Thread: Lift kit, worries about quality shocks

I have Gaz shocks fitted to the front of my D2, they are crap shocks, probably the worst shocks I've ever used, they are too soft for one, they make the car dive into corners, causing the back to come around and they have poly bushes that give a harsh ride, over corrigations they fade quite quickly giving a spongy ride.

Give them a miss, especially if you do a lot of offroad touring, they are rubbish on and offroad

Baz.

Haven't used bilsteins so can't comment on them or the Gaz shocks. But i have a terrafirma 3" lift shocks and springs and it is brilliant having done some good corrigation driving about 200kms good touring last weekend they handle really well, i'd recomend them

good corrugation driving about 200kms good touring last weekend they handle really well, i'd recommend them

Its great that you like the feel of the Terrafirma shocks but really OEM shocks are great on corrugations too , for a limited time.

The issue is how long they will last on corrugations in Australia ( or Africa)and Bilstiens are the only ones I know of which come up relatively smiling after say 10KK of corrugations.
Even then mine had a leak in the LH front one which only was about 5CC and on rebuild it still was 95%.
Mono tube shocks like Bilstien dissipate heat much better than twin tube and seem to recover better.
It was Sydney specialist Graeme Cooper who advised me to fit Billies and to get "comfort" setting as he had seen all others fail on hard corrugations and In his opinion the Sport or HD setting could cause skipping on RRCs.

Whether this is still true 5 years later I do not know but my rule of thumb from experience is I now only buy shocks with the actual maker's name on them and these are limited to Bilstien, Koni, KYB, Boge , Armstrong, COFAP ,Gaz, say Monroe(not),and a few others.

But AFAIK NOT ARB, Terrafirma, Britpart, Tough Dog, etc etc etc many of which are re branded COFAP or Chinese , or whatever.
Regards Philip A

interesting insite i didn't know that, well i'll have to see how mine go then and how long they last.

Originally Posted by Redback

I have Gaz shocks fitted to the front of my D2, they are crap shocks, probably the worst shocks I've ever used, they are too soft for one, they make the car dive into corners, causing the back to come around and they have poly bushes that give a harsh ride, over corrigations they fade quite quickly giving a spongy ride.

Give them a miss, especially if you do a lot of offroad touring, they are rubbish on and offroad

Baz.

That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about the Supergaz dampers! I wonder how it would handle if you have a matching set all round.

I know we fit Supergaz as standard here in the UK, but perhaps the Cellular Dynamics would be better over there. They don't fade like gas/haydraulic ones do. They are foam/hydraulic.

Suspension is a tricky thing.. Unless you buy several sets of springs and dampers and swap them over on the same car, it's very hard to get a true comparison. All you can do is go on the experience of other people, and past experience of what you've tried in the past.

But I'd still rate Britpart suspension over Terrafirma.. I've never seen a Britpart damper fail, but I have Terrafirma.. The bushes on Terrafirma don't last well either, and they are not a standard size.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

... only buy shocks with the actual maker's name on them and these are limited to Bilstien, Koni, KYB, Boge , Armstrong, COFAP ,Gaz, say Monroe(not),and a few others.

But AFAIK NOT ARB, Terrafirma, Britpart, Tough Dog, etc etc etc many of which are re branded COFAP or Chinese , or whatever.
Regards Philip A

That has been pretty much my thinking too for many moons now. I like to know who makes the shock. I've read about how Bilsteins are made, white suits in a clean room and all that shizz. I sincerely doubt that all these minor label brands have their own high-tech clean room factories to make their shocks. They buy them from a major maker. Now that in itself is not a sin in my eyes, but I want to know who that maker is! If there's nothing to hide, why not disclose the manufacturer?

I tried OME shocks because they were already on my hdj80, and that didn't turn out well. I will try the BritPart gaz shocks only because they come with the lift kit for such an extremely low cost. We'll see if I wind up tossing them into the trailer full of recycled metal in my yard. Right now like most of you mates my budget is a bit thin, which is a factor.

Originally Posted by Terrain Vehicles

That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about the Supergaz dampers! I wonder how it would handle if you have a matching set all round.

I know we fit Supergaz as standard here in the UK, but perhaps the Cellular Dynamics would be better over there. They don't fade like gas/haydraulic ones do. They are foam/hydraulic.

Suspension is a tricky thing.. Unless you buy several sets of springs and dampers and swap them over on the same car, it's very hard to get a true comparison. All you can do is go on the experience of other people, and past experience of what you've tried in the past.

But I'd still rate Britpart suspension over Terrafirma.. I've never seen a Britpart damper fail, but I have Terrafirma.. The bushes on Terrafirma don't last well either, and they are not a standard size.

I have had quite a few shocks in my D2, and from my experience doing quite a lot of offroad touring (roads here are pretty hard on shocks) from the Gaz shocks I have now to Ultimate Suspension, Old Man Emu, Bilstein, Pro Comp and Rancho, so far, Bilstein are so far in front of these other shocks, it should make the others enbarassed.

Bilsteins give a smooth ride, don't fade under harsh corrigations, make the car handle so well it's scarey, almost car like in it's handling, the best part is that the valving for their front shocks is spot on from Heasmans here in Oz(Bilstein distributer) the are re-valved here for Australian conditions.

My only complaint about them, they are really expensive in Australia, it's actually cheaper to order them from overseas.

The only reason I've used the other shocks is price, hoping I could get a good shock at a reasonable price.

Baz.

I have a 2004 v8 disco. it has a 50mm lift and used to have SLS until I swapped it out due to a leaking bag for coils. When trying to source bilsteins here all the catalogues only show the extended length for the desiel and only without SLS. Does anyone know, will these fit my car, I cant see why not? The price is a huge pain in the arse and after looking at US websites I was keen to buy from there until I saw the comment in this thread about the extended ones only being available in OZ, bugger!