Sprint shock absorbers

[BobM]

Has anyone else had a poor experience with Spax shock absorbers. In the 1970’s I bought a pair of Spax adjustable ride shocks for the rear of my 1850. I only had them on for a matter of weeks before binning them. They rattled constantly on rough surfaces. I have never experienced this with any standard shocks.

In 2009 I had great hopes of making plenty of progress with a Sprint restoration and bought a set of uprated springs and Spax hide and ride adjustable shocks. Only now have I finally got the car on the road, thanks to lockdown. The fronts are as yet untested because the lowered springs even with the spring seat at the lowest setting have the car sitting higher than standard. So I fitted standard springs and shocks for testing.

The rear springs and shocks achieve a near standard ride height but just as years ago these also create a constant rattle on rough surfaces that is just unacceptable. Am I just unlucky or is this to be expected.

I tied off the brake load sensing valve. No change. Substituting standard shocks and all is quiet. Observations are welcome. Standard, Gaz or are Spax better now?

BobM

[Carledo]

I've not had any problems with Spax, but i've not had any since the 80s. But I HAVE got some Gaz with ASPs, have had them on my road/track 2.0 litre Toledo since 2011 without any problems at all and am happy as a pig in s**t with them! The car they are on has a very light 2 door body, i'm running stock Sprint front springs and stock Toledo rears, the car is about 2" lower than (Toledo) standard ride height and would go even lower on the ASP adjustment, assuming I didn't value my exhaust, subframe and sump!

Steve

PS, one thing I would point out is that I also fitted the new Gaz shox with new front springs, adjusted the ride height to what looked about right and drove it. A week or so later I had to adjust it UP about an inch as the new springs settled in. Then again a fortnight later and a final 1/2" or so 6 months after that! Just recently, 10years and 40k hard miles later, i've been thinking it might want to go up a few MM more, but not bad service I think.

[soe8m]

15.000km daily driving and the spaxes were tire pumps. Rubbish. Gaz and avo lasted about 120.000km.

Jeroen.

[trigger]

I've just refitted the standard front springs back to my Sprint as the 1" lower ones made the front too crashy and the subframe hit the ground and found the adjustable Spax that a previous owner fitted about 8 years/6000 miles ago to be completely drained out of oil and the bottom polybush eyelet to have collapsed causing them to rattle.

I've just ordered a new pair of adjustable Gaz ones direct to replace them.

[cleverusername]

I've just refitted the standard front springs back to my Sprint as the 1" lower ones made the front too crashy and the subframe hit the ground and found the adjustable Spax that a previous owner fitted about 8 years/6000 miles ago to be completely drained out of oil and the bottom polybush eyelet to have collapsed causing them to rattle.

I've just ordered a new pair of adjustable Gaz ones direct to replace them.

Judging by some of the reports coming in, I feared that Spax had gone the way of so many companies and it was just a brand on Chinese rubbish. However I just checked and they seem to still be British and made here.

I am wondering if some of these rubbish shocks could be Chinese knockoffs and not the real thing?

[SprintV8]

When I first built my V8 Sprint.
I had a problem with a leaking rear Spax shock.
Rimmers eventually replaced the shock
Despite being out of warranty but had no mileage on them.

I got nothing against Spax or Rimmers.
But I’ll be going possibly GAZ if I need replacements after 19 years.

[soe8m]

I've just refitted the standard front springs back to my Sprint as the 1" lower ones made the front too crashy and the subframe hit the ground and found the adjustable Spax that a previous owner fitted about 8 years/6000 miles ago to be completely drained out of oil and the bottom polybush eyelet to have collapsed causing them to rattle.

I've just ordered a new pair of adjustable Gaz ones direct to replace them.

Judging by some of the reports coming in, I feared that Spax had gone the way of so many companies and it was just a brand on Chinese rubbish. However I just checked and they seem to still be British and made here.

I am wondering if some of these rubbish shocks could be Chinese knockoffs and not the real thing?

These were rubbish 25 years ago also... And we all know the best shocks are from The Netherlands. Koni, Intrax, Reiger etc.

Jeroen

[cliftyhanger]

I've just refitted the standard front springs back to my Sprint as the 1" lower ones made the front too crashy and the subframe hit the ground and found the adjustable Spax that a previous owner fitted about 8 years/6000 miles ago to be completely drained out of oil and the bottom polybush eyelet to have collapsed causing them to rattle.

I've just ordered a new pair of adjustable Gaz ones direct to replace them.

Judging by some of the reports coming in, I feared that Spax had gone the way of so many companies and it was just a brand on Chinese rubbish. However I just checked and they seem to still be British and made here.

I am wondering if some of these rubbish shocks could be Chinese knockoffs and not the real thing?

These were rubbish 25 years ago also... And we all know the best shocks are from The Netherlands. Koni, Intrax, Reiger etc.

Jeroen

No idea of the others from NL, but Koni are excellent. Streets ahead of Spax/Gaz/Avo. My experience of Gaz is underwhelming, helping on a friends Vitesse. Loads of adjustment clicks, but they are solid at 5 clicks, and had to be set to just teh 2nd click to get an acceptable ride

25 years ago spax where known to be poorly put together. Another friend had 2 (or was it 3) brand new ones that unscrewed themselves so the damping rod became disconnected from the innards. The supplier was adamant it was a fitting issue. But I reckon it was a batch. They swapped for Koni, very happy with that.

Not sure who makes quality shocks for the dolomites. Luckily, I have a set of proper old stock shocks on the car. May be Girling, but the brand eludes me at the moment.

[oldred]

Hi,
Koni shocks are not still available new though are they for our cars?