shock dilemma

[acaciolo]

I am in a little dilemma on shocks and need some advice. I have my local mechanic doing a bunch of updates: tires, clutch line, fuel pump, hoses, dpi exhaust, front Grady springs, spax shocks, etc.

all has gone well except for one mistake I made. I told him to throw away some of the parts that were worthless to me such as the really stiff original shocks. I kept some items such as the manifolds, etc...but the shocks are gone.

the issue is that the car is now done but still on his lift since the shocks that were supposed to arrive last week got held up in customs, so josh at dpi has his hands tied. he has been great giving me updates, but it is out of his control.

so I have to get something fast so I can get the car out of my mechanic's garage. and knowing customs, the spax shipment might be trapped for a while (we will know more tomorrow.)

looks like my options are:

dmc shocks which they don't really talk about the brand, but it appears to be avo from UK. haven't heard much about those.

find someone in Europe to ship me spax. Ed now sells the spasms shocks at dmc US, so he can't help.

or some low end kyb, hervey etc.

jury rig something just to get the car off the lift.

I'd really like the spax....but my mechanic is a friend (and I built his building) so I gotta find a solution fast.

next time I won't throw away old parts until the new ones are in hand!

thanks

tony

[1batt4u]

Does Ed still sell these?? http://www.delorean.eu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=20_143&products_id=99002&osCsid=r70ttbj4dolj8orhaij702uau3

[acaciolo]

yes.... they are the same ones dmc has available. I saw some posts about a number of failures. I also don't know much about avo, who appears to be making these. more info: http://www.avouk.com/RoadsportFrameset-84.htm

tony

[NightFlyer]

This is a tough one, as there isn't really an aftermarket standard bearer. The design of the rears also acts to significantly limit your choices.

I know that Wolff has experimented with several different shocks - maybe he'll chime in with some advice.

Other than that, I've got nothing.

If push comes to shove, you could always get a set of stock/OEM Girlings for the rear, put whatever you want on the front for now, and then sort it all out later when you finally get the stuff that you want. Who knows - you might actually end up liking the Girlings on the rear....

[acaciolo]

I am sure we can jury rig something just to get the car out, but I hate doing double work.

looks like my best options are to either wait for the spax and get them whenever the customs mess is cleared up or use the dmc Avo (aka dmc europe) shocks from dave at dmcmw. he has the in stock and can get them to me fast. I don't mind spending the extra $100, but I'd hate spending it if the shocks are really inferior. I've heard nothing about them other than that someone reported that they knew of 3 leaking sets. spax obviously are great, but waiting for weeks would be very painful.

anybody know about the avo uk shocks?

t

[1batt4u]

yes.... they are the same ones dmc has available. I saw some posts about a number of failures. I also don't know much about avo, who appears to be making these. more info: http://www.avouk.com/RoadsportFrameset-84.htm

tony

Failures?? I thought they were good quality.

[DMCMW Dave]

Yeah - tossing stuff before you have the new ones is a Very Bad Thing. We get panic calls from time to time looking for replacements for irreplaceable parts that have been thrown away (see below).

Houston stocks (and I can get) NOS rears. Fronts would in UOS (used old stock).

Hopefully your guy didn't toss the spring cups or you are in bigger trouble. They are very hard to come by. If he tossed the perch "keepers" you'll need those too. I have used ones shocks and related parts around as well as used fronts. Can't get anything shipped until I get back on Wednesday though. I would suspect whoever left you hanging without shocks would also have some used stuff on hand, even as loaner parts - did you ask?

ALSO I'm curious about the "reported failures" on the current shocks we/DMC Europe are selling, I have not heard of any issues with them at all.

[1batt4u]

Yeah - tossing stuff before you have the new ones is a Very Bad Thing. We get panic calls from time to time looking for replacements for irreplaceable parts that have been thrown away (see below).

Houston stocks (and I can get) NOS rears. Fronts would in UOS (used old stock).

Hopefully your guy didn't toss the spring cups or you are in bigger trouble. They are very hard to come by. If he tossed the perch "keepers" you'll need those too. I have used ones shocks and related parts around as well as used fronts. Can't get anything shipped until I get back on Wednesday though. I would suspect whoever left you hanging without shocks would also have some used stuff on hand, even as loaner parts - did you ask?

ALSO I'm curious about the "reported failures" on the current shocks we/DMC Europe are selling, I have not heard of any issues with them at all.

Dave do you have a link to those shocks? I thought only Ed sold them. I remember there was a point where he ran out of them.

[acaciolo]

"I read it on the Internet, so it must be true!"

post #56 here started talking about 3 owners with failures on the avo dmc Europe shocks. I certainly take that with a grain of salt! http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?111-Shocks-Spax-vs-Eibach-vs-DeLorean-eu-vs-MidState/page6&highlight=leak+shocks

there really wasn't much info about the avo shocks, but from what I've heard about you, if they weren't good, you wouldn't sell them!

thanks for all the help (including while you were on vacation!). hope the trip home was safe.

ps. old springs and cups are safe. in trash are old bushings, hoses, and shocks. everything was set, but damn customs screwed josh.

tony

[BABIS]

I can report 3 failures of the AVO shocks here in Europe, 3 friends of mine have bought theme in different times, a couple of them had a shock leaking from new (but they were replaced after sending back the faulty units). these cars are respectively a daily driver, a "weekend" driver and a almost racing car and they all 3 have leaking shocks if you take a look under the car. not major faults (you can see an oil drop at the lower end of the shock body) but still annoying..
due to this reason I bought Spax shocks when it came my time to. honestly I never heard of Spax failure..

[acaciolo]

hey Babis,

other than your report of the 3 failures, there isn't much info about the avo shocks. I've read tons of great stuff about the spax from both old and new threads.

who knows...maybe josh will get some good news about customs today. but when I had a customs problem when importing a container of pool tile, it took 5 weeks to get resolved!

tony

[BABIS]

hey Babis,

other than your report of the 3 failures, there isn't much info about the avo shocks. I've read tons of great stuff about the spax from both old and new threads.

who knows...maybe josh will get some good news about customs today. but when I had a customs problem when importing a container of pool tile, it took 5 weeks to get resolved!

tony

It would be interesting to hear someone else who actually has the AVOs, our delorean community is quite small and those 3 owners are the only ones who own them..

[acaciolo]

I am not sure they are publicly known as being from AVO. I get the impression that DMC doesn't really publicize that. forgetting about my current shock dilemma for a second, I guess the other question is are the AVO/new DMC shocks worth about 15% more than the spax? If someone told me they perform equally well and don't have future issues, I'd have no problem spending the extra $100 or so to help get me out of my dilemma.

tony

[ed uding]

We did had 4 reports of a leak in the first 2 years we did sale the shocks.
Wrong valve inside made it leak. all replace under warranty. the last 4 years and a 80 sets further no bad one come up.
It is just a real good shock with 2 year factory warranty.

Ed Uding
Delorean Europe

[acaciolo]

Hey Ed,

thanks for the update on the AVO shocks! There was a tremendous lack of info out there on these.

Since you used spax for a long time (before DMC dropped them for business issues,) how do you honestly think they compare?

thanks

tony

[Mark D]

Hey Ed,

thanks for the update on the AVO shocks! There was a tremendous lack of info out there on these.

Since you used spax for a long time (before DMC dropped them for business issues,) how do you honestly think they compare?

thanks

tony


What's the back story behind DMCH and franchises no longer using SPAX shocks?

[andyd]

Hi

A slight aside, but I have AVOs on another application (Reliant Scimitar) and really like them.

Not the same shock however, these are coilovers. Adjustable seats and damping.

When I got the car, they were a bit tired, and the bushes had failed rather prematurely as the tend to in this application.

(Not sure if the AVOs sold by DMCs have the same bushes. However, the suspension geometry on the Scimitar is notoriously hard on the bushes)

I contacted AVO who rebuilt them and on my specification pressed in spherical bearings in place of bushes. Great service, and very reasonable.

I really like the units, although the British winters can be a bit hard on them. Waxoyl on mine!

I know this isn't a D application, but in the absence of any other info on them here, I wouldn't be put off fitting AVOs again. Not the most expensive on the (UK) market, but they've be good for me (on the Scim, and I wouldn't fit them with the bushes on mine)

Cheers,

a

[acaciolo]

thanks to everyone who responded and PM'd me on this.

Ed, Josh, and Dave have all been amazingly helpful.

It looks like I will be one of the first around here to do a review on the AVO shocks. I heard offline from people who have used both and gave them a big thumbs up. It sounds like it may come down to personal preference. But given my situation, I couldn't really wait for spax to clear customs, so I will report back once they are installed.

thanks again for all the help.

tony c