ha ha

[ian-163jt]

jakesmith said:

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

what are you doing about your misting one ? if you want to send off to Poland I have loads of leaking ones you can send ..

[ian-163jt]

Durzel said:

I was strongly advised to replace in pairs (so all 4) on my 458. The main dealer contributed (oil leaks aren’t covered by Ferrari warranty) but was still a big bill.

I pointed out to Ferrari UK that I also had a 10 year old Civic Type-R on all the original brakes, shocks, clutch, etc on 45k miles but they weren’t sympathetic

I can’t imagine it’s a great idea to have a new, unused shock on one side of the car, so whilst it was not a pleasing experience I wouldn’t have skimped in only replacing the two misting shocks.

Edited by Durzel on Tuesday 17th December 14:24

yes but you have a Ferrari so can afford it , we are Volkswagen owners with a big engine . ha ha

[jakesmith]

ian-163jt said:

jakesmith said:

Is that so? I have one misting and thought they had to swap as pairs

what are you doing about your misting one ? if you want to send off to Poland I have loads of leaking ones you can send ..

Thanks mate but mine are passives
It's still a big bill for a lowly V8 owner

[ian-163jt]

jakesmith said:

Thanks mate but mine are passives
It's still a big bill for a lowly V8 owner

ok , so passives can leak as well !!!

[Trev450]

ian-163jt said:

jakesmith said:

Thanks mate but mine are passives
It's still a big bill for a lowly V8 owner

ok , so passives can leak as well !!!

Yes but they are usually good for 50k+ miles and cost a quarter of the price of mag rides.

[jakesmith]

Trev450 said:

Yes but they are usually good for 50k+ miles and cost a quarter of the price of mag rides.

£500 fitted... car is 2008 and has done 60,000 miles. Rears both done about 2 years ago

[ian-163jt]

jakesmith said:

£500 fitted... car is 2008 and has done 60,000 miles. Rears both done about 2 years ago

is that £500 each corner ?

[jakesmith]

ian-163jt said:

is that £500 each corner ?

Yep think the part is about £300 plus 2 hours that was the whole strut at the back last time I changed one. Only did one as when I bought it the other side had just been done. Only needed doing as the spring had snapped

[ian-163jt]

jakesmith said:

Yep think the part is about £300 plus 2 hours that was the whole strut at the back last time I changed one. Only did one as when I bought it the other side had just been done. Only needed doing as the spring had snapped

oh ok , so springs can snap as well ,bloody struts ….

[Trev450]

ian-163jt said:

oh ok , so springs can snap as well ,bloody struts ….

Springs can break on any car. I've had at least three or four go on different brands of cars over the years.

[jakesmith]

Trev450 said:

Springs can break on any car. I've had at least three or four go on different brands of cars over the years.

I had one go on my 997 that was about 7 years old - I didn't know it could happen on such a young car