Advice on Traxspax dampers

Hi all,

Want to buy a new front set for my GTD i thought buying traxspax with new springs (300lbs ?? ).
Please give me your experiences

Thanks in advance

Fred

You ask for personal experiences. Mine were not good. The dampers repeatedly failed and had to be rebuilt, going back to Spax each time at some cost. They charge about £50 (at the time) per damper plus parts to recondition and it just added up too quickly. Hence I went to Koni with much better results (never failed in 5 years use). The spring rates I used were within the limits of the damper so I don't know why they just kept on going wrong. Maybe 300lbs springs will be ok? Make sure you get the top spring rated damper units (I think they call them GP units and are good to 500 lbs springing. Last I heard they were about £800 per set, let us know if I am way out on that. Koni's were about £1500 per set! However at £200 per year to recondition the spax I am up on the deal overall.

I am sure others will have had better experiences but I also know that I wasn't alone with problems.

Malcolm

Malcolm,

What's the symptom of a failed damper (apart from bouncy suspension)? I have had a knocking noise from the front nearside which I can't cure. I have stripped and retorqued everything three times but it doesn't go away - but I didn't do anything with the trax coil/damper. It worries me although I can't see it being a serious problem.

Dave Champ

Dave

What happened to me was bouncy suspension. There was damper oil leaking as well so basically it ran out of whatever was inside it so you could push it up and down with your little finger = zero damping.

I couldn't really advise on knocking noises. Maybe a really bad valve could make some noise? I would look at suspension joints first. Have any bolt holes become oversized? Is there a relation between road surface and the knocking noises? Is the spring catching anything in its travel arc?

As Brian says above, it depends on useage. I have been quite hard on my dampers over time with competition use and the occaisional spin!

Hope this helps.

Malcolm

Fred

I think it depends what you intend using your car for. I have done 14,000 miles on my Spax shockers with no problem. I am using 275/350 springs and they have had very limited track use.

Brian.

Malcom,

I've run Spax on the Lotus for years. Right after I installed them I hit a pothole and I began to have that clunk. The shock seems to work OK but there was this annoying clunk. I ended up replacing the shock. When I got the old one off you could detect movement where there should be none (the clunk). New shock, clunk gone. I don't have the greatest opinion on Spax shocks. I'm thinking of going Koni.

Mark

Guys,
I just received my front AVO shocks directly from AVO UK.
I am very sastified of the service, 1 week delivery in France during x-mas holidays.
For those who are intersted :
Ref is WD140/095 price is 81.81 £ ex vat
contact : Nigel.
I hope they will run as good as they fit !

RE noisy dampers, I've recentley cured damper noises on my Lotus & some of this may be relevant.

Firstly, The Lotus chassis is extreemley stiff & one of the spin off's of this is that it transmits road, mechanical noise very well! combine this with no carpets or soundproofing & you can hear all sorts of mechanicals you can't hear in a 'normal' car.

Caterhams & Westfields also suffer the same.

Early cars suffered from the standard gas dampers 'knocking'. There was nothing wrong with the damping, just the fact that it made a noise that could be heard in the cockpit & sounded like something was loose.

Since changing to oil filled adjustable dampers, I've experienced 'squeeking', extreemeley loud & high pitched. Not nice!.

It took me some time to track the noise to the dampers, which were sent back to the manufacturers (Leda) for re-valving & servicing. They told me the noise is caused by the adjustable valve & by replacing it the noise was cured.

So the moral of my story is that there is more to damping than meets the 'ear' & in every car on the road there are all sorts of mechanical noises going on that we don't normally hear due to all the sound proofing engineered into the vehicle. In 'our' field comfort is compromised to improve performance!

Hope this helps!