Fred Flintstone
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I know this subject has been discussed before, but I just wanted to put in my 2c worth with my experience with some aftermarket shock absorbers.
When I got my AMP, for whatever reason, I assumed that I should upgrade the stock shocks. One reason for this may have been the availability of cheap aftermarket shocks online. Also, the stock shocks are plastic and the aftermarket ones are cool looking blue (or any other color) anodised aluminium. So they must be better, right?
So I ordered a set of shocks with lengths similar to the stock shocks. In the meantime, I was driving the AMP on the stock shocks and it went fine, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "Imagine how much better this will be with the fancy anodised aluminium shocks".
They turned up and they looked ok. Except they needed to be filled with oil. Luckily, I had some 10wt shock oil that I used for my mountain bike, so I filled each one. First thing I noticed was that the oil didn't seem to make any difference to the damping or rebound feel of the the shocks. They don't have the air bladder that the stock shocks have, so you have to kind of judge the oil level. If you fill them full, they are locked up solid, and you give it a little air gap and they may as well have no oil in them at all. I convinced myself that the reason for this was that the oil was too thin so I ordered some 40wt oil and filled them again. Same result - no difference to the 10wt. I fitted them anyway and went driving.
These things turned out to be junk. The handling was rubbish. And as soon as I hit some bumps, the shocks would fall apart. The lower spring retainer disc which is held in place by spring tension would somehow lift up and fall off, meaning the spring would drop and bear on the lower swing arm. Out of the 4 shocks I bought, I've only got 1 that is still in one piece due to the spring retainers being lost. Also, the lower eyes needed to be loctited on, even though they were tight when they turned up.
These shocks cost about US$13 for the set, so maybe that should have been a warning sign.
The pic below shows the stock shock next to the aftermarket one. The aftermarket one is about 3-4 mm longer than the stock one.
Anyway, I've gone back to the stock shocks and am happy with them. They don't fall apart every time I take the car out. I'm only bashing, not racing, so after all that, the stock shocks are probably as good as I'll ever need.
When I got my AMP, for whatever reason, I assumed that I should upgrade the stock shocks. One reason for this may have been the availability of cheap aftermarket shocks online. Also, the stock shocks are plastic and the aftermarket ones are cool looking blue (or any other color) anodised aluminium. So they must be better, right?
So I ordered a set of shocks with lengths similar to the stock shocks. In the meantime, I was driving the AMP on the stock shocks and it went fine, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "Imagine how much better this will be with the fancy anodised aluminium shocks".
They turned up and they looked ok. Except they needed to be filled with oil. Luckily, I had some 10wt shock oil that I used for my mountain bike, so I filled each one. First thing I noticed was that the oil didn't seem to make any difference to the damping or rebound feel of the the shocks. They don't have the air bladder that the stock shocks have, so you have to kind of judge the oil level. If you fill them full, they are locked up solid, and you give it a little air gap and they may as well have no oil in them at all. I convinced myself that the reason for this was that the oil was too thin so I ordered some 40wt oil and filled them again. Same result - no difference to the 10wt. I fitted them anyway and went driving.
These things turned out to be junk. The handling was rubbish. And as soon as I hit some bumps, the shocks would fall apart. The lower spring retainer disc which is held in place by spring tension would somehow lift up and fall off, meaning the spring would drop and bear on the lower swing arm. Out of the 4 shocks I bought, I've only got 1 that is still in one piece due to the spring retainers being lost. Also, the lower eyes needed to be loctited on, even though they were tight when they turned up.
These shocks cost about US$13 for the set, so maybe that should have been a warning sign.
The pic below shows the stock shock next to the aftermarket one. The aftermarket one is about 3-4 mm longer than the stock one.
Anyway, I've gone back to the stock shocks and am happy with them. They don't fall apart every time I take the car out. I'm only bashing, not racing, so after all that, the stock shocks are probably as good as I'll ever need.
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