Discussion
Just to let you all know how disgusted i am with the service i have experianced with Gaz Shocks.
Here is my story:-
I ordered a set of front shocks in march this year from SJ sportcars (who as usual were supurb!). My shocks arrived, one fine, one with the body scorred, so off it went back to steve (sj sportscars) and after a while another arrived, directly from gaz shocks.
This time with the wrong pitch thread on the damper body. So this now went back! (directly to gaz shocks). After six weeks or so still no damper so i rung them explained things 'dont worry we'll make another' after another six weeks rung again 'dont know anything about that!' explained my story again and four weeks later a damper arrived! This time the eye end on the damper was the wrong size, rung them again 'i dont understand what the fault is' so i sent it back along with the correct damper, approx a week later (a total of five months) i received two correct dampers HURAAAAA!!!!!! and after another couple of phone calls got my postage costs back too, (but not without getting angry on the phone). so the moral of this story is DO NOT BUY GAZ SHOCKS.
they have absoultly no quality control in the workshop and if i didnt have the same dampers on the rear already then i would of told the company where to go along time ago.
Obviously im going to expect a torrant of people who are satisfied with the service they were provided with, but this is just my experiance i have had with this company, and will also explain why SJ Sportscars refuse to use Gaz shocks any more.
I look forward to your comments.
Cheers Tony.
>>> Edited by tony8169 on Sunday 5th September 21:43
>>> Edited by tony8169 on Sunday 26th September 18:19
Here is my story:-
I ordered a set of front shocks in march this year from SJ sportcars (who as usual were supurb!). My shocks arrived, one fine, one with the body scorred, so off it went back to steve (sj sportscars) and after a while another arrived, directly from gaz shocks.
This time with the wrong pitch thread on the damper body. So this now went back! (directly to gaz shocks). After six weeks or so still no damper so i rung them explained things 'dont worry we'll make another' after another six weeks rung again 'dont know anything about that!' explained my story again and four weeks later a damper arrived! This time the eye end on the damper was the wrong size, rung them again 'i dont understand what the fault is' so i sent it back along with the correct damper, approx a week later (a total of five months) i received two correct dampers HURAAAAA!!!!!! and after another couple of phone calls got my postage costs back too, (but not without getting angry on the phone). so the moral of this story is DO NOT BUY GAZ SHOCKS.
they have absoultly no quality control in the workshop and if i didnt have the same dampers on the rear already then i would of told the company where to go along time ago.
Obviously im going to expect a torrant of people who are satisfied with the service they were provided with, but this is just my experiance i have had with this company, and will also explain why SJ Sportscars refuse to use Gaz shocks any more.
I look forward to your comments.
Cheers Tony.
>>> Edited by tony8169 on Sunday 5th September 21:43
>>> Edited by tony8169 on Sunday 26th September 18:19
I have had a problem with suspension suppliers too, although in my case it was Leda. I ordered a full set through CARS / Lotus performance and it was over 3 months before I heard anything. I eventually received them and tried to fit them to the car. The rears were no problem whatsoever but the springs on the front were far too long. As a result, I had to send them back to Leda and wait for them to manufacture me some that were 60mm shorter. This took about another month or so and the car was out of action for the duration. The car is fine now but the springs could do with being made slightly shorter still as the adjustable platform is on the lowest setting to achieve the correct ride height.
I do not appreciate being used as a guinnea pig for people to develop a suspension kit. I had assumed, incorrectly, that as the kit was advertised it would have been tried and tested. I did not receive any discount from the purchase price and I have still not to this day received a receipt for the £720 that I spent on the kit from CARS. This is despite me asking on several occasions for one to be sent. I will not be falling over myself to buy anything from them in the future.
Danny '93 SE Highwing
I do not appreciate being used as a guinnea pig for people to develop a suspension kit. I had assumed, incorrectly, that as the kit was advertised it would have been tried and tested. I did not receive any discount from the purchase price and I have still not to this day received a receipt for the £720 that I spent on the kit from CARS. This is despite me asking on several occasions for one to be sent. I will not be falling over myself to buy anything from them in the future.
Danny '93 SE Highwing
Mikes story is one of unforgivable performance by the vendor, however, on the topic of suspension systems, they are,(as are brakes), often tuned based on driver preference and individual engineering requirements. One setup might be 100% for one esprit and completely wrong for another. Kits can only get so close.. some tuning is not unusual to get a match to your cars particular specification. Be prepared to do your homework to find out exactly what you need, and then be prepared to set it up properly and test it.
As to the spring selection.. there are hundreds of choices available. To properly select springs You really need to know what sort of front and rear rate you want to start with before you do anything.. what is your cars handling? Do you want/need 10,20,50,100% stifer than original? Or maybe even softer? Before you can order springs, you also need to know the corner weights, the installed height based on the spring perch settings and your cars ride height, the motion ratio to figure out spring load, and shock angle to work out the spring load factor. Once all that is worked out, then you can source the length of spring that will compress just enough to leave you with the spring perch initial setting where you want it.
In the case with your spring perch being too low. IMO, they did get it pretty close considering they took a wild guess on your particular application.
Just my two-bits worth..
Sorry to hear about your hassles Mike
Jan
As to the spring selection.. there are hundreds of choices available. To properly select springs You really need to know what sort of front and rear rate you want to start with before you do anything.. what is your cars handling? Do you want/need 10,20,50,100% stifer than original? Or maybe even softer? Before you can order springs, you also need to know the corner weights, the installed height based on the spring perch settings and your cars ride height, the motion ratio to figure out spring load, and shock angle to work out the spring load factor. Once all that is worked out, then you can source the length of spring that will compress just enough to leave you with the spring perch initial setting where you want it.
In the case with your spring perch being too low. IMO, they did get it pretty close considering they took a wild guess on your particular application.
Just my two-bits worth..
Sorry to hear about your hassles Mike
Jan
TONY8169 - I am new to this forum and have only been a member 2 minutes and i come across this post. Well i have to say that i have a full coilover suspension done for me by GAZ SHOCKS and i can honestly say that the service is second to none and in my view have the best after sales care of any other manufacture i have had to deal with in the past. The dampers are far superior in performance than other damper manufactures i have used in the past (and i have used them all). In past experience GAZ SHOCKS have bent over backward to help me with any problems i have had with my car and can’t recommend them to other people highly enough.
I will be going back to Gaz shocks in the near future for my other project!!!!
Many Thanks
BROWNPAPERBAG
I will be going back to Gaz shocks in the near future for my other project!!!!
Many Thanks
BROWNPAPERBAG
Still......, it would be interesting to know definitively if Spax makes an all around good product or perhaps an all around not so good product. I for one would like to know.
I am sitting here with two rear 28 click Spax Krypton gas filled rear shocks that I am now unsure of installing. The cost of the shock is not so important as is the re and re cost and resourcing of replacements for failed components. I have planned to do some drivetrain improvements in the next few weeks and had purchased new shocks since we were going thataways anyhow and the old Monroe oem units developed the typical Lotus 'rust crust'.
It seems to me that Spax may have had some growing pains in the past few years but these new shocks come with a pamphlet that says they have been dyno tested to conform with European TuV spec. Don't know what that is for sure but hopefully means more than that it has metric threads or something.
The rubberish/neoprene type piston shroud looks quite 'taiwanese' and the powdercoated body looks like it wasn't masked too well. However, until they are installed I cannot attest to their performance one way or the other. They were however, very fairly priced and seem to meet my anticipated needs.
My application is purely that for an oem replacement. No track days here; once a month for a 30 mile rounder to a fish and chips place is it. I would like to know about any firsthand personal experience anyone does have with these newer products they do make.
As far as name and shame Ernest; why not? Every time a company sells anything that has their name on it they should be willing to publicly accept feedback on those products. Otherwise, don't put your name and reputation on your products. As long as it doesn't become a means for personal bashing how else will we know which products work and which don't? For example, Marcus let us all know that we need to stay away from the ebay marketeers for ecm chips. He indicated/implied that product being sold there was most likely cloned/stolen intellectual material. That is good to know as the majority of us 'looking for the deal' will walk from those opportunities now that we know of the pitfalls. Other forums also advise caution dealing with certain suppliers so that you at least have a heads up before committing financially. Why not here?
Steve
Black Fish&Chip Mobile
I am sitting here with two rear 28 click Spax Krypton gas filled rear shocks that I am now unsure of installing. The cost of the shock is not so important as is the re and re cost and resourcing of replacements for failed components. I have planned to do some drivetrain improvements in the next few weeks and had purchased new shocks since we were going thataways anyhow and the old Monroe oem units developed the typical Lotus 'rust crust'.
It seems to me that Spax may have had some growing pains in the past few years but these new shocks come with a pamphlet that says they have been dyno tested to conform with European TuV spec. Don't know what that is for sure but hopefully means more than that it has metric threads or something.
The rubberish/neoprene type piston shroud looks quite 'taiwanese' and the powdercoated body looks like it wasn't masked too well. However, until they are installed I cannot attest to their performance one way or the other. They were however, very fairly priced and seem to meet my anticipated needs.
My application is purely that for an oem replacement. No track days here; once a month for a 30 mile rounder to a fish and chips place is it. I would like to know about any firsthand personal experience anyone does have with these newer products they do make.
As far as name and shame Ernest; why not? Every time a company sells anything that has their name on it they should be willing to publicly accept feedback on those products. Otherwise, don't put your name and reputation on your products. As long as it doesn't become a means for personal bashing how else will we know which products work and which don't? For example, Marcus let us all know that we need to stay away from the ebay marketeers for ecm chips. He indicated/implied that product being sold there was most likely cloned/stolen intellectual material. That is good to know as the majority of us 'looking for the deal' will walk from those opportunities now that we know of the pitfalls. Other forums also advise caution dealing with certain suppliers so that you at least have a heads up before committing financially. Why not here?
Steve
Black Fish&Chip Mobile
ErnestM said:
Just a small warning - naming and shaming is against the rules - so let's keep that in mind when posting.
ErnestM
I don't know the "offical rules" around here other than I try to be civil. But, I started, run, and operate www.gt40s.com and one of the things I did was set up a special place called Consumer Alert that lets people post about experiences with GT40 suppliers and related info. It has been wonderful and many people have appreciated having that section on the forum so that they do not repeat mistakes.
If people do not relay experiences, with names of companies involved, then do we all have to learn first hand? I can understand moderating slander, since I do check for that, but factual events should be posted to the community.
One of the big advantages of having a complete forum dedicated to a single car or marquee is that we have the ability to have dedicated sections for different things and it is much more useful for information storage and retrival than an "all in one board". I wish we could band together, Lotus Esprit owners, and agree to do this one one site. I have suggested it, one fellow actually made it happen, but noone came.
The old timers said "it can't email" which was entirely not true, while I felt the real reason people wouldn't switch was that the moderators of the exisiting forums wouldn't swallow their pride and force it to happen for the good of the whole. The main reason I never read nor post on the Yahoo forum, just too damn hard to find good into and it repeats itself about every 4 weeks. At least Pistonheads is searchable and useful, although we could use with a complete board with sub-forums all to ourselves.
Ron
ErnestM..
I know you live in a rather litigous country, but I hardly think offering feedback on my (extensive) experience of these shocks on Lotus Elises is anything like naming and shaming.
Thanks for the warning - I do know the 'rules', but if this isn't an honest open forum then I'm in the wrong place and shall promptly let you all get back to false praising and voicing a biased viewpoint.
I work in medical research - I bet you wouldn't want me to only publish my positive findings now would you.
I know you live in a rather litigous country, but I hardly think offering feedback on my (extensive) experience of these shocks on Lotus Elises is anything like naming and shaming.
Thanks for the warning - I do know the 'rules', but if this isn't an honest open forum then I'm in the wrong place and shall promptly let you all get back to false praising and voicing a biased viewpoint.
I work in medical research - I bet you wouldn't want me to only publish my positive findings now would you.
340ragtop said:
ErnestM..
I know you live in a rather litigous country, but I hardly think offering feedback on my (extensive) experience of these shocks on Lotus Elises is anything like naming and shaming.
Thanks for the warning - I do know the 'rules', but if this isn't an honest open forum then I'm in the wrong place and shall promptly let you all get back to false praising and voicing a biased viewpoint.
I work in medical research - I bet you wouldn't want me to only publish my positive findings now would you.
Not my rules.
They are the rules of the site. The site is UK based and run by a (rather nice) UK gent.
If we're going to play in his playground - he gets to make the rules.
The reason why I haven't locked this thread is because, in my opinion, we haven't strayed too far from a "my experience" topic yet.
Regarding the "bad service" database, why doesn't everyone just post "good experiences"? What's wrong with a little good news?
Negative feedback without allowing the other party to respond is a rather one sided and unfair conversation. If the shoe where on the other foot, you wouldn't allow somebody to make negative comments to you without affording an opportunity to respond. However, it only takes one party to report good service as there is usually no argument from the beneficiary of the comment...
Food For Thought
ErnestM
>> Edited by ErnestM on Thursday 21st October 20:49
I didn't say they were "your" rules Ernest...but you sure seem to be the one enforcing them on this thread 
I totally agree that positive feedback is essential - I rely on it for my Lotus business (see feedback on ragtoproadsters.com) and am the first to give it when it's due.
That said, I'm not going to keep my mouth shut or pretend Gaz shocks are great when someone asks. That's not naming and shaming, it's just being honest. If we all say how "AWESOME" eveything is
like some individuals, then we stand to lose the value of the whole thing.
Food for thought.
I totally agree that positive feedback is essential - I rely on it for my Lotus business (see feedback on ragtoproadsters.com) and am the first to give it when it's due.
That said, I'm not going to keep my mouth shut or pretend Gaz shocks are great when someone asks. That's not naming and shaming, it's just being honest. If we all say how "AWESOME" eveything is
like some individuals, then we stand to lose the value of the whole thing. Food for thought.
As long as people are posting personal experiences and the debate remains balanced and without vitriol, I have no problem with experiences being posted.
As alluded to above, this thread has not gone in that direction. We've had some negative, some positive and some nuetral.
This has been a good thread, I just didn't want it to degenerate.
I also try to take a more "hands-off" moderating approach on the Esprit forums as they tend to be very well self regulated, comparatively speaking.
ErnestM
As alluded to above, this thread has not gone in that direction. We've had some negative, some positive and some nuetral.
This has been a good thread, I just didn't want it to degenerate.
I also try to take a more "hands-off" moderating approach on the Esprit forums as they tend to be very well self regulated, comparatively speaking.
ErnestM
Hi All,
IMHO the Gaz shocks are way better than many other makes and they are very well suited for the Esprit. I never had real problems with them. Its quite easy and straight forward to achieve a very good setup with Gaz shocks. I also tried Spax and honestly cannot recommend them. They tend to fail very early and they also tend to actually break apart !!! No fun ...
Cheers
Marcus (www.PUKesprit.de)
IMHO the Gaz shocks are way better than many other makes and they are very well suited for the Esprit. I never had real problems with them. Its quite easy and straight forward to achieve a very good setup with Gaz shocks. I also tried Spax and honestly cannot recommend them. They tend to fail very early and they also tend to actually break apart !!! No fun ...
Cheers
Marcus (www.PUKesprit.de)
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