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Front shocks; Gaz,, Spax or Koni what's the verdict?


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Hi all

Some might know the difficulties with the current standard offerings which means I will most likely be looking for alternatives. I was hoping to wait until I'd driven her as standard before thinking about "up grades" as suspension set up I feel is a very personal choice and dependent on how you intend to use the car. This one for a change for me is going to be a keeper and as standard as possible in all areas apart from fixing known weak areas eg chassis and safety issues and used as a road car for days out and about when the weather allows.

So what's your experience of the above? Any others I should consider?

The rear will be kept with the OEM lever arms for now which have already been rebuilt.

Thanks

Andy

 

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I’ve got one car with Spax and one with Koni. 

The Spax are more convenient as they can be adjusted without removing them from the car. 

The Konis were on the TR 3 when I bought it 35 years ago And when I stripped the suspension a couple of weeks ago for an update and refresh I found them to still be as good as they were all that time ago. 

The Gaz shocks I’ve seen fitted to VWs haven’t lasted long.  

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Hello,I have had a few sets of koni's on cars/bikes over the years In my opinion they are a poor relation to almost anything else! I have just fitted a set of Bilstein to the front of my TR6  and Tokico ? gas to the rear. Regards,Michael.

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I have Spax all round, the original Armstrong leavers were useless! I had 6 sets on warranty, they always started to leak after a few months? They were replaced by Spax which lasted for 40+ years when they were replaced with a new set. Coopers whom I worked for, used to produce the top cover gasket and when I went around the Armstrong factory the returns were coming back by the bin load to their G.I. for reconditioning, not a very good Sales example of their product. They did produce a competition type but I never tried them but they were offered.

Bruce. 

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On 1/8/2019 at 6:30 AM, michaeljf said:

Hello,I have had a few sets of koni's on cars/bikes over the years In my opinion they are a poor relation to almost anything else! I have just fitted a set of Bilstein to the front of my TR6  and Tokico ? gas to the rear. Regards,Michael.

Michael, which Bilsteins did you fit please? When I spoke with them they rd me a that they didn't do any shocks for  TR6??  

Cheers, Panch 

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Hi Andy

I don't know about fitting Konis to the front suspension but 40,000 miles/over10 years ago I fitted the CTM mod to the rear suspension using Konis, they are still performing well. The mod transformed the rear suspension, I will eventually fit Konis to the front when the standard shocks fail, they have also performed well for 40,000 miles!

Cheers

Bill

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I've had problems with some aftermarket shocks but Gaz work well in my experience. My TR6 was fitted with Gaz all round before I bought it 12 years and many miles ago. They are still good after much use, and easy to adjust too.

I've tried several other brands of aftermarket shocks on my other classics but today, my GT6 and Scimitar also run on Gaz. So that's my recommendation, based on several cars and many years and miles.

Nigel

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5 minutes ago, Nigel Triumph said:

I've had problems with some aftermarket shocks but Gaz work well in my experience. My TR6 was fitted with Gaz all round before I bought it 12 years and many miles ago. They are still good after much use, and easy to adjust too.

I've tried several other brands of aftermarket shocks on my other classics but today, my GT6 and Scimitar also run on Gaz. So that's my recommendation, based on several cars and many years and miles.

Nigel

Thanks Nigel/all

Like you I've used Gaz on quite a few road and race cars over the years and had good results and reliability but didn't want to go with them without asking the question first. As it is I've gone with them as there seems no real consensus so will just need to see how they ride. 

Andy

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On 1/14/2019 at 2:29 AM, michaeljf said:

Hello Panch,I have been away for a few days. I will go and pull one off and get the part no.(they were off a friends TR 3a race car).Regards,Michael.

Thanks Michael, that would be great as I'm just about to put new suspension in and I'd pick Bilstein over any of the other brands out there.. :)

 

Panch 

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